what does it do What to do to win the ‘Best Details’ award at the illustrious Hot Rod Custom Show in Yokohama? You’ll need loads of imagination, ingenuity, and skill—and Takuya Aikawa doesn’t lack any of that.
Aikawa-san runs the Japanese custom shop Sureshot in Chiba, just east of Tokyo. With two HRCS ‘Best in Show’ awards already available, he joined this custom Harley-Davidson Dyna in the event that took place last month. He may not have made it to the finish line this time, but the award for best details at Mooneyes (as the show is commonly known) is no slouch.
Dubbed ‘Phase III’, this 1998 Harley-Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide follows Sureshot’s mission to build “fast, light and thin” custom bikes. But that’s not all it went for it. The more you examine it, the more neat details you’ll find that make it award-winning.
The single damper arms and double air intakes are obvious changes and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to notice that the frame has been tweaked. But you’ll need a keen eye to spot a non-standard front suspension or a basic custom gearshift design.
At the heart of the machine, Takuya rebuilt the engine with a pair of burly billet aluminum cylinder heads from Speed and Science. Next, he built a custom manifold to fit the Keihin FCR41 air intake twin carburetor with velocity compartments and a manual flap to keep things tidy up top. Cross-cut twin exhausts are also customised.
The car runs with a standard 5-speed Dyna transmission, while the clutch has been upgraded to a hydraulic system. The left side has the menacing 2-inch open main belt from Ultima — but the mechanism mounted above it is really interesting.
Mounted on the left side of the engine is a manual gearshift setup designed by Takuya. Using a series of connecting rods and CNC machined linkages, it places the gear lever right next to the fuel tank for quick access. A recessed, leather-wrapped gearshift knob rounds it off.
There’s more working machinery up front, where Takuya builds his own front suspension. It’s a top link design, with a pair of air shock absorbers from RacingBros adding additional damping. It is also said to have had to be tweaked a lot to ensure that it won’t plunge when braking hard.
The lower yoke is integrated with the fork foot, which is held in place by a custom top yoke. The cockpit is super sane, with custom bars that are nothing more than an internal throttle and front brake levers. Everything feels built to fit—like the machined attachment point that holds the bike’s LED headlights.
Even the solid machined wheels are one-off. At 19” in front and 18” in back, they are designed to carry all their accessories only on the left, leaving the right empty. The front wheel’s brake disc attaches directly to the lugs on the wheel itself without the need for a rotor, while the rear brake is hidden behind the sprocket.
There aren’t many original frames left. Takuya fabricated a new backbone from oval tubing and redesigned the subframe to taper down into a custom aluminum swingarm. The OEM twin shocks are gone, replaced by a single RacingBros shock with custom tuning.
The slim rear end sits at the top, with an equally slim fuel tank positioned at the front. Both are custom pieces, hand-formed from aluminium. The saddle is wrapped in horse leather, while the fuel tank is decorated with a custom gas cap.
The Harley also comes with some less noticeable machined parts, such as side-mounted license plate holders and custom footpegs. You’ll find the SureShot logo on the scoreboard—and a few other sneaky locations.
All of those pieces come together harmoniously to give a new spin to the cruiser genre. Takuya’s Dyna has a lithe figure, with perfect posture and moderate level of flat-line influence. There’s a bit of hot rod style in the mix, through the bold metallic green paintwork on the bodywork.
But it’s the ancillary finishing touches that really demonstrate Takuya’s attention to detail. Notice how the fuel tank latch stripe also runs across the aluminum cap adjacent to the intake and how all the pin stripes match the color of the powder coated frame. Even the wheels are smart; From a distance, they look like regular nine-spoke alloy rims, revealing a secondary snowflake as you get closer.
There’s also a mix of workplace finishes—including variations in black, raw metal, polished metal, and magnesium—but nothing feels overdone.
It’s clear that SureShot knows when to zigzag and when to zigzag. And it was clear that the Mooneyes judges knew the intelligence when they saw it.
Standard shot | Facebook | Instagram | Photo of Kazuo Matsumoto Because YENC Magazinewith special thanks to both.
