Bryan Hall's 1974 Shovelhead Chopper

The best industrial designs have a classic appearance that transcends pop culture. Think Eames plywood chairs, Craftsman-era houses and stewardess skirts from the '60s. Certain things just don't need to progress or gain modernity. Bryan's 1976 FXE, or what's left of it, has the clean, perfectly proportioned lines that give it a timeless fun-to-ride, no-nonsense chopper style.

Owner: Bryan Hall 

Location: Rio Linda, CA

Bike name: None—I thought you only had to name children and boats

Engine year, make, model and modifications: 74" shovelhead, 1976 FXE minus the FX and E

Frame: hardtailed '76 FX

Fork: mid '60s Wide Glide, shaved and such

Chassis mods: made into a rigid using oem style pan drop outs by hardtailchoppers.com. done in my garage

Rear tire: 5.00-16 Cheng Shin

Front wheel: 21" spool with crappy old 3.00-21 Carlisle

Favorite thing about this bike: Being able to keep up

Next modification will be: switching to HO scale

Other mods, accessories, cool parts: Hand pinstriped by me using vinyl tape; super sweet seat hinge; seat upholstery by Premiere Upholstery; homemade bird deflector, ChopCult lightning bolt points cover

Back story: I started with a $200 XS650 donor and after a lot of work I sold it to buy my first owned-by-me-not-the-bank H-D, which happened to be a 1974 ironhead. After making that bike more valuable I sold it on ChopCult to buy this '76 shovel. I was so excited to finally get a good solid donor to build. After selling most of the take-off parts on ChopCult and putting in a little sweat here it is. I couldn't be happier with this bike: plain and classic

Thanks: My wife Kelley and my two beautiful little girls, Mike at old-stf.com, Mike D and the boys at Biltwellinc.com, Robert at Premiere Upholstery in Sacramento, all my riding buds at dicknest.blogspot.com

Bryan's blog