Keith Loughmiller is one of those guys who has a true appreciation for antique iron. He is a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast with an affinity for Indian Motorcycles-his first antique bike was actually a Scout. But he also has a soft spot in his heart for Harley-Davidson panheads like this sweet looking bobber that he built out of spare parts he had laying around. And Keith has ample parts laying around ever since he bought a motorcycle wrecking yard back in 1989.
Not long after purchasing the wrecking yard, Keith started doing a lot of restorations using parts from his inventory, and ended up winning several of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America's highest honors. Because of the reputation Keith earned in the restoration circles, more and more customers who wanted custom bikes with antique H-D powerplants began finding their way to Keith's shop: Antique Motorcycle Restoration. And after building countless bikes for customers, Keith finally decided to dip into some of the piles of parts he had stashed for his own personal project.
The project started with a '49 panhead motor that Keith had actually sold to a customer and ended up buying back. Upon taking delivery of the motor for the second time, Keith tore it down and rebuilt it using N.O.S. Harley-Davidson bearings, rods, pistons and even went as far as rebuilding the points distributor. The transmission is a '48 4-speed unit that came out of Loughmiller's secret stash. The case was filled with Andrews gears and finished off with a Harley-Davidson ratchet top.The primary that Keith put together uses a stock H-D inner chain and a chrome-plated tin outer primary.
Keith had a lot of choices when it came to putting the fresh powerplant into a chassis because he had quite a selection out in his yard. But he was really looking to build a '40s style bobber, and to stay true to that style he chose to use a 1937-1/2 knucklehead chassis that someone had already chopped up. To help him get the frame straightened out, Keith turned to his friend Russell Quackenbush from Bugtussle Paint & Body. Russell replaced the chopped up center tube with a custom piece to allow the motor to fit, smoothed out all of the bumps and painted it gloss black. Keith built custom bearing cups to get the VL Springer to fit with the frame without having to change the neck of the frame. He also fitted standard Springer front legs and rockers so he could use a star hub laced into a 21-inch front wheel instead of the VL front drum brakes. Keith also set up the rear to use a star hub laced into a 16-inch hoop.
And in the tradition of early bobbers, Keith used as many factory and modified H-D parts as possible, including a set of factory fat bob tanks, '38 "skull" knucklehead dash and speedo, wide FLH handlebars, N.O.S. accessory shift knob, and even a Linkert M74B carburetor. Sure, he could have used modern parts that have a similar look, but he wanted his bike to be as true to the '40s style bobbers as possible.
After the initial build to ensure the fit and finish was up to snuff, the sheetmetal was shipped off to Bugtussle Paint & Body to be sprayed pearl black with very traditional looking white scallops, and the forks and many of the other parts were sent down to Burgess Plating of Indianapolis, Indiana for a new coat of chrome. It only took 10 months for Keith to finish his Pan bobber in his spare time-but it didn't even make a dent in the parts in his secret stash. It kind of makes us wonder what he's going to put together next.
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