Page 39 - 100% Biker (January 2020)
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between its completion and his
                                                                           customer coming to collect the
                                                                           finished machine that he had still
                                                                           yet to ride, having bought and
                                                                           imported it as a non-runner.
                                                                             Not much history came with
                                                                           the bike unfortunately, though it
                                                                           was previously owned by the late        Duo Glide saw Harley-Davidson
                                                                           owner of a Philadelphia bike shop       enter the 1960s with style, plus it
                                                                           who had passed away—the bike            was available with a long list of
                                                                           was bought from his daughter            optional extras. It would remain
                                                                           after being spotted parked outside      Harley’s top of the range model
                                                                           her house. That was in 2018 and         until 1964 when an electric start
                                                                           it wasn’t in the country very long      was finally added and overnight it
                                                                           before it was in Paul’s capable         became the famous Electra Glide.
                                                                           hands ready for a full rebuild.            That the bike is a looker is a
                                                                             It’s a 1958 Harley-Davidson           given, and if ever a motorcycle
                                                                           FLH Duo Glide, a significant            turned heads amongst the non-
                                                                           development of the Harley range         riding public, it’s classic offerings
                                                                           in that it was the first full-size      from Harley like this. Truly, if it
                                                                           model to feature a frame designed       had any more chrome, it would
                                                                           with proper rear suspension,            actually be a Buick or even a
                                                                           ie, a swinging arm and coil over        Cadillac. It certainly now looks
                                                                           shocks instead of a rigid hardtail.     different to how it first arrived
                                                                           Replacing the earlier Hydra Glide       with Paul. It wasn’t actually that
                                                                           model that featured a hydraulic         bad—it was complete, but its tired
                                                                           front end only, the Duo Glide also      black paint wasn’t doing it any
                                                                           retained the sprung seat post from      favours and the bike certainly
                                                                           the Hydra Glide, leading Harley         didn’t look like a sorry, rusty,
                                                                           to advertise it cheesily as, ‘The       ‘barn find’. But closer inspection
                                                                           Glad Ride, the Glide Ride’. The         still found Paul with a list of jobs




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