This is one of Arlen Ness's best builds. The more that you look at it, the more you appreciate the work that was involved.
As I study his builds it seems that some were pure custom bikes like this Knucklehead and some were more "bolt together" bikes. Arlen Ness was a genius when it came to business. He figured out very early that the real money was not in building choppers, it was in selling the parts so we could build them ourselves. His parts were far better than some of the stuff floating around back in the 1970's. It's amazing that some of us are still alive with the bikes we were building then ! He found local artisans and craftsmen and established relationships that lasted a life time.
He was an innovator in the custom bike scene and I always admired him. I only met him one time when he was showing some bikes at the Vallejo water front when I worked for Vallejo Fire Dept. I talked my captain into going down there so I could look everything over. He was a very genuinely courteous person.
