OTTAWAY - CUSTOM STREET BOB

Although it was a combined team effort here at Maidstone Harley, David Rita and Michael Elm from our workshop led the way with our 2018 custom build of ‘Ottaway’ – creating a Harley-Davidson of yesteryear but with some cool modern touches to bring it into 2018 so that it’s completely based around not only Harley’s board and flat track legacy but our own. Ottaway also carries several subtle but sentimental homage’s in recognition of Harley’s 115th Anniversary. The name of our build is a nod to Harley’s ancestry as this was the surname of William ‘Bill’ Ottaway, one of the first engineers to be employed by the American brand to develop their race engines.

WATCH OUR VIDEO AS WE REVEAL ALL BEHIND OTTAWAY:

THE BRIEF / RULES

Models available: Street 750, Street Rod, Iron 883, Forty-Eight, Roadster, MY18 Street Bob or MY18 Fat Bob. The customization budget was £5,500 to cover parts, accessories, paint, fabrication and labour. Build has to include a minimum of 50% H-D parts and the bike must be road legal. All entries must be able to be re-created for the same cost and sold for that price (max retail price includes bike, parts, paint, fabrication and labour).

OUR STORY / INSPIRATION BEHIND OTTAWAY

‘Ottaway’ has several heritage inspired features that brings this build back to the original board / flat track motorcycles of their time whilst keeping several new components that we have all come to know and love from a 2018 Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Attention was first turned to the Heritage features on this build which are period correct components:

- The handlebars / Leather cables used are based on Harley’s board track era

- The Patent badge is the same used on the original board track motorcycles from the 1910 / 1920 Harley era

- The entire paint scheme is based on the original 11-k motorcycles

- The rear tail section is a nod to the XR 750 and era of racing

- Air filter is that seen on the XR 750 dual carb facing back

- Brushed metal finish

- Tank design has flat sides like the original bikes from that era

- Blue stitching that has been used on the seat is the same colour that Harley-Davidson have used for their 115th Anniversary motorcycles / merchandise / Badge

Harley-Davidson recently set a new benchmark of our motorcycle era last year as they rolled out several new features for the Softail lineup so we ensured we kept these welcomed developments whilst sporting some quintessential flat track elements our of our day:

- 19” wheels are the same as those used for flat track racing in the DTRA series

- Exhaust pipes are similar to those seen on our custom flat track bike ‘Hurricane’

- Standard headlight mount has been turned around so that the patent badge is more visible

- Keyless ignition has been kept on the bike so that it is a hassle free start

- Brushed metal finish on the bike has been used as it’s part of Harley’s heritage and very current here in 2018

- The pipes are also shaped in a ‘V’ around the engine so that it frames the V-Twin engine, a feature known all so well to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, past, present and future.