The number of attention Matt McManus devoted to this 1947 FL Knuckle would pity a museum historian with OCD. Matt designed the bike precisely how a bobber would've looked in the 50's. Every nut and bolt has the correct factory finish onto it, even though circumstances and unique preference influenced a few deviations from time to time.
This wasn't his first rodeo, though. Matt and his dad each have their own old knuckle heads. They've each raised from the dead a couple of the old bikes in their lifetimes. He assembled an additional 1947 just before this one.
As he describes ityou would practically consider the very first bike as a rehearsal for this.
"The first bike was okay however it was not specifically what I planned. Someone else had started developing it and I simply completed it with what was there," he says.
The earliest was initially offered by Matt at an antique motorcycle swap meet. Some guy fell in love with it and unconditionally had to purchase it. Even though he was reluctant to start with, he ultimately decided and scooted out the swap meet without the knuckle head but with a fat pocket.
That turned out for the best. The problem with the first project was that he started when the bike was half clone to someone else's styles and he just completed the puzzle. Think of that one as a sort of starter house, it's not the best choice, but the worth within it enables you to acquire what you long for the very next time. Matt put the money from the sold knuckle into making the bike you see before you now.
Matt's first thing on his list was analysis. McManus conferred with classic photos, motorcycle mags and photos on the internet in order to get an idea of what alterations and extras were done to these bikes back in the '50s. McManus knew about the big bits and pieces. What McManus wanted were the natural modifications. Subsequently, it was a matter of putting that understanding into play. Largely, that meant searching everywhere to locate all the parts. What if you bought a classic knuckle and every little thing worked on it, there would not be much of a restoration story in it, now would there?
McManus totally refurbished the motor. It was similar to looking for treasure. Matt bought the cases from one place, barrels from another, and so on. Piece by piece he put it all together, and after that took the motor to Ben's V-twins where they did the machine task and assembled it. The original guts were worn out. Because He was restoring this bike as a rider and not a museum curator, he preferred top quality alternatives on the inside. That's why he opted for S&S pistons, rods, Rowe valves, and an Andrews S grind cam. So far, Matt has already logged 13K miles on it without a hitch.
There isn't much in the way of fabrication with this bike but what little there is comes directly from Matt himself. He bobbed the rear fender and topped it with a taillight. Also the exhaust has his handy work on it. He took a set of headers and built everything else himself. It took Matt 7 months from hunting parts to paint to reincarnate this bike.
"I've thought about changing the bike around later on by putting the actual fenders and saddle back, for the time being I'm just going to let those accessories and parts like harley hand grips and the likes, Iay around and enjoy the bike how it is now," he says.
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