2000 Harley Davidson Electra Glide

Harley-Davidson introduced its first Street Glide in 2006, but John Pirozzi beat them to it in 1997. It was a '96 Police FLHTP that he transformed into what is essentially a Street Glide.

This isn't that bike, though. It's the sequel-a 2000 Electra Glide Standard Pirozzi converted in '03. He bought it used, but not the "preowned" PC version. No, this motorcycle was more of a Keith Richards' liver sort of used.

Nevertheless, he still rode it home from the first owner's place when he paid for it. John was OK with it being played out; he wasn't going to leave it stock anyway. He planned to make it lower and meaner than your average Electra. "The best comment I've gotten on this bike is that it looks like death," he says. We'd say that qualifies as mean-looking. What this basically meant was changing out the sheetmetal and lowering the bike for the angrier profile now found on H-D's Street Glide.

Like Harley-Davidson's founders, he worked out of his shed. He stripped the scoot down to the frame and tossed the old fenders for a Road Glide front and Road King Custom rear, then brought all of the metalwork to his buddy, Mike White, at Collision Auto Body for paint.

Swapping skin was phase one. He stored the repainted sheetmetal, then dove into phase two. While he had the frontend, primary cover, cam cover and rocker boxes powdercoated in black, Pirozzi also had the motor rebuilt. He and his buddies did as much of the work on this bike on their own as they could, but John turned to American British Cycles to fill in the gaps his home workshop could not. They rose to the occasion quite well. It also seems he likes a little speed with his evil. The Twin Cam was upgraded to 95 inches, giving him significantly more muscle on the road.

It took Harley a few decades to build their Street Glide, but it only took John Pirozzi a few months to make his 2000 version. Then again, he had the benefit of prior experience (and the help of good friends).