Make:

You called?

Been riding for about 20 years, current bike is a 1200 Sportster.

(no modem jokes please)

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steve, do you know lots of owners? do you think they're maker-types?

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Yep..I'm a Maker and a HD owner. I think any grassroots Harley guys are almost certainly Makers at heart. I built a motorcycle lift from scratch...instead of a hydraulic type jack, I built a scissor type out of scrap steel and a piece of threaded rod. Works great and is very smooth...up and down.

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Why limit it to just yuppie harley owners? Most "makers" either cant afford, or cannot justify the cost benefit of such machinery... IMHO most harley owners are accountants going thru midlife crisis. Granted, there are some guys out there building Harleys that are master fabricators, but they are the minority, and likely already have Discovery Channel executives on speed dial.

I'm building a totally lowbuck hardtail chopper out of a wrecked Suzuki.

Though none of my bikes are on it, and I dont particularly dig all the styles shown, have a look at www.ratbike.org for some AUTHENTIC biker-maker flavor...

...oh, yeah, theres a coupla Harleys on there, too...

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well they're a cross section of the population, just like any group, some will build their bike and make any custom tools they need, others will go to the shop and pay to get an oil change.

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I've been reading Make for a while now, and I love my 2005 SE Fatboy!

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An older Harley is a constant Make project, here's a couple of mine:
http://gastiresoil.blogsome.com/category/motorcycles/servicarsportster-trike/

and

http://gastiresoil.blogsome.com/category/motorcycles/89-sportster/

Painting, welding, electrical, it's hotrodding, just no laying on your back getting rust in your eyes(like under a car).

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Oh, and as to the "harley riders are accountants" and " a cross section of the population", sure, I hate it when I see the prices of parts in the stealership and the fact that they are largely "boutiques". But, look at it from this perspective: even though harleys are a small fraction of motorcyles a) they almost never get junked out, just rebuilt b) the vast, vast majority of after market parts are for Harleys.
Now the fact is, the majority of any brand owners are not makers. If you look in racing catalogs, most of the parts are for the small block chevy engine. That doesn't mean that the average chevy owner is a racer, just that chevys make a good (cheap, availible) starting point for building an engine.

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Please visit www.hogdraw.ca The Gaelic College Pipe Band is Selling tickets on a 2006 Fat Boy Screamin Eagle.

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Sweet. I love Makezine. Bikes & Hotrods.

I built that Harley PC. My worklog
http://www.wizdforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=538

My website,
http://www.mnpctech.com

Makezine, this is the 2nd time youve featured my work on your site. Modding pays my mortgage. Gimme a hollar sometime.

Bill Owen

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if you want to see what real Harley Riders are like you should visit http://www.westcoastbikers.com - all west coast mods and style.

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