The Build Up Sweepstakes: We build a custom Softail, you can win it

I’m old enough to remember when baggers were "Geezer Glides," Dynas were for Dad bod types who hadn’t quite fully embraced their oldness enough to get on a Geezer Glide, and Sportsters were just disposable starter bikes to be abandoned after you got past the dropping-your-bike phase. Then it seemed that Biltwell singlehandedly brought the Sportster back to garages everywhere, Sons of Anarchy launched an entire army of Dyna Bros onto the streets and every person riding a production chopper in the early 2000s found themselves either on a big-wheel bagger or sinking tens of thousands of dollars into their "performance bagger" (that's a whole other article) build.

But before all of these model reawakenings, there was the Softail. Not the re-named monoshock model that currently resides on Harley-Davidson dealer floors across the country, but the OG Softail model from 1984. The one that was made to look like a hardtail by hiding its suspension under the frame, resulting in a low seat height and chopper-like stance. The Softail enjoyed quite the run, as far as sales numbers are concerned. Before the bagger boom that started after the Street Glide introduction in late 2005, the Softail ruled all things H-D. The streets of Sturgis (and every other rally) were covered in everything from pro-street-style Softails to leather-clad Heritage Softails.

Which kind of brings me to where we are now — or, more to the point, where are the Softails now? If you start combing through Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, you’ll start to see these hidden gems in all their old glory. Both Evo and Twin Cam models can be had fairly cheaply and they are just begging to be built into the chopper of your dreams, only with the wonderful luxury of rear suspension.

As luck would have it, the J&P stable had in its possession one of these moth-balled Softails I was looking for. Stashed away in a storage container, a former catalog centerfold bike was wasting away, just waiting to be rescued. It was a "build-a-bike" from back in 2005 and had been stripped down, for whatever reason, then stashed for the last 10 or 15 years. It was the perfect in-house barn find that I was looking for to bring my Softail custom dreams to life. So I hatched a plan to build a Softail chopper and went to spinning wrenches.

Here’s the extra sweet part of this story. The bike I built can be yours for the low, low price of free. All you have to do is go enter The Build Up Sweepstakes at J&P Cycles. The winner will get not only the bike, but also a full set of gear, and other prizes will be given away, too. No purchase necessary. Just your love of two wheels.

So what exactly might you win? If you haven't been following our build videos, let me give you a recap.

Episode 1: Pulling the Softail out of cold storage

For a motorcycle that had been parked for 10 years, the initial assessment was pretty positive.

The motor and transmission were in good shape, the frame was solid and I thought I could even repurpose the rear fender. I was particularly stoked at the 96 ci S&S Cycle powerplant. It was such a score to be able to build this bike around a great motor.

My overall idea with the bike was to keep it as chopperific as possible — the least amount of stuff the better. I also wanted to narrow the bike up a bit and pretty much remove everything that wasn’t essential to being a running motorcycle.

Episode 2: On the hunt for parts

I had a good idea of how I wanted to cut up the existing rear fender but I was on the hunt for a gas tank to fit the stance of the bike. For some inspiration and a possible gas tank score, I visited our local chopper shop, Shovelhead Sasha’s. Sasha is a great character and has all the cool chopper stuff and our visit paid off. I was able to find the perfect tank for the build and get some ideas while ogling his row of choppers.

Back at the shop, I determined the front end that was on the bike was total garbage and was stylistically the opposite direction that I wanted to go. So I opted for a standard 39 mm narrow glide off a Sportster to slim the bike down and give us a more functional front end.

With the rear fender, oil tank and gas tank sorted, they could be sent off to the painter while I turned my attention to chopping things into the shapes I wanted. After some Sawzalling and grinding on the frame, the stance of the bike was coming around to what I envisioned. I was, however, treated to a nice surprise of finding out that our rear suspension was totally shot. So off I went to hunt down new rear suspension for the Softail.

Episode 3: How to shave your legs and more of the daily grind

I was looking to use air suspension for this build because it would allow us to set the ride height at a nice low level for those cool guy cruising spots but also give us the option to raise it up for some ground clearance and comfort when blasting down the road. Lucky for us, Legends Suspension is right down the road and they are basically the grandfathers of Softail air suspension, so to speak. So I had no doubt we would get our suspension woes cured.

After getting the rear suspension we needed at Legends, it was back to touching up the frame with a bit of final grinding before the powder coat.

Then I turned my attention again to the front end. In staying with our chopper vibe, I really wanted to shave the legs and keep things sexy with a spool wheel up front. The only issue is that I don’t have a lathe to quickly turn down the fork legs. So I went to work with a cut off wheel and a regular old palm sander like you can find at your home hardware store. The key here is patience and working slowly and deliberately. If you're careful not to remove too much material, you can successfully shave off all your unwanted tabs and mounts and get that smooth look.

After cutting and sanding for what seemed like an eternity, I was finally able to get the frame and fork legs whipped into shape and off to be blasted and powder coated.

Episode 4: Final assembly and the reveal

With the shiny parts returning from the powder coater and the tins coming back from paint, it was finally time to see if all my shenanigans would pay off and I would get the chopper-inspired Softail I had envisioned. You would think that final assembly would be the easy part in a bike build, but for me it's always the nerve-wracking part. Will all my wacky schemes pay off and work the way they are supposed to or will I be scrambling to make things work?

This time, things came together the way they were supposed to, for the most part. The rolling chassis went together really slick and the motor and drivetrain came together like I planned, with the exception of the belt drive. They always seem to give me a bit of a fit.

I wanted to keep the wiring as clean as possible so I used the Motogadget M Unit for the first time and really liked it. It’s a perfect piece for anyone building or re-wiring a bike and looking to keep things simple and functional. The sheet metal came back from Chad over at Copperhead Graphics and he delivered rad pieces, as he normally does. I take the same approach with painters as I do with tattoo artists: I give them a concept and let them do what they do best. This time was no different. I asked for bright and "choppery" and Chad delivered a perfect paint job complete with a rad Easter egg under the tank.

From there, it was a cake-decorating scenario bolting on all the finish parts and Performance Machine controls before the long-awaited first ride.

It's always a tense moment before an initial startup, but the bike roared to life with no issue, which brought a long-awaited smile to my face. From there, I was champing at the bit to go for a ride and with the wacky South Dakota weather cooperating, I was able to throw a leg over our freshly built bike and head out for a spin.

The first ride is a combination of pride in your accomplishments and also waiting for something to break. Fortunately for me, nothing broke. The engine purred like a kitten as I cruised this head-turner around the Black Hills.

Nothing left to do but give it away

You heard it here first. Softails are the next big thing. Baggers are lame. Dynas are over, bro. Sportsters... well, they'll never die, but the best build platform to start dragging out of garages across the country are forgotten old Softails. We built ours with a heavy chopper influence but the platform is more versatile than you might imagine.

I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for old Softails and build them back to their former glory when the opportunity presents itself. Or if you want an easier way to own a custom Softail, just enter to win ours for free.