Normally I wouldn't write about a bike for a company that I work with, but this one was a bit different. I know the builder, Jeff Cochran, and also know Sucker Punch Sallys (SPS) and how far they have come. The boss at STREET CHOPPER asked me to expound on how this bike came to be and ultimately how it became a basic platform for a production motorcycle known as Jeff's Hotrod for SPS. It went down something like this.
Jeff Cochran grew up around bikes like this that had some tricked-out parts but generally were very utilitarian. His bikes were ridden hard and didn't have extraneous stuff that didn't make it stop, go faster, or handle better. What is ironic is that during the peak of insanely obtuse billet barges, Sucker Punch was born from a bike that was essentially the same as this FL with a few changes. It came from an old FL Shovelhead that was cut just behind the centerpost, and Jeff took a weld-on rear section kit, cut it up, and welded it all together to form the perfect FL rigid. Sounds insane, but it works!
This particular FL started the same way. Jeff found an old FL Shovelhead that needed to go to rehab. It had way too much hanging off its frame and needed some serious cosmetic surgery. He yanked the drivetrain out and gave it to Donny Loos, co-founder of Sucker Punch Sallys, owner of longtime hotrod shop Don's Customs and motorhead. As Donny freshened up the motor, Jeff went to work on making this FL his own.
He stripped it down to nothing, and as he was doing that he knew he wanted to make a rigid that he and his wife Beverly could ride together. It would be a looker as well, not in the blinged-out way, but just a sharp, clean bike. He started cutting, grinding, and welding. In the process, he decided to raise the axle height one inch and throw a 17-inch on the back just to change things up. This produced a low-slung, ground-hugging rigid FL like no other. As soon as the frame was done, Jeff found a two-inch under black Springer that looked great. Unfortunately, when he took it out on the highway it would pogo because of the lack of travel, so he changed over to a black anodized hydraulic frontend because this bike was built to be ridden. He opted to keep the four-speed stock and had Donny throw in an Andrews cam so it would be suitable for highway speeds. Jeff likes the four-speeds if they're geared right, especially with such a light bike. Because it wasn't going to have a front brake, he ran two four-piston calipers on the rear so he could stop on hills with a jockey shift. He had a local fabricator waterjet a dual caliper mount for the rear. When he changed over to the hydraulic frontend set-up he put a front brake on and now it has super-brakes!
Jeff's a guy who likes to use as few new parts as possible, and originally to keep the cost down on bikes he would cut rear fenders in half just so he could save a few bucks for customers. He continues to do that and although frugality isn't at the top of his mind, that half fender in back has become a mainstay of his custom builds. The rear fender was attached with SPS Hotrod fender struts that were chromed. Apes were the way to go for handlebars and as the bike started to come together he decided on a 3.5-gallon original Fatbob tank to give it a little more capacity than the usual Sporty tanks but still added to the sleek lines of the bike. There was no need to clutter it up with a bunch of unnecessary electrical, so he ran points and kick-start only. The paint was going to pay homage to Harley-Davidson and the classic orange/black paint scheme had been updated, but ultimately has the same effect: it stops people in their tracks.