Arizona Nick's Panhead

Some men are like magnets for precious metal. Hide a period-correct panhead in the trunk of a rusty Cutlass Cruiser in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Arizona Nick could find it blindfolded. He's just got the knack. A few years ago Nick's sixth sense kicked in again and he unearthed this fine specimen from the bowels of bikerdom.

We'll let our friend tell the story.

So on to the crusty panhead. I like to think of it as the tweaker panhead, since the guy I bought it from had delightfully yellow and black teeth. I bought it a couple years ago. It was cheap. I worked on it in spurts: 3-4 weeks on, 6-7 months off. I stripped it down to the frame, drivetrain, springer, rear wheel, and oil tank.  I cut off most of the brackets that had been added back on (poorly) after someone else had cut the originals off.

The straight leg had the obligatory shitty molding and plenty of poor tweaker engineering, but it was generally sound. Everything that I didn't refab or replace got combed over. The engine was found to have 4-3/4-inch S&S flywheels and fairly fresh internals. Sweet! The springer got all new springs and bushings, as well as a new stem.

I mounted up the tank, seat, and fender, bent up a short sissy bar, made some pipes, and finished it off with a smattering of other stuff laying around the garage. I think I'll just be riding it for a bit as I get some new controls built and set up some Flanders bars. Sooner or later it will come apart for polishing, chrome, and paint, as well as swapping out a bunch of stuff for fancier bits and pieces. If I don't trade it for a jetski first.

Photos: BFJosh