Gilby Clarke's 1947 Harley Davidson Knucklehead

Our friend Gilby Clarke has exceptional taste in old motobikes, especially those of the knucklehead variety. We've featured a few of them over the years, and always jump at the chance to see what this Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer is up to next. Hanging out the night before Born Free last summer provided a relaxing location to shoot some photos and pick Gilby's brain about his latest bike.

Engine year, make, model and modifications: Harley knucklehead 1947 or something like that. It's a bit of a bastard with a Cal Products left case. this bike might have been a 61" at one time, because there's stroker plates & it's the fastest 4-speed I've ever owned—ask Caleb Owens

Frame: Harley straightleg, raked to 32 degrees. There's many welding boogers from all the mods that were poorly executed in the '70s

Fork: Springer with an an inch cut off the lower springs and all inner springs removed

Chassis mods: This frame was a mess, so I put the loops & floorboard mounts back on

Tire/wheel size and style: 16" rear & 21" front; Avon Speedmasters. Yes, it squiggles on California highways

Favorite thing about this bike: I love how low it sits, and it's fast

Next modification will be: I'm going to tear it down and clean up the frame

Other mods, accessories, cool parts, etc: The tank was made by Jay at Special '79 and Harpoon did the paint. The rear fender is from my totaled pan. I made the mid pegs, sissy bar, headlight mount, mirror mount on the Biltwell bars, brake pedal and foot clutch. I put the taillight on the sissy bar, so people can see me a little bit better. Also Duane Ballard made me a really nice seat

Back story: Joel from Vintage Klass tried to sell me this bike a long time ago. I passed on it then because the frame was in bad shape and the motor was a bit of a bastard. A year later I saw an ad for a knuckle at a reasonable price. Even though they sent lots of pictures, they never showed the VIN number or closeups of the motor. When they delivered it to me I recognized the bike as the one Joel tried to sell me. I almost told them to take it back, but the improvements they made did make a difference so we adjusted the price and I bought it. I thought I could make it a fun runner, not a pretty show bike. the break-in ride was EDR 3. It had a different tank on then, but it hauled ass through Mexico

Thanks:  http://gilbygtr.blogspot.com/ http://www.gilbyclarke.com/ https://twitter.com/gilbyclarke