Hello, One of the early styles of a radically raked gooseneck, the extended girder front forks and radical handlebars to allow shoulder height grip on the streets. The Harley Panhead motor was right in style with the custom accessories for daily driving and the weekend shows. A lot of chrome made the motorcycle a show bike, but the rest of the styling was old style hot rod/drag racing styling. Low, fat rear tire and skinny drag racing front spokes, were all custom items for the early custom motorcycles. Some of the riders/builders experimented with longer springer forks for looks. The longer it was, the heavier it became and then the handling was affected. Jnaki In listening to the custom bike roll up to the photo shoot or on the street, the longer version of the chrome exhaust pipes made the sound a little quieter. Almost to the legal limits imposed on motorcycles at the time. But, the longer pipes made a blast of noise for the rear passenger, despite being higher up on the booster rear seat. Note: The longer the forks are angled outward, there was a point where the weight of the wheel/tire and forks just flopped over when standing still. It was difficult to sit at a stop light waiting, while a slight motion left or right would make the angled neck and fork seem as if the wheel wanted to take a sharp flop over to the side. But, it was the style, not necessarily the function that was in the popular mode. YRMV Note 2: As the years progressed, the tall seatback was gone and the pullback handle bars were also gone. In their places were a low slung, wide fender and custom shaped seat. The handle bars were gone and in their place were short “T” shaped bars that made reaching higher up, no more. The sight lines were straight from the low slung rider and the arms were straight forward to the short handle bars. Handling and comfort for the rider was the first choice of many riders and custom bike folks.
The Jalopy Journal
