Bike deals come in many shapes and sizes, and for many reasons and under many different circumstances. Troy Honeycutt, owner of King T's Kustoms, got a call from his longtime friend and custom culture enthusiast, Mitch McNally, about a swingarm shovelhead that was for sale. Troy had heard mention of the bike before, so he and Mitch got together and went over some ideas about what direction the project could possibly go in. Before even seeing the bike in person, they knew exactly what it would look like as a finished project. The two of them went over to check out the bike that was not so spiffy, or, as Troy said, "It looked like it was burned in a fire." Not a delightful vision to conjure. But money changed hands and now the swingarm shovel was headed in a new direction: clean and tight. After all, a nice-looking bike built at the shop helps to showcase the owner's talent and hopefully brings in some work. This is that bike.
After a short trip to King T's Kustoms' facility, the obligatory complete teardown was put into motion. The engine really needed very little in the way of mechanical replacement parts or services, other than the usual scrubbing of components and refurbishment of gaskets, seals, and bearings to bring the engine and the transmission back to a "factory fresh" and "race ready" combination. Troy said the transformation from ravaged to ravishing was straightforward, but with the usual delays like the platers and the back orders. There was fun to be had while gathering the correct parts, such as the search for the gas tanks. Troy spent time on E-Bay looking for a set of Harley 3.5 gallon Fat Bob tanks; they had to be factory because of the "look." After chasing auction after auction only to miss out in the last five minutes, he finally won the bid on the set of tanks that you see here today. Troy added, "These are probably the best set of tanks I went after and were the most reasonably priced tanks I went after."
When Troy rode the finished shovel over to Mitch's house to show him their vision realized, the guy they bought the bike from months before was there too. The previous owner simply stated, "That's what it looked like in my mind's eye." The moral to this story, if there is one, is that you don't always have to go through life changes to build a nice clean bike out of a mess; a good plan and steady progress will reward your efforts.