As considered one of its pre-eminent voices, Winston Yeh’s contribution to the trendy {custom} bike scene is simple. However the place does he draw affect for his Tough Crafts creations from? This tradition Harley Fats Boy gives a shocking clue.
“I’m an enormous fan of the chopper period,” Winston tells us from his studio in Taipei, Taiwan. “West Coast Choppers, Motorbike Mania, Biker Construct-Off; these have been my heroes after I was nonetheless in class. The wild, fats rear tire, excessive handlebars, and Frisco tank look was the top of badass-ness for me.”
Winston’s {custom} Harleys are far faraway from the raked-out, gaudy made-for-TV choppers of yesteryear. However when you ask him, these old-school machines are by no means removed from his thoughts. It’s why the Tough Crafts aesthetic rides the road between previous and new so nicely.
It’s additionally why, when given free rein by his newest buyer, Winston determined to discover the thought of a contemporary chopper-inspired efficiency cruiser. “The client got here to my store,” he tells us, “pointed at considered one of my Softail builds, and stated ‘How will you prime that one?’ The one rule was that the using place wanted to be easygoing—however, apart from that, it was mainly an open temporary.”
“That stated, with Taiwan’s super-strict rule of no body modifications I technically couldn’t name it a chopper, since I wouldn’t be chopping something. So I got down to create as a lot of a chopper vibe as potential with the inventory geometry. The thought was to create a chopper silhouette with all the suitable efficiency parts in place.”
Though it’s hardly recognizable, Winston used a 2022 Harley-Davidson Softail Fats Boy as a donor for the construct. As its identify implies, the Fats Boy wears a fats 240-wide rear tire from the manufacturing facility, so it has the widest swingarm of all of Harley’s present Softail fashions. Placing a large rear tire on this construct was a should, so choosing the Fats Boy was a no brainer.
Straight out the gate, Winston swapped the Harley’s wheels for a pair of ultra-light carbon fiber hoops from BST in South Africa. The entrance wheel is a 3.5×21” five-spoke merchandise, chosen for “that classic invader-style look.” The stable 8.0×17” rear wheel isn’t in BST’s catalog, however it’s an older design that they nonetheless have a mould for, in order that they manufactured it as a one-off for Winston.
The entrance tire is a Pirelli Evening Dragon, and the rear is a 240-wide Pirelli Diablo Rosso that was designed for the Ducati Diavel. The brakes are Tough Crafts-branded Beringer 4D elements. Beringer’s 4D system makes use of two stacked discs per caliper, providing most braking energy from a small footprint.
Transferring to the suspension, Winston specced the Fats Boy with blacked-out Öhlins elements at each ends. The forks are shortened Öhlins FF521 models, shortened to get the bike’s stance proper. They’re dressed with Tough Crafts brake mounts and billet aluminum fork protectors from Kraus, they usually’re held in place by a set of CNC-machined yokes.
A shorter-than-stock Öhlins HD503 shock props up the rear. Look carefully, and also you’ll discover that it comes with its personal preload adjuster, mounted on the suitable the place the OEM unit usually sits.
Regardless of the broad rear tire, the Fats Boy now appears far more compact than earlier than. It additionally helps that it shed its inventory bodywork in favor of a set of {custom} elements.
A custom-made Frisco-style gasoline tank takes middle stage, formed with delicate scallops in Tough Crafts’ typical model. A BT Choppers seat (with contemporary upholstery) sits behind it, floating above a blank-off plate that hides the inventory wiring, however gives entry to the rear shock. A bobbed fender hugs the rear wheel to complete issues off.
Taking inspiration from the efficiency chopper heavyweight Roland Sands, Winston determined to forego typical chopper handlebar kinds in favor of a West Coast performance-inspired setup. Tough Crafts handlebars are perched on tall Rebuffini risers, with a prime clamp that integrates the tiny speedo from an H-D Road Bob. The brand new switchgear is from Rebuffini too—a plug-and-play equipment that performs good with the Harley’s OEM CAN bus system.
A Tough Crafts headlight and tiny Rebuffini LED flip indicators sit up entrance, with a pair of three-in-one Tough Crafts LED taillights out again.
Winston not solely has his personal vary of Tough Crafts equipment, however he additionally has a particular vary of Tough Crafts elements which might be produced by Arlen Ness. This construct wears Tough Crafts x Arlen Ness grips, floorboards, and foot controls. The teardrop air cleaner comes from the identical assortment, as do the cam and rocker covers.
The exhaust system is a twin header and field muffler combo that Winston’s been utilizing on his extra aggressive builds currently. Ending off the elements spec are a Tough Crafts fuel cap and a Rebuffini clutch housing.
As all the time, Winston constructed this Harley Fats Boy by tapping into his community of normal collaborators. CT-Storage dealt with meeting, whereas SFC Simon Fiber Craft added carbon fiber veneers to all the suitable elements. Rover Works Customized Paint dealt with the livery, taking part in with gloss and matte finishes over the carbon fiber, and punctuating the design with delicate pinstriping.
2 Irregular Sides produced a set of beautiful tank badges and pushrod collars. His jewelry-style handiwork is an unmissable element on any Tough Crafts Harley, however right here, he’s gone above and past with a particular silver adornment for the highest of the tank.
“It contains the Tough Crafts emblem, the proprietor’s identify, and even his private logos throughout,” says Winston. “The toughest a part of this over-the-top request was the right way to add extra, with out making it too flashy. So I needed to fastidiously select which elements needed to be shiny, and which elements needed to be delicate—however nonetheless make one thing that the proprietor can be proud to journey.”
This luxury embellishment, and the Fats Boy’s largely murdered-out look, has earned the bike the moniker of ‘Sovereign Raven.’ Sharp graphics on the wheels add a last trendy and sporty contact, whereas the super-sano area above the entrance cylinder head provides a nod to the stripped-down choppers of previous.
“I’m undecided how folks will react to the phrases ‘efficiency’ and ‘chopper’ in the identical sentence,” Winston admits, though he doesn’t appear significantly fazed. So long as his prospects maintain asking for them, he’s going to proceed exploring this new faculty tackle the bikes that captured his creativeness all these years in the past.
Tough Crafts | Fb | Instagram | Photographs by JL Pictures
