Walt Siegl?s 1952 Panhead: a Modern Antique
A client in France left the door wide open for Walt Siegl when he asked the New Hampshire-based craftsman to build him ?a Harley.? Over three years, Siegl turned a 1952 Harley-Davidson Panhead bobber into a masterpiece.
While he’s best known for his high-end, Kevlar-clad Italian exotics, Siegl has a fondness for hot rod bikes of the 30s and 40s?and a particular soft-spot for Panheads. ?There?s something about the small cylinder heads and castings,? he says. ?The design speaks to me.?
The fact that this particular Harley would be a daily-ridden émigré in France meant Siegl wanted to have full confidence in the bike before shipping it across the Atlantic. He found a solid 52 1,200 cc Panhead engine and sent it to his go-to Harley mechanic, Andrew Rosa of Rosa Cycles in Long Island, New York. As Rosa started a top-to-bottom rebuild, including boring it out to 1,340 cc, Siegl went to work on the bike?s frame. Rather than using an aged original, he went with a reproduction wishbone frame?a faithful reproduction with original markings on all the castings, and an overall shape that allowed him to get the stance he wanted.
Siegl used as many stock-looking components as he could, trying to stay true to the look of the original bike and wanting his creation to pass as a lightly customized Panhead. The oil tank, battery, clutch basket, and starter system all had to be heavily modified to fit.
?It wasn?t easy,? he confesses with a laugh. ?It took a lot of massaging of sto...
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