Western Pennsylvania has been the Steel Capitol of the U.S. for generations. In recent years, due to the influx of cheap imported steel, the area mills have been in a rapid decline. Despite the foreign competition, in Butler, Pennsylvania, one of the oldest steel mills in the country continues a proud tradition of pouring and rolling some of the finest steel available anywhere in the world. Pig iron is smelted in furnaces that belch molten gold in furnaces so hot a man loses his fear of hell.
In that same historic steel town, Steve Peffer set up shop building wild one-off custom Harleys. In deference to the town's rich heritage he called his shop Steel City Choppers.
Since Steve was a kid, he was drawing then designing motorcycles with a unique style. He had been fascinated by the use of skulls on choppers and wanted the bike to reflect his tastes as is the case with the Skull Knuck. This bike is not your typical run-of-the-mill, store-bought custom by any means. Most of the components are hand-fabbed one of a kind. Steve is lucky enough to be able to go directly to the mill and personally hand select the steel he will use in the fabrication, a luxury that most builders would envy.
The frame started off as an '01 Kraftech/SSC. Then Steve fired up the torches and removed every un-necessary bracket and gusset form the 1-1/4-inch hardtail frame. Then he brought out the welder and fired in the hand-molded neck gusset and patent-pending Devil Tails. The frame was raked out 38 degrees and stretched 4 inches out and 2 inches up. Steve then fitted the hand fabricated, widened stainless steel 12-inch-over Wide Girder frontend equipped with a 21-inch anodized spoked front rim. Next came the rear rim. An 18x8-1/2-inch aluminum blank was machined by Steve-O of Freak Show Performance using Steve's unique design.
Once the rolling chassis was together, Steve and Bob Miller were ready to focus on the rest of the bike. First came the handlebars. The 1-inch Zig-Zag bars, a twist on the old style Z-Bars, were fabricated by Steel City Style. Next was the gas tank. An old swap meet Sporty tank was stretched to fit the frame. The fuel cap was relocated, and the front of the tank was pointed to match the line and flow of the bars. Steve went to the local steel mill and hand selected the 14-gauge metal that he would use to hand fabricate the tin. The handmade sissy bar was wrought from 3/4-inch round stock with hidden mounting bolts and a unique design to match the bars and tank.
The next project was to come up with something different for the oil bag. Ideas were kicked around and different aftermarket styles were briefly considered. Nothing seemed to fit the idea of the design. As the whiskey flowed during the discussion, they came up with the idea to create a one-off, stainless steel, coffin-shaped whisky flask The oil tank also hides the bike's battery and Mallory electronics. Time for a seat. Steve chose to go with an original '36 spring seat setup. After removing all the extra seat brackets, he drilled and tapped the frame for a clean look. MPM Custom Seats did the seat cover in vinyl boat material with steel buttons like Steve had seen on a bike from Hawaii.
After all the work he put into the rolling chassis, the last thing Steve and Bob wanted to do was put in an Evo. That just wouldn't be right. Something killer was called for. They took a short ride to one of PA's great treasure troves, Cycle Warehouse, to see what they could come up with. Cycle Warehouse is five floors of just about every imaginable Harley part ever devised. There they managed to score a complete '46 Knucklehead motor. Not a bad score for one afternoon's scrounging. They combined the Knuck top end with the cases from a '58 Panhead they scored at a swap meet in Daytona. He wanted to run the Panhead lower end because the better main bearings that Harley upgraded in 1955 would allow them to run the 3-inch open beltdrive with out any problems.
After putting the powerplant together using the freshly milled 30-over Knuck cylinders refitted with Keith Black pistons mounted on the '58 Panhead cases with H-D Shovelhead flywheels and an Andrews B cam, something was still missing from the look Steve wanted. He wanted more to the rocker box covers than just the Knuck covers. Steve wanted Skulls. Off to the craft store for some clay - yes clay. Steve then meticulously handformed the clay to look like two skulls using the nuts from the Knuck for the eyes. The clay was heat hardened then taken to the local forge for aluminum castings to be made. When they returned, Steve polished them himself and sent them off to be chromed by Paul's Chrome then installed them on the newly rebuilt Knucklehead motor.
Due to a leg injury, Steve decided to go with a '96 five-speed H-D kick/electronic start tranny with Andrews gears, a Kevlar clutch and a BDL 3-inch open primary with a modified '46 cover and a one-off jockey shifter. Freak Show Performance also machined a quick disconnect brass kicker pedal that Steve had been designing for years. It's fully functional and hard core.
For the paint, Steve shot the tin black with a heavy red metalflake then scalloped it for a deep finish. Swap Meet Special risers were fitted to the bars, as were PM hand controls. PM Duel Piston front and PM four-piston rear brakes provide the stopping power. An Old Man Ness Headlight and a V-Twin Maltese taillight let you see her coming and going. The Skull Knuck rides on a 90x21 Avon Speed Master front tire and an Avon 250 Super Venom rear.
With all the time, money, and effort that went into the building of Steel City Choppers Skull Knucklehead, you would think that it would be left sitting on display in the shop and trailered to events as a show bike. You'd be way off base. Steve rides this bike and rides it hard. He'll let other shops do the pretty bikes.