Perfect NEAR SCORE

SCRATCH’S GARAGE 97-POINT 1940 KNUCKLEHEAD FL

We rst met Scratch back in 2014 when he rode up to our studio on his 1946 Harley-Davidson FL Knucklehead called Jessie. Let me repeat: He rode into our studio. See, Scratch has owned that bike since his 20s and has been riding it ever since.

When we heard that he had a 1940 Knucklehead he had restored to showroom condition, we jumped at the chance to see it. In a world full of weekend warriors and internet tough guys, Scratch is the real-deal rider who not only appreciates these old bikes but can accurately bring one back from the dead.

HOT BIKE: WHAT DID THIS RESTORATION START LIKE?

SCRATCH: I’ve been building bikes off and on my whole life, not as business. I got serious about restoring bikes after I was done with the touring business. I’ve been hard at it five to six years now.

It’s nice if you are going to start a restoration that you start with a complete bike. Unfortunately, in the case of this Knucklehead I only had the motor that came with a title. I literally had to go out and find all the parts, including the frame, handlebars, sheet metal, everything one piece at a time. A lot of these parts were one year only because it was a transitional year between the early bikes and what would become known as the later ’41–’47 Knuckleheads.

The good part is sometimes when you go the long way around you end up with a nicer end product.

HB: WHO OWNS IT?

SCRATCH: I don’t want to piss everyone off, but it’s going to Australia [laughs]. This was a friend of mine that I met while I was a tour guide on Route 66 while I had a group of Norwegians. One night in Missouri, in the room next to me, there was a bike there and a guy came out and I met him. He ended up staying with our tour group all the way to California, and we later became friends. Now I’ve known him for a number of years, and he was really in love with my Jessie and asked if I could build him a bike as well. So that’s what started all this.

HB: HOW DIFFICULT WAS THIS RESTORATION?

SCRATCH: Each time I do a different year, I learn new things. A lot of bikes are one year only. For example, this frame. I bought what was presented as a ’40 frame and I thought that it was. I found later that it wasn’t after I had restored it. Right about the rear head, there was extra clearance because the next year an FL was coming out. I managed to find the correct ’40 frame. It’s super hard to find.

We are drying up on parts around here or they are stashed. A lot of people are sitting on stashes they don’t want to sell. I’ve had parts come from as far as Japan and Australia. This bike has almost zero aftermarket parts and is almost entirely OEM or NOS parts.