Morten's California Style
Building a “headturner” out of a classic California-style Harley chopper requires knowledge and skills about history and mechanics. Morten Kvilhaug’s 69` Shovel is just such a bike. We should think and believe that he has succeeded, because when I saw the bike one warm summer evening on Karl Johans gate in the capital, it seemed like pure flypaper to passersby.
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Customizing is almost synonymous with Harley-Davidson and vice versa. There are few, if any, motorcycle brands that are more popular as a conversion project than this American icon. Classic choppers that also have veteran status are not very common, and when we spotted Morten's bike, we had to stop and take a closer look at this classic chopper. Morten is based in Hof, where he runs a motorcycle business with his own workshop. During the day, he tinkers with most makes and models, but after closing time, it's Harley that matters. Then he enjoys himself at his own pace, and since he is a professional with a flair for vices, welding equipment and pillar drills, most things can be arranged.
California style
When Morten started building this bike, he emphasized using as many genuine Harley parts as possible. Many of the parts that are in the aftermarket are manufactured in the East. “This is good stuff, but it’s not Harley,” says Morten when I ask where the parts come from. Here, as much as possible should be original HD, as it was back in the 1960s when Harleys were customized into choppers. Some parts are Made in Taiwan, but they are becoming fewer and fewer as he replaces these when he finds original HD parts. Morten has built the bike in typical 1960s California style, a style characterized by low lines, and with a wide, truncated rear fender and no front fender.
Originally an Electra Glide
It is lowered and relatively free of unnecessary equipment. The bike was originally an Elektra Glide, and although many of the parts from the “original” bike are still on it, he has used many parts from other Harleys, models from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, precisely to get the right “stuck”. Some of the parts that are original on this model are the same as Harley used in the 1930s. The drivetrain is of course a Shovelhead, which in Morten’s opinion is the best Shovel that Harley made, precisely because it was produced before AMF bought Harley-Davidson . Morten has fully overhauled and improved the engine, so that weak points are no longer an Achilles heel, because as he says “If you know this engine, you know what adjustments it needs to make it work”. We believe him, because the bike started on the first pedal. Not all Shovelheads do that!
