Joshua Boggs 2004 Sportster 883

Joshua Boggs

In 2016 Boggs began to build a Sportster that represented his blacksmithing background.

In the winter of 2016 Joshua Boggs began to strip down his 2004 Sportster 883. The bike had been lowered, and painted in his father’s garage with a few hand fabricated parts - but nothing that Boggs would say was special compared to where he wanted to go with the bike.

“The bike was pretty much bone stock when I bought it in 2016,” said Boggs, “It had some bolt ons like pipes and an air cleaner, but nothing crazy.” Boggs would go on to explain that the bike would inspire him to build something more representative of his profession, and also interest people in blacksmithing.

“A lot of old school techniques were used to build this bike,” Boggs explained, “And I wanted it to showcase how you can make anything you can imagine with steel with some effort and fire.” But with every build, inspiration leads to perspiration.

Boggs was immediately faced with the challenge of building the bikes custom downtubes. The tubes are 1" cold rolled 1018 hexagon stock that were individually twisted to mirror each other. Boggs welded the bottom ends together to the spacing they needed to be. “They got heated together in my propane forge until they were glowing orange,” said Boggs, “I had to pull them out by hand with wet gloves because they were long and awkward to hold, then stick them in a bench vice to pull them around each other. I really wish I would've recorded it, because it was definitely an intense 6 hours to pull it off.”

The challenge of building the frame is probably why it is Boggs’ favorite element of the build. “Everything down to the threaded bungs for the axle adjusters are hand twisted, then manually machined to fit up as it should,” he explained, “Yeah, a lot of old school blacksmith techniques were used; but I'm a machinist at my day job so everything is precise as well. It tracks straight down the highway at 75 mph even with the twisted frame that is far from symmetrical, so I couldn't be more stoked about it.”

The bikes paint was done by Dan Bliss, owner of No Luck Paint Works in Manchester, NH; and the pinstriping was done by Fred Ewell Jr, owner of Loctite's Chop Shop in Epping, NH. Additionally work was done by Steve Milward owner of Fatman Custom Motors who rebuilt the motor; Ryan Frost owner of Ryno's Rest who provided vaper honing; hand engraved parts from Flame Art Designs in Ireland and Hypnic Jerk Customs in Australia; and hand tooled leather by Terri Piana of Pork Choppers Custom Leathers. “Without all of them, and the painters mentioned above, I dont think the bike would be half of what it is,” said Boggs

Reflecting on the build and custom motorcycles, Boggs would say that his favorite aspect of custom motorcycles is sharing tips and tricks with other builders. “It seems like no one really hides how they do something,” said Boggs, “And the amount of talent in the industry that just humbly lays low is incredible.”