By David Zemla
Photos from Performance Machine Crew

Ever wondered just how far you can go with a Harley based custom??? We have, and judging by the phone calls and show requests, a lot of others have, as well. Maybe the easiest route would be to build a ground up, with all aftermarket parts, but there are thousands of Wisconsin built bikes out there just aching for some love. There is also a multitude of mild customs on the streets (you know who you are) with the basics, like seat, pipes, and bars swapped out. We know lots of you guys are looking for the next level of custom without having to toss out all hard earned cash in your current ride. We ran at a bone stock Softail with you in mind.

Beginning with a rather meek looking 2002 Softail Standard, the PM R&D Department started working out the possibilities. The only constraint they were given was to retain the H-D frame and motor, everything else was up for grabs. The final product also had to be completed in time for the 2002 PM poster. Plenty of time, as that was still six long calendar pages away. It took about a month of eyeballing and jawboning to finally decide the direction this bike would take. The one thing we knew for sure, the finished product would NOT look, sound or perform anything like the original motorcycle, yet it would still share many of the same basic pieces.

It was decided to build the bike in stages, similar to the method many of our customers implement. To begin with, we assembled a wheel, brake and control update, using PM Rage wheels with design matched discs, differential bore calipers and PM Contour controls. The result was a much updated and better braking bike, but certainly nothing that was going to set the world on fire. We shot some pictures of it, went riding and rolled it back up on the bench. Most riders would be happy with what we had, but being jaded motorcycle industry folks, we needed more.

The final stage would be the most radical and most time consuming. For us, it was an obvious choice to use our Phatail kit and convert the bike to a monstrous 8.5 rear wheel. We had already constructed several bikes in this format (see Phat Lady buildup <>) and didn't want to repeat anything, so it was determined this one would need a color-matched chassis, much wilder bodywork and a few other tricks we hadn't tried in the past.

While all of this motorcycle meditating was going on, time was ticking away and our completion date was suddenly not so far in the future. A sense of urgency began to nag at the build team as they mocked-up the bike up with its new hardware. The PM Phatail kit was grafted to the rear and a set of billet forks from Perewitz now graced the front end. The 21 x 3.5 PM wheel would ride up front, so a new fender was built by steel man extraordinaire, Russ Wernamont. While he was manipulating metal, in the name of PM, we asked for a gas tank and watched the sparks fly. The result was an extended, filled and re-capped fuel holding beauty. Using a PM rear fender, Jim Nassi hand carved a Phatail logo that would eventually become the taillight. Paul Yaffe stepped in with a stylish oil tank to round out the new sheet metal.

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