2006 Covington Customs' Chopper - Covington's Hot Rod Twin Cam

Most of the time build-ers build bikes for customers because it's the customers' money that keeps a shop's doors open. Rarely do builders get to put together a bike they can ride and keep around for a while. Fortunately, a large volume of parts flows through a shop; some might have been ordered through catalogs, some may have been swapped for other parts off various customers' bikes, and some might have been collecting dust on a shelf for years, but all of them get used eventually. Sometimes a bunch of spare parts put together the right way can become the basis for a great bike.

Covington Customs in Woodward, Oklahoma, has been in business for quite a few years now, and the company's spare-parts shelves were starting to sag from the weight of so much metal. At first, the Covington crew joked that there were enough parts on those shelves to put together an entire bike-until the younger Covington decided to attempt to organize the parts and realized the truth in the joke: There really was enough material to build about 75 percent of a bike. And he could bolt together the majority of parts while he waited for the last 25 percent, so theoretically the bike assembly would be quick.

The Covington crew started working on the bike after the shop closed for the day, taking their time with the foundation for the bike, a dusty '05 Softail-style Covington frame with a 45-degree neck, 7 inches of stretch, and Legend Air-Ride shocks in the rear. With a little glass cleaner and a rag, they wiped down an '05 Denver's Springer frontend that was built 20 inches over stock and fit the dimensions of the frame when coupled with a 21-inch front wheel. Of course, a set of Hallcraft 100-spoke wheels with Kandy Red painted rims and matching rotors just happened to be stashed away in one of the shop's offices: a skinny 21-incher and a fat 18x10.5-incher fitted with a 300mm Avon tire.

There were a bunch of Twin Cam parts that needed a home, too. Covington's had a set of H-D TC flywheels, rods, lifters, and pushrods, along with a pair of Ross pistons, a dual-carb setup from Patrick Racing, a pair of Dave Macky cams, and a ThunderHeart ignition. For months the Covingtons had been itching to use a gorgeous set of Enginuity polished-billet cylinders, heads, and rocker boxes on a bike. After one of their customers ordered the parts from them, he couldn't come up with enough money to cover the cost of the project and get the rest of his bike finished. The only thing missing was the motor's cases, an easy fix after a phone call to S&S. Sadly, there was no spare trans hiding anywhere in the shop, but a five-minute call to Baker Drivetrain changed all that, and a new polished right-side-drive unit was on its way to the shop. They did have a spare 3-inch open-belt primary with a Barnett Scorpion clutch, though-the Covingtons make a few parts on the side as well.

Sheetmetal and paint for the machine were next; thankfully, there were plenty of old skins lying around the shop. The Covingtons started by hacking a wide fender for the rear tire, fitting it to flow into the seat area. The oil bag was also smoothed into the frame under the seat, with no seams or sharp edges to be seen. The gas tank had already been stretched for another bike, but the customer changed his mind and decided to take it off. After fitting it high on the backbone, the crew added a Covington Customs gas cap to the right side of the tank. All the sheetmetal and the frame were painted by Dusty Brown in Kandy Red and black to match the rims, with John Stromberg laying down the killer graphics.

Final assembly went quickly and included custom-built handlebars, footpegs, headlight, taillight, exhaust pipes, velocity stacks, primary cover, hard oil lines, and spacers, all handmade by Covington Customs.

Unfortunately, the bike didn't come together as quickly as the Covington crew would have liked, but when you consider that they could only work on it after hours on their own time, it wasn't that bad. Besides, they've been able to ride the bike for a couple of months now, enjoying both the appropriately named "Shop Chop" and their recently uncluttered spare-parts shelves.