Warning: This will be a long post. The amount of incredible iron at the Born Free motorcycle show is completely out of control. Whether from the 30 invited builders, assembled around the acres of vendors or simply scattered among the thousands of bikes ridden into the show, there are really too many bikes to see in one day.
Maybe the best place to start is with the Builder’s Choice winner, Martin Carlgren’s 1930 Harley VL with a completely hand-built Husqvarna engine. With help from some friends he engineered, machined and assembled this motor based on drawings from the 1940’s that were never brought to production.
More than just an exercise in ingenuity, the bike is well-proportioned and graceful machine with a ton of other details and touches like the custom JD-style springer.
Another jaw-dropper was Christian Newman’s knucklehead. Not an invited-builder, Newman brought his bike to the party at Cook’s Corner before the show and was voted into Born Free as the People’s Champ.
What looks at first like another skinny knuckle build quickly prompts the head-scratching. Wait, what is this frame? Is that stainless steel? Where have I seen that headlight before? What about the housing? What’s going on with the transmission and kicker? Wow!
