When most people pick up a new Harley, they tend to just bolt on some chrome, new pipes, maybe change out the wheels, and call it a day. However, Chris Crowe from northern California is not like most people. His '06 Road Glide has been customized from fender to fender in a makeover that took more than a year to complete.
"Several years back I bought an '02 Road Glide to just cruise around on. I didn't plan on really entering it in any bike shows, but after putting some money into the bike, it ended up looking pretty good, and I it placed in some shows and it won a bunch of trophies," Chris told us. "I was winning a lot of trophies, but they were all for the bagger class, not best in show, which is what I really started aiming for."
With a goal of achieving a best in show trophy, Chris decided his best chances were to retire the '02 and start fresh with a frame up Road Glide rebuild. Chris picked up an '06 RG and rode it for a year while he gathered his thoughts on the design and collected parts. Once he had some basic ideas for the bike, Chris took it over to Killer Eye Kandy (KEK) in Martinez, California. Kirk Kapfenstein, owner of KEK, and his crew of Mike Elliot and Eric Reyes performed most of the work on Chris' '02, so it only made sense to let them handle this new project.
As soon as the RG rolled into the KEK shop it was immediately stripped down to a mere skeleton. While the bike was being torn down, Chris explained his thoughts and ides to Kirk. "I wanted a bagger people hadn't really seen before," Chris said. "I wanted it to be long and sleek with a high-molded frame and all the wires and cables hidden in the frame; I didn't want anything to be seen." There also was a theme of a lot of points and sharp angles, which helped Kirk conjure up his own ideas as well. Once Chris was out of the building, the crew started the daunting task of creating an immaculate show bike.
All the welds on the frame were smoothed out. And any unsightly sections that didn't look finished were molded to create a seamless surface. Even parts of the frame that would rarely, if ever, get seen weren't overlooked such as the bottom of the frame. Aside from extensively cleaning up the chassis, preparations were also made to hide as much of the electrical, cables and whatever else they could inside the frame.
Once the frame was taken care of, the stock lower legs were removed from the frontend and a Platinum Air Suspension system was carefully installed into the H-D uppers and a set of Pro-One lowers. A Platinum Air Suspension system was used in the rear as well as with all the air lines hidden in the frame. The KEK team got the bike to rolling status by installing a set of 18x3.5 Ness wheels and Metzeler tires.
With a rolling chassis established, the skin for the bike was next on the to-do list. Kirk started with an Arlen Ness Legacy front fender then modified it so it would sit lower and a little further back on the tire. Bob Monroe got a hold of the gas tank and stretched it back 9 inches and shaped the tail sections to drop right into the side covers. Bob also made a custom-stretched dash that tapered down to meet the front of the seat. When it came to the rear tire, Chris had a request; "I wanted a true dual exhaust system with the tail sections of the pipes tucked under the center of the rear fender." To meet Chris' demands, the KEK crew fabricated a stretched-out rear fender that not only helped give the bike an even longer, sleeker look, but also allowed room for the idea Kirk had in mind for the rear of the exhaust. To accentuate the lines of the bike even further, a set of Gator Bags were modified to match the rear fender. "KEK cut the back and bottom section of the bags out then stretched them 9 inches back and 4 inches down, and they flowed with the fender perfectly," said Chris. "To really wow people, they installed remote actuators to open and close the lids."