2005 Harley Davidson Softail Standard Built - Michigan Monster

Fortunately, it's not quite as tough to get a seat like the one on the Baker 300. Although you can't get one just like it, you can get the same quality. We called Paul Cox, the person responsible for crafting this seat, and asked him a little bit about it. It was 9:30 p.m. New York time when we called. The plan was to leave a message and hope Paul would call us back. When we were halfway through recording our phone message, Paul picked up the receiver, saying he thought he heard the answering machine while he was in the back of the shop doing some fabricating. After laughing about the long hours he had to keep, Paul described his work. First, Paul explained that the type of leather he uses comes in from 1- to 20-ounce weights. Weight indicates the thickness of the leather. Beginning with a vegetable-tanned leather hide of 6-ounce weight, he used oil-based dye, starting with black that fades into orange and ends up yellow where it meets the Baker logo he hand-tooled into the seat's center. Paul went on to explain that, due to the large size of this particular seat, he felt a simple top stitch would look best. If you're interested in having Paul Cox do a custom seat for you, don't be shy; it says right on his website that he does work for the everyday wrench as well as all of the famous guys.

Before we forget, the hand controls and brakes on the Baker 300 bike are from Performance Machine. Look at the left rear side of the Baker 300 kit swingarm, and you'll notice a clean, open expanse. This is thanks to Performance Machine's drive-side rear-disc-brake setup. On the front the balance shifts to the left side with a single-disc front brake, also from PM.

Although the '05 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard built by West Coast Choppers for Baker Drivetrain is a one-off custom, it illustrates how radically the Baker 300 kit transforms a production motorcycle without drastically altering the inherent dependability engineered into a mass-produced motorcycle.

Perhaps a better description of the Baker 300 kit would be to quote directly from Baker Drivetrain's website: "The rear fender is 13 inches wide and made of 13-gauge steel with internal strut supports; this sucker is strong. You can fly off curbs with your 300lb stripper girlfriend on back, no problem, and it will take the punishment."

And if that isn't tough enough, folks, what is?