Matt bought this bike as a literal basket case while living in California a couple years ago. With some patient and talented friends he made the most out of the salvageable bits and sold off the rest. Constantly straining his abilities and as Matt says "Exhausting his knowledge" he finally ended up with a bike that he knows inside and out and can proudly hammer through New York City traffic with authority. Nice work, Matt! (And bros!) Michael Schmidt shot one of the most memorable DicE features ever of a well-dressed Mr. Landman on his morning commute, and you can check those images here.

Owner name, location: 

Matt Landman  Brooklyn, NY

Engine, year and make, model, modifications:

1978 Shovelhead motor and 79 Tranny.  Numbers would make it an FXE I believe.  Cylinders punched up to make it an 80".

Frame: 

1958 Panhead swingarm craigslist find.  The frame had a terribly weird hardtail job done.  Weird bends, crooked, bad welds.  And the neck was super jacked.  But I was able to pick up the frame, rear wheel, and PM caliper from the guy for less than $400.  Brought the frame to Robert Elswick from elswick cycles along with my buddy Chris's stock Panhead frame and asked him to match all of the geometry as best possible. He nailed it.

Fork: 

Late 70's 35mm Super Glide.  Purchased from Scotty Stopnik along with the front wheel.  Like everything else with bikes, I wound up buying two of the same front ends.  Shaved the other set's legs clean, polished, replaced the seals and then afterwards, they just leaked like a sieve.  Got this set and haven't touched them other than adding some fork oil.  

Chassis mods: 

Just the whole being redone thing.

Tire/wheel size and style: 

Front - 21" rim laced to original super glide hub.  Avon Speedmaster tire.  

Rear - 16" stock wheel.  Shinko Coker-style tire.

Front Wheel and Tire + Rear Wheel and Tire = really fun on grooved pavement.  

Favorite thing about this bike:  

1. It's mine.

2. It is running right now.

3. If neither 1 or 2 remain true, the thought of 1 and/or 2.

Next modification will be:  

Custom 2 Up Seat for my old lady to perch up on and maybe some floor boards for both of us.  Oh, and swapping the tranny.

Other mods, accessories, cool parts, etc: 

Streamliner Bars by Pangea Speed, Jaybrake front master cylinder, Petcock relocated and fender narrowed by Jay at Special 79. (who saved as much of the original paint as possible!).  Paint touched up and re-cleared by Bob Descoteaux.  BCM Pinner Air Cleaner V1 #2 off the assembly line.  (recently updated to a BCM JJ unit). Super E carb with Keino's easy to reach Tweaky Screws, Tail light that I made from an Amal remote float bowl, custom made foot clutch/hand shift mechanism by Chris Collins and I.

Any building or riding story or info you'd like to include:  

Exhausting my knowledge.  That's what continues to happen with this bike.  Something goes wrong and after checking my default list and not finding what it was, I'm constantly forced to learn something new.  I've embraced this.  I joke that I'm constantly exhausting my knowledge, going to sleep defeated, not figuring out what the hell went wrong before I need to get some rest before the next work day, but thats really what I love about this.  Learning, doing, fixing and storing the knowledge so that when a buddy is having similar problems, you can potentially help them out and the favor.  To everyone who has answered questions, leant a hand, offered advice, or knew EXACTLY what was wrong from the sound of me explaining it, thank you.  

Thanks to: 

Chris Collins, Kim Boyle, Jay Roche, Bob Descoteaux, Walter Gemeinhardt, the Bolts Action-eers, Malcolm Giblin, and everyone else in-between NYC and San Diego who has helped, inspired, or just plain understands how these 2 wheeled contraptions can wholly consume our minds.