'Sixties choppa'

As I ride into the Frisian village of Wommels, time seems to stand still for a moment. The tranquillity and simplicity of the village are a perfect match for the chopper parked in Eddie’s garage. His Shovel chopper is built in the tradition of the 1960s and looks as though it has ridden straight out of an old chopper magazine.

Eddie explains: “It all started with my dad, who thought I was into racing bikes. After four Sundays of pedalling, however, the fun had well and truly gone. Then he came up with a Puch Maxi that he’d bought for fifty guilders. I liked that a lot better.” From there, things moved quickly: the gear-change mopeds followed, and then his motorbike licence. Eddie’s first motorbike wasn’t perhaps the best choice for a novice rider. “A Honda VTR with 100 pk at the rear wheel,” he grins. “A beast! Every time you opened the throttle, something spectacular happened. Only… the neighbourhood wasn’t quite so happy about it. It was simply going too fast.” To get his adrenaline fix, Eddie moved his activities to the track. “For my daily commute, I bought a KTM Supermotard, which was great fun. Far too much fun, actually. And yes, you guessed it: before I knew it, I’d lost my licence.”

“To be honest, I wasn’t really into Harleys at first,” says Eddie. “I’d been out a few times on my fast VTR with a group of Harley riders, but it just didn’t work. Until a mate of my dad’s lent me his old police Shovel, with a foot-operated clutch and manual gearbox. At first I thought: what a clunky, sluggish thing. But after a few days I felt completely at one with it. That’s when I knew for sure: I absolutely had to have my own Harley!” That Harley came along soon enough, in the form of an Evo. “I’ve still got it,” says Eddie. “Together with Piet Wierda from PW Custom Cycles – I’d known him from the village fairs – I gave it a bit of a revamp.” Yet the Evo didn’t quite offer what the Shovelhead did. “A Shovel just feels more alive; it’s more playful and I love the old-school engineering. The ritual of starting it up and the adventure along the way. The Evo feels a bit too modern, though. At the parties I like to go to, like The Trip Out, it’s all about pre-Evos. That’s where my heart really lies.”

Eddie runs his own business dealing in parts, cars and motorbikes. He sees all sorts of things come through every day, but has a particular fondness for classic Harleys and their parts. Every now and then, an item turns up that piques his personal interest. “The direction for my project was clear right from the start: I wanted to build a chopper in pure sixties style. The project began with a Shovelhead engine that I was able to acquire, followed by a frame, a gearbox, a Springer front fork and a set of wheels.” Not long after, a second Shovel came his way, with a freshly reconditioned engine – exactly what he needed. “I found an exhaust system with flexible pipework online. I was so keen on it that I ordered five straight away – four for the shop,” he laughs. A set of ape hangers he’d ordered turned out to be too narrow, but was modified to the correct width for the perfect riding position. The handlebars are clamped into classic dogbone risers – perfectly in keeping with the old-school look Eddie had in mind.

“It’s the right wheels that make the chopper,” says Eddie. “At first I had a 16-inch rear wheel, but it just didn’t look right. In the end, I went for an 18-inch rear wheel with a drum brake. It’s quite a tricky size to find the right tyre for, but if you look hard enough, you can find them.” At the front is a springer with a spool hub, around which a 21-inch wheel is laced. “A drum brake would have worked just fine there too, but I came across this setup and when you do, you shouldn’t hesitate. Without a front brake, you do ride a bit more carefully, but it’s perfectly manageable. Although I do get a lot of questions about it from people who think it’s unwise.” For Eddie, hunting down the right parts is a hobby within a hobby. “You find bits and pieces everywhere, and every part has its own story,” he explains. “For example, I found the gear lever at The Trip Out in England. I spent the whole afternoon sitting there with that gear lever in my hand, drinking beer,” he grins. The Panhead emblems on the tank hold special value for Eddie. “I got those from Tjalle Reitsma at Harliepleats. When I told him they were for my own chopper, he just gave them to me. I’d have loved to show him the bike once it was finished… but Tjalle fell ill and sadly passed away.”

Eddie is quite handy himself and had already built most of the chopper. But due to a lack of time and a garage that was constantly full of motorbikes for sale, the project wasn’t making much progress. “At that rate, it would have turned into a multi-year project, and I just wanted to ride it! So I called on Piet Wierda’s help once again.” PW Custom Cycles is located near Eddie’s place, which meant he could pop round regularly after work to have a look and bring over parts. “Piet finished building the bike and put the finishing touches to it. He’s got a real feel for choppers and understands exactly what I like.” Sometimes the two of them would sit together for hours poring over the details. “We could go on forever about the perfect angle of the cocktail shaker exhaust silencers,” says Eddie. “Just looking and saying nothing.” Finding the right tank was also quite a quest. “The first one had a mid-tunnel, which didn’t look right at all. Then I tried a low-tunnel, but that sat right on top of the engine. In the end, the tunnel had to be made by hand.”

“It was clear from the start that the motor had to be green. But which shade? That was the question,” says Eddie. “I had a whole folder full of colour samples, and it honestly gave me colour-choosing anxiety. Pages full of green squares, all just slightly different.” After much deliberation, the choice finally fell on one colour. “Funnily enough, my wife chose exactly the same one, so that gave me confidence. But it was still nerve-wracking to see whether that colour would really work on the tank.” The paintwork was carried out by Justin Wielinga, a true craftsman and professional car painter. “When he’d finished and sent a photo, I rushed over there straight away. The colour is exactly as I’d pictured it in my head.”

Eddie’s chopper looks as though it’s straight out of the pages of an old American chopper magazine. Every detail is spot on; nothing has been left to chance. From the compact hardtail frame and the large spoked wheels to the Wassel tank, finished with Panhead badges. The Panhead mudguard, complete with pillion pad, also fits in seamlessly with the style. The narrow handlebars, with that subtle forward bend on the Springer fork, and the sissy bar complete the picture. That’s what they call ‘period perfect’. This chopper exudes nostalgia and brings the glory days of proper choppers back to life.