his bike has been on my mind for, it must be six or seven years at least,” says Steve Zagorski. Drag Specialties Road Rep #119 for New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey, Steve assures us that plenty of his dealers have sure heard him talking about building this one. “It finally came to the point,” Steve says, “with so many of those other customs coming out with the split gas tanks and the exposed backbone, I realized I’d better get this bike done fast. If I waited any longer it would look like just one more of the same old thing everyone else is doing.” So Steve got rockin’. About a year and a half later he was done, doing almost everything himself, “Except the paint and finish welding. That I can’t handle.”
     It began with a brand-new frame from Nick Genender at NYC Choppers, one of Drag Specialties’ vendors and Steve’s dealers. “New York Nick” had come up with a rigid frame soon to be in the FatBook and Steve talked him into making a Softail version, too. This is frame Number One of that series. Then, for those all-important split tanks to define the look Steve wanted, he started with a standard Drag Specialties single-piece Softail tank, cutting a big wedge out of the center and mocking up what was left onto his new frame. “I clamped things together,” he says, “then brought it all over to one of my dealers, Pete at Precision Custom Cycle in New Jersey. He made up the backs and bottoms and put it all together.” For a rear fender Steve picked a Russ Wernimont 900R, for a taillight the lens and bezel from a ‘32 Ford pickup truck. Steve made all the mounts and struts. The front end here is a pretty rare piece, too. A girder design made by a company called Precision Cycle Works, it debuted in Cincinnati about 4 years ago but never fully went into production. “It took me almost two years to get this one out of them,” says Steve. “It’s one of the few ever made.” The handlebars are a story in themselves, too. The grip-ends are ‘63 Harley-Davidson, the center section is 1978 Sportster. The reason for all this, Steve says, is a desire for a flat track look, but here Steve’s coupled it with an internal throttle on the right, and the left side, which was originally the spark advance in ‘63, now actuates the hydraulic front brake. A remotely mounted master cylinder is cable activated. All Steve’s handiwork. The jockey shift assembly uses parts from a Don Hotop kit, with Steve making up most everything else, and there’s a centrifugal clutch in here mounted to a Baker 6-speed with kicker. It’s an EMF Oracle unit once listed in the FatBook under BDL but never brought into inventory. “And I’m an experienced jockey-shift guy,” Steve tells us. “I have a 1963 pan that I’ve owned for 26 years. But this clutch sure makes life easy. Especially on the hills.” For wheels Steve chose Drag Specialties Road Wings re-laced with Landmark spokes and the seat is an old LePera pan Steve had kicking around for over 20 years. Now custom upholstered by, you guessed it, Steve Zagorski. And have you noticed all those little brass hose clamps scattered around the bike? They’re off old Bunsen burners used in high school chemistry labs of the 1940s, courtesy of Mike at Hudson County Cycles.
     Then there’s the motor in the middle of all this wonderful madness. It’s a “whole combination of stuff,” says Steve. All new inside, it’s based on vintage ‘56- through ‘69-style cases, Axtell barrels and Evo heads. The displacement is 106 cubic inches. Steve made the intake manifold and mounted a Mikuni downdraft carburetor for a jet ski, making all the side fins on the rocker box covers, too. The pipes, once again by Steve, are part Samson, part BUB, part Vance & Hines, part ironhead Sportster, “And with that section of flex pipe we might as well throw in part panhead, too,” says the builder. And that’s a 1930-something Harley-Davidson fire extinguisher mounted on the side. It’s charged up, polished up and ready to go. Just in case. This bike, obviously, combines a number of different looks and themes, but Steve’s brought it all together perfectly.
     Which brings up the name painted on the tail. “I came up with that,” Steve says, “because of all those bikes now out being called ‘boardtrack racers.’ Mine really doesn’t stick with that image from the ‘teens or 1920s. It’s part that, sure, but it’s also part Pro-street, part California digger and part, well, me. So I just came up with a whole new name, ‘Boardwalk Sprinter.’” Works for us. And the “Evil Eye?” Well, you have to know Steve and the look he’ll give anyone trying to pull a fast one on him. That works, too. And speaking of work, Steve’s quick to thank those who helped along the way here, guys like Brett at Wulf Brothers in New Jersey who did the paint, John at Thunder Dome Cycles on Long Island who taught Steve how to do the necessary machining, Pete at Precision Cycle for the tank work and of course “New York Nick” at NYC Choppers for building the frame to kick everything off.
     So to answer our original question, how much the Drag Specialties Road Team knows about customs, well, Steve Zagorski has sure put that one to rest. This bike, dreamed, designed and built by Steve, is wicked-cool …check it out…

"This bike has been on my mind for, it must be six or seven years at least. It finally came to the point with so many of those customs coming out with split gas tanks and the exposed backbone. I realized I'd better get this bike done fast. If I waited any longer it would look like just one more of the same old thing everyone else is doing."

Steve Zagorski