Free Kustom Cycles Harley-Davidson Evo Chopper

No, no. I’m not talking about the 1990s icon that still brings every bad relationship it can find to every stoner’s or hungover frat boy’s TV screen every weekday. The “springer” in question here was an Evo-powered rigid chopper with a springer fork) on it, sporting all the styling cues that defined 1990s chopper style. It was canceled so that the chopper you see here could live.

Many times, things happen in strange ways. This is not an exception. Marcos Vazquez was looking for a bike with a springer front end and in the year 2002 found this Harley Davidson Evo machine.

The bike came to Spain from the US in 2001 for the Barcelona Olympic Sailing Week. Tony, one of the mechanics of the US team, brought it with him. He’d already made his marks on it with an Arlen Ness-style big fat wheel on the back, a skinnier counterpart on the front, and a flame paint job that was cutting edge. For 1990, anyway.

Most importantly, though, it had a springer on it. A famous Latin proverb says, “Fortune favors the bold.” Lady Luck also favors the local. A year after Tony brought the bike to Spain, he had to return to the US, and it was easier to sell the bike in Spain rather than ship it back home. His dilemma was local boy Marcos’ good fortune. He was delighted to buy the bike from Tony.

Marcos rode his Evo as is for a few years, even touring it cross-country. Four years of that 1990s paint job and fat back tire wore on him just like it wore on the custom bike industry here in America. Marcos began thinking of restyling the Evo; he also wanted his wife, Monica, to be able to ride passenger. Clearly, it was time for a change—just not the change Marcos expected.

In the midst of this, news came that Monica was pregnant with their first daughter. Family comes first. His Evo-powered bike understood and sat patiently in disarray around the garage, waiting its turn. Seven long years later, the time was right for Marcos to get back in the saddle.

With all those years of waiting and the old-school coming back, the idea of the springer front end was losing strength in Marcos’ mind. Springer forks are a classic, but he wanted something more custom than that. One day, playing around on eBay, a girder front end caught Marcos’ eyes, and after coming back from a recent Mooneyes Hot Rod Show, he bought a girder fork from a guy who said he was going to use it on a 125cc minibike. Marcos’ timely intervention saved the girder from that terrible fate.

Once he was back in Spain, Marcos started creating his new chopper from the ashes of the old. Armed with his Evo mill and his new front end, his mind conjured the bike’s new look in his head. It would be something classic, skinny, and clean.

The invitation to participate on the Art & Wheels show in Switzerland in May was the motivator to have the bike done, but that left him with a mere four months to make the deadline. “You know that in these cases, we always use every second to get the bike done,” he says. “Last-minute issues come up, things can get complicated, but with the help of friends and family it all gets done.” Marcos wants to thank Miquel from Unitat Metrica, all the guys who support his work on the shop, and mostly his wife Monica and his two little daughters for their support.