I’ve known Steve over the past year or so in our moto community here in Denver. He owns this really amazing bar called “The High Lonesome” down my street, and we got introduced via one of his bartenders. Since then we have traveled together for thousands of miles on our motorcycles over many countless rides in and out of Colorado, and our “Drifter Night” bike nights at the bar. He’s one of the most upstanding guys I know and his knowledge for motorcycles has been very helpful; he’s also a great mentor of mine. Here is his story and details:

Owner name, location: Steve Sharp Wheat Ridge, Colorado

Chop Cult Member profile: sharpinski

Bike name: Booboo Kitty (totally ridiculous. I've never named it)

Engine, year and make, model, modifications: 1956 Harley FLH Pan/Shovel

Frame: Repop ‘55-’57 straight leg frame (original frame was sketchy, meth induced engineering)

Fork: VL I-beam springer

Chassis mods: Stock dimensions

Tire/wheel size and style: 16" kelsey hayes rear, 19" star hub front (not sure). Cheap tires.

Favorite thing about this bike: Other than the tanks, frontend, and seat, I love the functionality of this bike. In the end I wanted a solid, comfortable rider. The stance makes it easy to ride all day long and it handles like a champ up the canyons.

Next modification will be: Not sure. Maybe paint? 18" rear wheel? Different rear fender?

Other mods, accessories, cool parts, etc: I love the seat and p-pad. They were upholstered by my good friend Matt out of an old leather jacket of mine. I really like the headlight and taillight, the mudflap, the old Ford clutch and brake pads, and the brass doorknob for my shifter.

Any building or riding story or info you'd like to include: Even though I assembled this bike from the frame up, I wouldn't call myself a bike builder. I can do some pretty rudimentary fabrication, wiring, and mechanics, but look to outside help where necessary. This bike was a bad 80's chopper with skulls all over it. I kept the skulls on the pushrod covers cause they make me laugh (also good for tough guy cred). When I swapped to the VL front end it took a bit to get it right. After almost going over the handlebars hitting some pretty janky railroad tracks I decided it was time to rebuild it. Over the winter I had the engine rebuilt and just got everything back together for the second time. Looking forward to a solid season.

Thanks to: A big thank you to my friend Matt (@meteormotors) for all his voodoo magic (he made my front axle, rocker bushings, and did the upholstery). Thanks to Jason Sheets (@56panhead, sheetsmachine.com) for flat-siding my tanks. Jason does some incredible work. Also, thanks to Brendan (sign painter extraordinaire, @atlas_signco) for striping my tins. -Steve / @sharpinski

Article and photographs by Enrique Parrilla / @eparrillaphotos