Several of you are aware that I have started the journey of building a bike from nothing, for the first time. I set my sights on 1959 Duo Glide, I wanted rear suspension to make a comfortable two up bike for myself and the wife but staying away from 1960 and up as my 1970 already has the big aluminum nacelle. I wanted the Hydra Glide free standing headlight. I also am a big fan of the 59-60 tank badge. This build is going to take some time, I am not really in a rush but the parts collecting has gone very well in the last year.
It all started with a guy I know selling a left hand 1959/60 hand shift gas tank in original Police Silver:
I probably have this tank for about two years now and it is the start of the entire build. Not much happened for about a year until hellonewman started on thread on here about scoring a 1959 Frankenstein bike. On 2/15/23 in that thread I replied all I wanted was the motor. Well life is funny, in January of this year the motor found her way back across the northern border to my Island. Crated for travel On my work bench
Good side story, we live in my deceased father in laws home, real long story. But some of his stuff was still here when we bought the house, one of the things being that engine stand. I had that stand in my basement since 1997 with no motor to put on it until this year. Being a pack rat works some times.
I get the motor and did just about nothing with it except score an original air cleaner. I was looking high and low for a frame, almost had one in Daytona this year but she got away form me. Checking all the usual sites, swap meets, AMCA events and help form all the Panhead locals on this Forum. Out of nowhere a friend of a friend is selling a 1959 transmission. Now I am looking for a frame, but I was interested. Turns out it is a 1959 date coded case, side cover and lid. And the lid is for a tank shift, not a foot shift, too good to pass up. "From a running bike"?!?!?! After lots of negotiating in the Spring we acquired the transmission:
A couple of other major parts got scored, correct 58/59 triple trees, nacelle tins in factory black paint, some hardware and other things. Went through my Flathead/Shovelhead stash and found some bits that would work for the bike, but still no frame. I placed a Wanted ad in the AMCA magazine and would you believe it, a gentlemen in Virginia called me up and had the frame I had been looking for. Date coding was important but not critical to me, after lots of pictures and talking to Speeding Big Twin I settled on a frame. Good score as it came with stock shocks, fender struts and the swingarm. One day 700 miles round trip to Virginia and I had a frame:
As I was going through Jersey on the way home, I dropped the frame off with Mike from 47 Industries to have a tab and jack mount welded on and check her on a table jig. I also had him fix my Shovelhead oil tank, while I was there. Johnjzjz introduced me to Mike a couple of years ago and he has done work for me, high quality. Frame needed a little tweaking here and there, +/-1/16" and all of that. Frame is probably straighter now than 1959.
So that took a couple of weeks but now the frame is home. While in Virginia I also bought the right side tank from the frame seller, thanks Doug. Really nice tank for a really good price.
Current plan is to make the whole pile a roller, I have limited space in the basement shop so making it easy to get out of the way is a priority. I have a rear wheel enroute and I have an extra wheel from my Flathead that I can use temporarily. If parts show up I will get the swingarm and steering head bearing done. A million things still need to happen but I have been having some fun mocking up the parts I have, throwing in some junk laying around just to fill some gaps. First day frame was home, inspirational moments. Original paint!!!!!! They fit
My plan is to keep you guys updated as I make progress, no promises on a time frame. Motor is 99% ready to run, I need to assemble the Linkert. Transmission needs some love but should be ok, we will call her 80%. The smalls are going to kill me doing this from parts and not a donor bike, but it is the process I wanted to do to challenge myself. I have already gotten support from John, Paul and Eric, I know the rest of the Forum will help out when they can.
Good idea to mock it up first. I bought an Indian chief years ago that was very complete but totally torn down and in boxes. I had never worked on one before so the mock up worked to my advantage. Then tore down got all painted, plated and mechanical built. Went together real smooth later. Good luck.
Full disclosure, I currently have no plans to paint or chrome anything. I am very fond of my Flathead in her well used look, makes maintenance and everything else much easier when you do not worry about scratching anything. Some may call it the lazy approach, but I like old sweaty bikes so that is the plan. After she is a runner and all the gremlins are sorted, I could always take it back apart to make her pretty. But for now the 1970 Chrome ***** is my pretty bike, this one will match the Flatty aesthetic. I do not like "Rat" terminology, I like them to be runners that I do not have to worry about cosmetics. There will be enough to worry about.
Anyone that is not familiar with BILLIGERENT and the general appearance we will go after, here you go:
Yes, my thread so lots of pictures of my bikes. And yes I rode the Flathead from Long Island to Santa Monica CA, only took two motors?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Swing arm and triple tree bearings showed up today, finally something to work on.
Yesterday | 09:18 AM
1959 FLH Build Thread
