Mike Dusold has been messing around with motorcycles for over 20 years, and it's been his full-time job for about 15 years. He grew up around his dad's body shop, Lou's Auto Body Inc, in Chicago. Aside from fixing up wrecks, they also built hotrods and bikes. So Mike developed an affinity for custom metal and paint and realized it was his true calling as an artist.
Mike wanted to give the bike...
Mike wanted to give the bike a really long and streamlined look, so he stretched the gas tank to flow all the way into the side covers.
Mike met his wife Pam in Chicago and in 1996 she was asked to move to Dallas with her company. The couple went down to Texas to have a look and fell in love with the city on first sight. It was winter in Chicago and when they stepped off the plane in Dallas the first thing Mike thought was that he could be riding a bike or driving a hotrod all year long. They were sold.
When they got out to Dallas, Mike built bikes in his garage for a while then eventually in 1998 opened up Dusold Designs, focusing on building bikes and hotrods and anything else that could be fabricated out of metal and have wheels thrown on it. Mike started out primarily as a painter and worked his way into fabrication. It seems he has an eye for lines, so it was a natural transition from paint into fabrication.
The bike in these photos was done for a regular customer named Jeff who had an Exile bike that Mike fixed when it got damaged at one time. Jeff decided to do a bagger 'cause you know how it goes when you start to get a little older...those rigids start doing a number on your back and bones and you long for the comfort of something like this Road King. Jeff still loves his Exile, he just wanted something a little more cush, but still wanted to retain the cool factor. So Jeff dropped the Road King off at Mike's shop giving him free reign to do what he pleased. All he asked was that the bike be painted black and red.
Mike began by stretching the tank farther than he'd ever stretched one before, and it worked out pretty well. He threw on a front fender from Klockwerks and a rear from Bad Dad. Then added wheels from RC Components. The thing about this build was that everything just fell into place. Usually that isn't the case. Something inevitably goes wrong or doesn't fit right, but this Road King went off without a hitch. Mike went with Battistini foot controls and foot pegs, and switched out the stock bars for a set of beach bars that seemed perfect for the laid back feel of the bike.
When it came time for paint Mike let the artist in him really shine through. He airbrushed on the skulls freehand but stuck still stuck to the parameters set up by Jeff, making sure to only use black and red paint. Mike's plan worked out pretty well in the end. Jeff has a bike that turns heads just like the Exile bike does, but is a bit more comfortable to cruise around on. Jeff has been pretty cool about letting Mike take the bike to a bunch of shows and it is always a crowd pleaser. As for the future, Mike has still been keeping busy, even in this slow economy, customizing bikes, lots of baggers, and building cars for some professional athletes in the Dallas area.