Im not a bike fan in terms of riding them, but I love them as pieces of design. Especially Choppers. I love American Chopper on Discovery, althought I think programs like Biker Buildoff show of much better quality bikes, but theres just less episodes of them,
Looking at that first bike in its unfinished state, i remembered one of the Biker Buildoff programs I saw where the builder had no front brake and the clutch was controlled through a twist grip on the left, just like the throttle on the right. It meant the bars were completely clean with no levers or anything, just the bars and grips. It may be worth researching as the frontend of that bike is very smooth and clean, would ruin it to stick some levers and wires on it.