Arlin Fatland has owned and operated his famous 2-Wheelers chopper parts and accessory store in Denver, Colorado, for 52-years. (He also owns/runs a second store in Sturgis and owned one in Daytona for 35-years.) This Octogenarian has been into bikes for more years than most of you reading this have been alive, but that doesn’t mean he’s old. As I see it, Arlin is 82-years young and is as creative as ever. He also has more energy than most people 1/3 his age considering he has tirelessly run around the country for decades in addition to running his shop.
So few chopper shops can lay claim to being in business for half a century, as Arlin has, that you can probably count them on your fingers! What it has afforded Arlin is a wealth of parts and accessories he’s amassed over the years from swap meets and wheelin’-dealin’ with customers. I don’t believe Arlin has ever created an inventory of what he has spread out between his shop, storage places, home garage, or out-buildings. Hence, I wasn’t surprised to hear he found the engine for this project, which he has come to call “Kool Miller Lite,” in a garden shed by his house where there were several other engines. He picked this one because it was the oldest of the generator Shovelheads he bought up in the 70s when no one seemed to be interested in them, and they were going for cheap. The old rigid chopper-style frame the engine sits in was another internal find. This one atop a junk pile behind the old gas station Arlin operated as a workshop for 30-years across the street from his main store. It was butchered, but Arlin liked the geometry, and after welding up all the holes in it, he felt he could run with it as is. These two main components were just waiting for a rainy day and the right time, which became available when Covid struck.
Regarding the bike’s name, “Kool Miller Lite” seemed natural as the bike is undoubtedly “Kool,” and Miller Lite has been Arlin’s beer of choice for decades. With his motto, “If we ain’t drinkin’, we ain’t thinkin'” dating back to the 1970s, there was always a cold one within arm’s reach to him, or his buddies Dave John and Steve Ruby, who helped not only with assembly but also by building many of the custom parts used on the bike.
As for the style of the bike, I consider it “contemporary bobber,” but by no means is this a particular style Arlin is known for. You see, Arlin doesn’t necessarily have a definitive style. As he explained it, “Every bike I’ve ever built is different than all the others. Some guys like to stick to a particular style that they get known for, but I like to do something different every time, so it would be hard to pin a particular style on Arlin, other than occasionally, “off the wall.”
The concept for the bike came about after Arlin found the 21″ front and rear rims he had been looking for. For some reason, he had it in his head that 21+21 = 42, his birth year (1942), and thought this would be a cool start to a new bike. All he had to do was lace them up, and he was good to go.
Dave and Steve worked with Arlen inside the original 2-Wheelers Denver building since the more extensive shop in the gas station across the street got sold off. The custom parts they fabricated included the exhaust, heat shield, belt guard, seat pan, rear fender, and struts, among other pieces. Steve was also the guy who completely rebuilt the engine with new bushings and bearings from flywheels up and the stock 4-speed Harley-Davidson transmission.
Wherever possible, Dave and Steve would add touches to give the bike personality, like the holes in the heat shields or having two gas caps with one being fake, just because it looks good. Then there were pieces like the headlight, which is a spotlight that Arlin found years ago at an automotive swap meet. Just another piece from Arlin’s vast parts collection that he thought would make a cool headlight.
You can see how eclectic Arlin is by his choice of materials and color. Again, just to be different, he went with copper, which for the most part, is powder-coated parts by Lee at Pristine Coating. Blue was selected as the primary color because Arlin loved how it looked in conjunction with copper. Ralph laid down the metal flake on the frame and Elroy painted the tanks and fenders. Once that was complete, Joe Broxterman added the graphics and final pin-striping.
The seat with its great graphic was the perfect finishing touch to this custom. Aaron Kruger came up with the pinup design and tooled it right into the leather before sending it over to Bitchin’ Stitchin where Dan Ballard did the final stitching, grommets, and seat assembly.
My takeaway from this tight little bike package is how fun it is. It is fun to look at, and it seems like it would be a lot of fun to ride. It reflects Arlin’s personality and attitudes in many ways. He recently said, “I have been so happy to do what I love and love what I do, forever. I’ve met so many friends, and they’ve become my family. I have survived lots of ups and downs, and I can now say I don’t worry about the problems – I just look for solutions.”
I’m pretty sure Arlin has enough engines, frames, and spare parts to build customs for the rest of his life and through his afterlife, if there is such a thing! He’s just like an old Timex watch as he told me, “I just keep on ticking. I wish it, I dream it, I do it, and I never quit!” And since I’ve known him for over forty years, I can vouch for this and say that’s precisely who Arlin is.
In 1979, Easyriders started to publish some of Michael’s motorcycle photography. He photographed a number of smaller events and features specifically for them, proved his abilities and then was off on his third trip to Sturgis in 1981, now on assignment for Easyriders, for whom he has returned there ever since. Also in 1981, after a solo exhibition of his work at the Gallery of Photography in Dublin, Ireland, which was boycotted by the League of Decency, Michael became disillusioned with the “art world” and again changed course. He stopped publicly exhibiting his photographs in favor of publishing his motorcycle work in Easyriders and simultaneously began developing his career as a commercial advertising and corporate photographer. By 1982, his studio was open in Boulder, Colorado. It wasn’t long before he developed a clientele that included companies like IBM, Sun Microsystems and Kraft Foods.
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