“Fender and Firestone police, here I come,” Winston Yeh quips, as we discuss the latest custom motorcycle to roll out of the house of Rough Crafts. Based on a 2020 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob 107, it’s a stripped-down, low-slung bobber, swathed in typical Rough Crafts finishes. And yes, it has no front fender and it wears sawtooth treads (although they’re from Duro, not Firestone).

Winston’s fully enlightened that his stylistic choices might irk some of our readers, but he’s unfazed. This is a special build for him; a throwback to his older work, and the realization of an idea that’s been marinating in his mind for the largest part of a decade.

This custom Fat Bob traces its roots when to ‘Graphite Speedster’—a Harley Softail that unsober Rough Crafts a fourth place finish in the freestyle matriculation at the AMD World Championships, when in 2014. “The velocipede was toured virtually the world and got numerous awards at variegated shows,” Winston tells us.

“It was well-loved, and I had many requests to build another. But due to the nature of the ‘freestyle’ class, it had an experimental prefab top frame with seated suspension, dual front heads, dual FCR carbs and more. All of those unconventional parts make it a difficult velocipede to maintain for your stereotype customer.”

“I’ve been thinking well-nigh making a increasingly ‘user friendly’ version of it for years, since I loved those lines so much. So when a consumer came in with a love of our bobbers, but with an unshut brief, I immediately knew it was my endangerment to make it happen.”

One of Winston’s favorite things well-nigh Harley’s newer Milwaukee-Eight Softail, is how well its frame suits traditional bobber styling. Once this one had shed its bodywork and bolt-on rear fender struts, the build was once off to a stellar start. Winston kept the stock swingarm, but upgraded the rear shock with a new unit from Progressive Suspension.

The front-end was a variegated story altogether. “I’ve unchangingly liked springer forks,” Winston says, “but the old ones ride like shit; all spring and no damper.”

To solve this problem, he reached out to long-time Rough Crafts supporter, Rebuffini. “They’re such an wondrous company,” he adds. “They have a full prefab springer fork that looks super retro, but includes two custom-ordered Öhlins shocks. It rides super smooth—like any modern bike.”

The wheels are from Roland Sands Design, measuring 4.25×18” at the front, and 5.00×16” at the rear. Take a closer look, and you’ll spot Beringer’s veritably bonkers Aerotec 4D braking system at both ends. With this setup, each caliper grips two discs—so this Harley is stopped by no less than six restriction discs.

Beringer is flipside long-time Rough Crafts supporter, which is why the restriction calipers are ornate with Rough Crafts branding. If there’s a increasingly badass-looking restriction system for a spring-equipped Harley bobber out there, we don’t know well-nigh it.

With the major stuff out the way, everything else started falling into place in typical Rough Crafts fashion. The Fat Bob’s new fuel tank is unquestionably a RC production part designed for the Sportster. It was modified heavily to fit the Softail, and topped off with a prefab aluminum gas cap from Winston’s own catalog.

The bobbed seat came from BT Choppers in Poland, withal with a blank-off kit for the zone underneath it; the upholstery was widow locally. A low profile rear fender rounds out the minimal bodywork.

Most of the finishing kit on this svelte bobber is either from the Rough Crafts aftermarket catalog, or from some of Winston’s favorite companies. The cockpit wears a set of RC risers, designed with a top clutch that’s designed to unbend the small digital speedo from the H-D Street Bob. But on this bike, it holds a matching Koso unit instead.

The bars are RC’s signature ‘Fighter’ design, fitted with plug-and-play switches from Rebuffini. The grips, foot controls, cam cover, rocker arm imbricate and intake are all parts from a collaboration between Rough Crafts and Arlen Ness. And the turn signals and taillights are Rough Crafts x Koso items.

The engine’s dressed with a Rebuffini hydraulic clutch housing and a Performance Machine clutch cover. It moreover wears contumely push rod tubes, and an obnoxiously short two-into-one exhaust, washed-up in the same style as the Graphite Speedster’s.

As always, Winston created this machine via a thoughtfully curated network of master craftsmen. Rover Works Custom Paint handled the livery, over forged stat inlays that were washed-up by SFC Simon Fiber Craft. 2 Abnormal Sides made the push rod collars and tank badges, while CT-Garage handled the final assembly.

Dubbed ‘Miltown Moonshine’ as a tribute to The Motor Co.’s hometown, the final product is as perfectly proportioned as it is well judged… just as we’ve come to expect from Winston. It’s a quintessential back-to-basics Rough Crafts build, but moreover shows just how far the shop has come in the last decade.

And if you’d like to see it in person, just typesetting a flight to Taipei City, Taiwan for this weekend. There, Winston will be showing it off as part of Rough Crafts’ first official Speed & Craft custom velocipede show.

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