TABLE OF CONTENTS
After building my 2000 Sportster Chopper, I wondered if I would ever want to build another bike again in the future. I have a turn-key, let's-go kind of bike and it literally will take me anywhere. It's a Sportster for crying out loud. But once you start getting your hands dirty and putting these bikes together, it starts to become a bit of a sickness.
On the way home from Bonneville this past year I scoured the internet looking for a big twin Shovel, or Panhead project... It never even crossed my mind to to look at a 90's Big Twin Harley Evo let alone a Heritage Softail Classic.
WHAT PARTS WERE USED FOR BUILDING THIS BIKE?
Since I'm not using pretty much anything from the stock Harley Softail, I'm relying heavily on utilizing the many parts available at Lowbrow Customs. Click here for the parts being used to build Project Studd: A 1993 Harley Big Twin Evo Chopper.
WATCH PROJECT STUDD BUILD SERIES
EPISODE 1
In this video series, I walk you through the stock 1993 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic in all its glory. Then I give you an in depth overview of the Gasbox Full Frame I chose to use for the build.
You also get to see the roller in all it's glory and watch me power lift the motor into the frame. I'm pretty sure there's a few "Wayne's World" references in there too! Just sayin...
HARLEY BIG TWIN EVO SOFTAILS MAKE GOOD CHOPPERS
THE DEAL I WASN'T REALLY LOOKING FOR
I never really put a 1993 Harley-Davidson Heritage Softail Classic on the top of my must own in my life time motorcycle list. But when a sweet deal comes along sometimes you just have to get in the truck with the cash in your pocket and take it.
This honker of a dad bike came into my life from a market place ad, it caught my eye when the odometer read 8152 miles on it and the price was only $3,800. My first thought was "Man that's clean and dirt f*ckin' cheap for a big twin. But do I really need another project?"...
Of course the answer was "Yes!"
The 1993 Harley-Davidson Softail Heritage Classic, Yeah she clean.
DAD BIKES ARE RAD.... NOT!
With all of the studs littered on the saddlebags, the tasseled conchos on the seats and the way this bike just screams "Hey, I'm a dad bike!" led me to calling this build Project Studd.
The moment I bought it I knew the motor, transmission, and title was all I really wanted from this gawd awful thing. Don't get me wrong, a motorcycle is a motorcycle, and its a really nice motorcycle for the right person. It's just not the motorcycle for me.
Also, here at Lowbrow Customs we don't buy stock bikes just to leave them as is to ride them all pretty and stock. No, we chop them mofo's up and make them something rad, and that's what this bike is for me. A beginning platform to something more.
Check out all them studs, sheesh!
Super clean yet still neglected in some ways.
8152 miles on the ol' Studd.
Big Twin EVO and 5 Speed Transmission. These two will make for a great Chopper.
THE PLAN: SOFTAIL INTO RIGID CHOPPER
With everything being pretty much unusable to build a chopper, the only things that I was able to save was the motor and transmission. Everything else on a Heritage is just so clunky and oversized.
The goal with any chopper is to make it small, skinny and lean. The complete opposite of a 90's Harley-Davidson Big Twin Softail. With that in mind everything had to go!
When you take a motor and transmission out, you actually have to remove a lot more than ya think.
The first order of business was to pick out which Gasbox Full frame I wanted to use. I've always enjoyed a good 6 over chop so I decided to go with the 3" up 5 speed Frisco mount Big Twin Frame. Yeah, I could of hard tailed the stock frame, or even took the real easy way out and just used rigid struts for it. There are plenty of choices and options out there, but for me, the Gasbox full frame was the right and only choice for this build. These frames are made right here in Cleveland, OH and hands down the best quality chopper full frames around. It just made the most sense for this builds foundation.
The Gasbox - Full Rigid Chopper Frame: 3" up Frisco Tank mounted 5 speed version.
With the frame picked out and set, the next step was to figure out what front end and wheels I wanted to roll with. You always want to make a roller first before trying to install your motor and transmission on a Big Twin build. I have also learned the hard way with a previous build that you always want to make sure to have the wheels and tires you are actually going to run on the bike before any fabrication begins.
Being a chopper, that rear fender is fixed and if you don't clear it with the tire you really want to run, you will forever be stuck running a tire you never really wanted on your bike. Ask me how I know?
THE FRONT END
I went back and forth on if I was going to run a Springer or just go the standard triple tree route when Tim Fiorucci called me up and said, "Hey, why not run the new Lowbrow Narrow Triple Trees and Tapered Fork Lowers?" I frankly didn't even know that was an option because we were waiting on a bunch of that stuff to be manufactured still, and I thought we won't have those for a while.
He then told me that he had a set of prototypes that would work just fine. So that made my choice pretty easy and with 6 over tubes I knew it was going to be bitchin'. He also suggested to run the new Lowbrow Fork Brace. I was hesitant at first but once we put it all together, it just looks like it supposed to be there.
6 over tubes resting in Lowbrow Customs New Narrow Triple Tress, Tapered Fork Lowers and fork brace. 
Lowbrow Customs Narrow Triple Trees.
Lowbrow Customs Tapered Fork Lowers and Lowbrow Customs 21" Ribbed Spool Hub wheel.
Lowbrow Customs Fork Brace.
THE WHEELS & TIRES
I am a firm believer that tires and wheels will make or brake a build right of the rip. Having two mismatched tires brands, or some off set weird wheel size can really throw off a look a bike in my opinion.
With this build I wanted to use the Lowbrow Customs 21" Spool Hub wheel on the front and I was in love with the idea of an 18" on the rear. I scoured the internet for about 2 months trying to find an 18" rear wheel and then finally we got back in stock a few options. I ended up going with a HardDrive 18 x 3.5 that has sealed bearings and a little skinner hub than stock to give a clean look.
For tires I went back and forth on a few different Coker and Firestones options but in the end you never can go wrong with an Avon Speed Master 3.00x21 and a Avon Safety Milage Mark II 18x4.00 combo. Its just a classic look.
21" Lowbrow Spool Hub wheel wrapped with an Avon 3.00x21" Speedmaster tire.
18" HardDrive wheel wrapped with an Avon 4.00x18 Safety Milage Mark II tire.
THE HANDLEBARS
One of the many hats I wear at Lowbrow is curating social media reposts from our customers and also sharing bikes from all over the world that I think might bring inspiration to others. I've been really digging the Japanese and Indonesian builds as of late and one thing I've been noticing a ton of is people running high risers with some type of ape hanger.
It just looks so freekin' rad and gives the bike a different kind of style. With this new found inspiration I wanted to run with it on this build. So I chose to run some 6" chrome tapered risers and a set of 9" Smooth Mini Apes from Cycle Standard. This look just sets that front end off and gives the bike some real style.
9" Mini Apes and 6" Tapered Risers from Cycle Standard.
Like my last build, I plan on running Kustom Tech's Internal throttle set up and one of their 1" Classic Clutch Levers. I don't want to give away all my plans on this build but I've also got a plan to wrap my Clutch cable with some fishbone chain to add some extra flair.
You'll see, it's going to be pretty neat. For the grips I'm going to run with the Vans Waffle Sole style in black and cap that off with some Prism Supply Co. Grip Collar Polished Rings. Real classy stuff.
THE SHEET METAL
I've only ever run a Frisco 2.1 Gallon Sportster style gas tank on my Shovelhead and Sportsters. It's a classic look and one I'm comfortable with always choosing.
But with this build, I wanted to try something a little different. After laying a handful of tanks on the back bone, this 2.1 gallon Wassell Replica Mid-tunnel Peanut tank was for sure the winner. I also have the paint scheme and theme already figured out but I'm not going to spill those beans just yet.
2.1 Gallon Mid-Tunnel Wassell Style Peanut tank.
For the rear fender I'm really digging how this 5-1/2" smooth fender from Cycle Standard is looking but I still may try a 4-3/4" Manta Ray. It's all apart of the process when designing and building a bike.
Sometimes you need to try a couple things to really see how the style and look flows. This is decision is still up in the air a bit but I'm leaning towards that 5-1/2".
The 5-1/2" fender is looking pretty nice on that 18"
ELECTRIC AND KICKSTART, SAY WHAT!?
With this build I thought it be pretty trick to not only have the electric start option with an open belt drive but a have a Kicker as well. Our friends over at W&W Cycles offer a killer Cannonball Kickstarter Kit for 5 speed Transmissions.
When going over our parts and seeing what would work for this build that stuck out to me as something wild and extremely cool to utilize on the build. We will be doing an in depth install video on that bad boi.
5 speed Kickstarter kit from Cannonball!
As stated I also wanted to run a BDL belt drive / open primary on this build. They just so happen to have a killer set up up for electric start Softails called the 2" SS Belt Drive.
This not only will allow electric start to function, but the inner primary plate will make it super easy to line up the transmission and motor together. I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on that part!
Open Belt Drive 2" Belt Drive for Electric Start!
OTHER PARTS & IDEAS
I plan on working with my friend Tim Fiorucci on this build a bunch. He's hands down one of the best fabricators I know. We are looking to make a custom seat pan, custom sissy bar, and custom exhaust from scratch on this build.
There will also be some stuff we need to figure out like, longer kickstand, chain conversion, mid and or high-mid controls, a fall into place wiring harness, and lower fender mounting options.
The stance is so sick!
This bike came with a CV carburetor but I plan on switching it out to a S&S Super E and running a Prism Supply Co. Darlington air cleaner. My Shovelhead had an S&S on it and I really loved how easy it was to tweak and keep maintained.
There is still a ton to do on this build and I'm extremely excited to share with all of you the progress as I move a long. Big "THANK YOU" goes out to Tyler here at Lowbrow, The Gasbox, Fiorucci Fabrications, W&W Cycles, BDL Drives, and Prism Supply Co. for all their help with this build so far.
Until next time, I will see you all very soon with an update on this build.
Words, Video, and Photos - Mikey Revolt
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