With little effort, a 1974 shovelhead was found for very little money, and the build started. The motor was stripped down and a makeover was done, starting with a fresh set of pistons and rings being installed, and the heads cleaned and worked over. The flywheels were good; they just needed to get some new bearings installed. When done the motor was still 74ci, but now it was as new as it was back in 1974. Then a Morris Magneto was installed to the motor to help keep the bike clean of a battery allowing the use of a Cole Foster Bee Hive oil bag. The 4-speed ratchet top transmission was treated to the same kind of work, including replacing what was not repairable.
Shortly after and a few trips to the swapmeet, this bike was mocked up. Kutty found a set of K-model wheels and quickly swapped out the hubs to turn the 18-inch wheel to a 21-inch with the stock brake drum. Same with the rear: when he was done with it, the rear was a 19-inch wheel with stock H-D drum brakes. One of the last things to get a custom one-off build was the exhaust, as Kutty was looking for a way to route the pipes differently. With the rear tire so thin, he had the room to run the two pipes up though the right side rear frame rails in a up-sweep to keep the lines with the rear fender.
When it came to covering the bike in color, for Kutty it was as easy as calling Endless Powdercoating and having the whole bike, sheetmetal and frame covered in a candy red so that Dave Whittle could pinstripe the entire thing in a classic '70s theme with the words Sinner's Prayer on the tank. As soon as Dave could get the sheetmetal back in Kutty's hands he went to work on getting the bike on the road. In less time then it took to find the motor the bike was getting pushed out of the garage to get kick-started. It took a few kicks to fire (Kutty needed to eat a few more cheeseburgers) but when it did, it was the sweet sound of an American V-twin just the way he loved it: loud. This was not the first bike Kutty built, but just like all the bikes he has had, that first ride is the best.