"Most people don’t realize that this is a custom-made bike and you can’t buy most of these parts off the shelf."
"Most people don’t realize that this is a custom-made bike and you can’t buy most of these
Speaking of bags, I bought factory Harley bags off eBay. They were all mismatched parts but it didn’t matter because I was going to cut them up anyway. I started by fitting four Pioneer 6x9s into the bags and once I got them to fit, I stretched and widened the bags to help narrow the gaps between them and the fender. I also made the lids wider to close in the gaps at the top. Next, I fit Cadillac taillights into the rear of the bags. This was tricky because I didn’t want the bags to be too long. I just extended the area where the taillight was then feathered it into each side. Back up front I modified a set of H-D fairing lowers off an Ultra Classic. They didn’t fit my Softail crash bar so I had to do some re-fitting to the bottom section with some Dyna-glass. Once that was done I made custom speaker pods using fiberglass, wood, and body filler for the Pioneer 6-1/2inch speakers. Next I flushed in some Radiantz flexible LED strips into the front of the fairing lowers for a super-clean look.
The 88ci motor went to Randy Martinez who ported the heads and bumped up the displacement to 95 ci. For the exhaust I used a set of Samson true duals with slash-cut tips. I didn’t like the slash cut so my friend Virgil Perini cut the slash part off then took a piece of 3-inch round pipe and welded on new ends to make them turn-down tips.
The bike is loaded with details and audio. For example I changed 90 percent of the bolts to 12-point chrome or stainless fasteners from Gardner-Westcott and Alloyboltz. For audio, I added an Alpine MD_1 wireless marine controller into the custom dash, two tweeters into the custom-molded top clamp cover, and a Pioneer 6-1/2inch speaker flushed into the fairing lowers. In the saddlebags I installed an Alpine IDA-X100M iPod Digital Media Receiver head unit, Kenwood XS-4S 600-watt four-channel amplifier, and two pairs of Pioneer 6x9 two-way speakers (two flushed into the front of the bags and two flushed in to the side of the bag facing the wheel).
When people see my bike, some of the funniest things they ask me are, Whose saddlebags are those, Arlen Ness?, Whose fender is that?, and What brand is that gas tank? I just tell them to look at my license plate; it says it all. Most people don’t realize that this is a custom-made bike and you can’t buy most of these parts off the shelf. Everything on this Harley has been modified, painted, polished, or had something done to it, you just have to really look! HB