When most people think of Texas , they think of The Dallas Cowboys, Lance Armstrong or maybe Lone Star Beer but, when I think of Texas , I think of Johnny's Custom Shop. Johnny's Custom shop is located in McAllen , TX , 65 miles west of South Padre Island on the Rio Grande River . Johnny's is an old school Harley Shop specializing in all years and models of HDD's from Flatties to Evos.

Johnny and his "associate" Javy (pronounced "haavie") have done Flathead trikes, nitrous fed Pans and stroked, polished and ported Shovels. This latest creation dubbed "Hard Times" won 1st place in the Pro Division at the "Roar By The Shore" Bike Show held October 11 - 14, 2001 at South Padre Island, TX. This bike beat out several trendy competitors includ­ing four Bourgets-based bikes.

Owner, Alan Tittle, bought the bike as a 1994 Evo Sporty basket case and realized he needed to enlist the expert help of Johnny and Javy. Knowing that Johnny's is "one-stop- shopping" for motor work, fabrication (milling, welding, lathe work) and paint, Tittle knew he came to the right place.

Tittle scrapped the stock Sporty frame and ordered a 2001 Paughco rigid with a 40 degree rake and a 2 fi" stretch in the down tubes through Johnny. Johnny fabricated mounts for the Paughco Mustang gas tank and Paughco horseshoe oil tank. Bolting a 6" over stock narrow glide kit with dual discs on the frame, Tittle new he had the right look. The frame sits level and the bike handles excellently. Internal forkstops keeps the bike looking clean.

Prior to dropping the motor in the frame, Johnny installed Wisco 10 over pistons, ported and polished the heads then discovered the wrong rocker boxes were included with the basket case. After ordering the correct rocker boxes, Johnny installed Sifton Cams, Jims Utters and Crane Hydraulic Pushrods. An S&S Super E Garb, Chrome Works Side-Cut Straight Pipes and an Dyna single-fire ignition made the sporty run quicker than a habenaro eatin' Gringo looking for water.

Keeping the lines clean, Tittle had Johnny's put drag bars on 8" risers, a Chrome Specialties 5 fl" head light and Pro-One speedo/tach combination. He lowered the front fender so it hugs the 19" wheel. Squeezing the dual rotors are GMA calipers. The lower fork legs and trees were chromed. Johnny took an old "forged" Japanese fork brace and ball milled it for a custom look.

Johnny hand fabricated a coil mount with a key switch that hooked up to the top motor mount and painted the coils to match the sheet metal. Speaking of fabrication, Johnny (also known as "Steel Boy") completely handmade the spider web sissy bar using 5/16" rod for the main section and 1/8" rod for the web. The sissy bar screws into the rear frame drop-outs with countersunk socket head screws for that ultra clean look. Johnny also made the "float­ing" chain guard which ^attaches to the sissy bar and fender in discrete places making it "hover" about fi" above the chain.

The rear fender is a flat 8" job which Johnny cut a section away for the chain and re-welded it about 1/2" closer to the tire creating a "step" so that the lip of the fender flows even­ly instead of just having a chunk cut out of it. It is inside this "step" that one of the chain guard mounting screws sit.

The license plate/brake light mount is a side axle mounting foldable special that keeps your shins from getting all bruised up when you walk by it to take out the empties. An adjustable wheel keeps the correct amount of tension on the drive chain.

The paint Johnny sprayed on the bike is DuPont Sunset Orange Pearl Metallic. Plenty of wet sanding, clear coating and rubbing keeps "Hard Times" looking as wet as a prom date's kiss. Johnny's been painting for 18 years. Johnny's friend Edgar of EDS Airbrush Graphix did the tribal pinstripe with the Texas flare.