This 1972 H-D Superglide custom combines several popular custom formats in a theme that has something for everyone, yet comes together in a surprisingly fresh, cohesive whole. It’s a bobber with a lot of street tracker and a little rake up front to lend a hint of chopper. It’s not a motorcycle we’d throw sideways on the dirt track, but we love that it looks like at the right time, in the right place, with the right crew, we just might. Find it here on eBay in San Jose, California.
Rugged valanced 18″ Akrons look awesome mounted with meaty Cokers. The flat-tracker design elements are further enhanced with high, black custom pipes by Puccio Machine & Welding. Pro Taper bars are pure dirt and definitely not what you usually find on a bobbed Harley. We usually see big Wide Glide front ends in chrome, not black and never with fork boots. The combination of all these elements gives the front of the bike a meaty, dark, aggressive look. We love it.
Advertised as bronze, the bodywork looks more like a metallic chocolate to us, and is reminiscent of the metalllic earth tones that we love so much on early 70’s motorcycles. It’s not a color used on many bikes and it’s a standout here. The complex yet clean pinstriping was laid down by San Jose’s Gene Worth, better known for his fairly wild hotrod striping. The use of white and orange stripes brings in a traditional H-D feel, brightening and pulling together all the design elements of the bike.
The polished shovelhead motor sits on an Akron case. It’s been rebuilt by Harley performance shop RE Engineering. That most of the chrome on the bike is dead center, on the motor, is just right for this bike, and draws your eye right to where it belongs.
A vertically mounted plate holder is definitely not legal in all 50. But if you’re a real 1%-er you’re not going to worry about that. And anyway, “The Man” will be too busy admiring the chrome 51 tooth Sprockster to hassle you over it.
According to the seller, a wife is behind the sale. A sad story we hear all too often. We don’t know if that’s true, but there’s less than a hundred miles on the build. That’s barely broken in and pretty much a new motorcycle.
Sometimes in a parking lot full of Harleys, one begins to blend into the other. This motorcycle is just different enough to stand out, but not because of an overload of chrome. Rather, it pops through the fine use of flat-tracker elements in the bobber format. Custom bikes are like art; one man’s brilliant abstract impressionist is another’s random scribbler. This bike won’t be for everyone, few customs are. We’re not sure exactly where the Harley crowd and the flat-track fans overlap, but for that rider, here’s your cruiser.
