DK Interviews Garage Builder Freddie Arnold

The love for FXR builds has never been stronger. There are so many great FXR builds from pros and garage builders coming out every year. At the Sturgis Dennis Kirk Garage Build Bike Show, we got to see more great FXR builds. The Cycle Source Choice award even went to an FXR this past year.

The winner was Freddie Arnold and his custom 1991 HD FXRS-SP. Freddie’s FXR is a clean build that looks like it was built in the 90’s. Freddie sourced up many old stock and discontinued parts from that era to make this bike as period correct as he could.

See our interview with Freddie below and check out his beautiful Harley FXR build in the video below.

Transcript Below:

Hi, my name is Freddie Arnold. I’m from Georgia. Out here in Sturgis doing a Dennis Kirk show. This is my FXR. I built it at my home. Some bits of old and new. I’ve got a lot of old parts, discontinued parts. I’ve got new stuff. All the body work on the bike is original Arlen Ness from the ’90s. It took me a while to gather it all up. it’s all fiberglass pieces.  It was just kind of a labor of love to put all of it together.

Paint on the bike is very bold of color as you can tell. Different shades of metallic pearl. A friend of mine out in L.A. did the paint on the bike cuz I’m not a painter. I’m a, I’m a ranch man, I’m not a painter. The pipes are the old Bartels from Bartels Harley Davidson in Harley, in LA. They’re impossible to find anymore. I found these pipes used. I had to bring them back to life.

This bike rides like all FXRs. it rides like a dream. FXRs are the best hand handling, smooth handling bike that Harley ever made. I own two of these. I had my other one in the Dennis Kirk show last year. So, this is my second edition of the FXRs for the Dennis Kirk show.

I really love the Dennis Kirk show because it’s a more like a grassroots show. You know, I’m just a hobbyist, you know. I’ve never owned a shop or anything like that. But I’ve always been into bikes and I’m just glad that there’s a show that I can showcase myself and I don’t really have to compete against the professional shops.