Wild Ride

‘Panhead Pat’ and his Rebuilt Harley Weathered Storms and Racked up Miles

By Kate Poindexter

Photography By Turner Photography Studio

It arrived in pieces. In a heap, really. If it hadn’t been for the quick thinking of the Delphey Harley-Davidson dealership, it might never have survived at all. The staff there had the foresight to move the vintage 1929 bike to higher ground just before Hurricane Agnes hit in 1972. The shop on West Patrick Street along Carroll Creek was, like most of its neighbors at the time, inundated with water. The business reopened, but the bike didn’t return. It took a journey of its own. 

“It kind of showed up,” said Pat Settersten, the owner of a motorcycle and car repair and restoration shop in Monrovia. He bought the parts from Richard Kenode, a well-known racer and motorcycle afficionado in Thurmont. That was around four or five years ago. It took him 18 months to carefully put it together, piece by piece, using the original parts while also obtaining reproduction parts or fashioning them anew in his shop with his buddies. “Some parts are period correct. The front brake setup is from the 1930s. I had a lot of help and a lot of luck,” Settersten says. 

It took Pat Settersten 18 months to painstakingly rebuild a 1929 Harley from what began as a mere collection of parts.

In the world of antique motorcycle rallies, swap meets and word-of-mouth parts procurement, Settersten is known as “Panhead Pat,” a term derived from the cylinder heads of certain Harleys that resembled cooking pans. According to Settersten, Harley-Davidson manufactured Panhead engines between 1948 and 1965 and he is a big fan and owner of these types of motorcycles. He insists being called a Panhead is a term of endearment in motorcycle circles. 

Although Settersten’s 1929 Harley-Davidson is an antique, it is surely not a museum piece preserved under glass. He acknowledges it is a bit of a rough ride, not for everybody. He rides it for pleasure and shows it off at vintage motorcycle events. But this bike has chops. In 2021 he participated in the Motorcycle Cannonball, a premier antique endurance run, billed as the most difficult in the world. Established in 2010 by Lonnie Isam Jr. and a handful of motorcycle enthusiasts, the event encourages antique owners to remove the dust covers from their old machines and get them on the road again. Throughout the years, the Cannonball has gathered steam and more participants who travel backroads with their riding friends.

Panhead Pat’s bike is built for the road, having covered 10,000 miles since it was rebuilt, including participation in the 2021 Motorcycle Cannonball.

Each year the Motorcycle Cannonball maps a different route. Settersten joined 88 riders on the 2021 course that began in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. The run took participants on a scenic tour of the United States with 16 stages along the way. Stage one took them to an overnight stop in Traverse City, Mich. Subsequent stops included Dayton, Ohio, Danville, Va., Myrtle Beach, S.C., and towns throughout North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. 

Settersten’s reclaimed and refurbished motorcycle has carried him far. The bike has 10,000 miles on it and Panhead Pat plans to keep riding. He says keeping the old bike on the road is his passion and he would like to eventually ride it coast to coast. 

“Anybody can ride a new motorcycle,” he says. “It’s not for everybody to have an antique.” 

He is a proud owner and rider, but says he regards himself as just one of the caretakers in the bike’s long life history. He assumes that someone else will take over the caretaker role in the future, but he relishes his role in the present. “Right now, I’m not planning on going anywhere. I’m going to keep it, maintain it and ride it!”