Rikki Battistini knows style. That's why Tom chose many of his components for the build, i
On a bike with no fairing, you are truly "in the wind." Add a 103-inch factory upgrade with loping camshafts, and it churns out enough oomph to hang on for dear life to Yaffe's Monkey Bars. On a hole shot, the bike might get halfway to Frisco before you lift your ass off the tarmac in Tucson. Terry Parsley, of JT&S Performance at California's Infinion Raceway, keeps trying to grenade the bottom end on his dyno. Mike Fahey, of Grumpy's Motorcycles in San Francisco, makes sure it continues to go forward and stop.
Tom knew he would put serious miles on this machine; so, it had to be comfortable. It has a cushy seat and it is, of course, a Softail. But with a prototype rear fender created by Lonnie Spiva of Heartland USA attached to the swingarm, the suspension is less obvious. There's a Mercury ProLite turn signal-cum-taillight beneath the lip of the fender, so tight you can't slide a silver dollar between it and the tire. With no front fender, however, there will be little riding in the rain. Gard Hollinger of LA County Choprods contributed the side-mounted "STOP" light and license plate bracket. The old-school plug wires came from Lowbrow Customs.
Roland Sands created the headlight mount, air cleaner, and cam cover. Tom abraded the latter's polished surface with Scotch-Brite, leaving its raised ribs untouched to contrast with the dulled effect in between. He scuffed-up other shiny parts, too, including the open-belt primary from Tech-Cycle, the speedo rim, the ignition switch, the dashboard nut, and the ring circumscribing the oil-temperature gauge on the dipstick. He got so carried away that, while he was at it, he Scotch-Brited his chrome-plated wristwatch. He plans to remove the RevTech rocker covers and scuff them up too.
Rikki Battistini fabricated the shifter link, floorboards, foot controls, and grips, which are attached to Performance Machine hand controls and an internal throttle from Streamline. The front brakes are also Performance Machine. Joe Fratis of Motion Pro provided the internal wiring. The closed-loop EFI is from Zipper's Thunder-Max. Exhaust is expelled through Greg Westbury's one-off, turn-out drag pipes, which allowed the bike to graduate from mufflers magna cum louder. Westbury also fabricated the studded battery cover underneath the seat and the screened splashguard. Tom found a brass springer bridge in the Jammer catalog.
Some additional stock parts were plated with either brass (oil lines, rockers, head bolts, screens) or nickel (front springer forks and exhaust heat shields). An even more unusual and conspicuous finish is found on the pipes, which were given a ceramic coating that is usually applied to pistons by RS Performance Coatings in San Mateo, California. It is so efficient at dissipating heat that you can grab the pipes with your bare hands 10 minutes after a run without getting burned. Courtney Schamach of Petaluma, California matched the factory pinstriping on the tank to the rear fender, oil bag, headlight, and forks. Tex McDormand, of TEX EFX in Sanger, Texas, painted the Art of the Chopper logo on the primary belt.
That sums up the Tomfoolery (which seemed like a good name for this bike), additional minor modifications notwithstanding. Actually, everything except the fluid bunkers, dashboard, frame, engine, transmission, and springer was replaced. Yet, even those items were customized to one extent or another, either cosmetically or for performance gains. The only bone stock feature is the gas tank, notwithstanding the aftermarket flush-mount gas caps.
If anybody reading this has had the unfortunate experience of crashing a Cross Bones, Tom can fix you up with all the replacement parts you need.