“I stopped by my friend Sandy Kosman’s shop and searched through some of his old goodies to find a set of Kosman trees with a similar offset as the stock Dyna ones. We had to do a little machining to get the trees to fit our application but running parts made by a motorcycle legend is all worth it,” Satya comments. To get sporty and aggressive handling up front, Satya utilized an inverted GSXR1000 frontend. “To clean up the front we shaved the right side caliper mounts and only ran the left side Tokico brake. The six-piston Tokico coupled with a 320mm PM floating rotor helps the bike stop nice and fast,” Satya states. Out back they wanted to keep the brake setup clean as well but instead of going the sprotor route they wanted to do things a little differently. “We mounted a rear caliper to the inside of the left side of the swingarm and mounted a four-piston Tokico caliper so it resided just in-board of the sprocket,” Satya tells us. “We then made a hub spacer that separated the brake rotor and sprocket so the brake is between the sprocket and wheel. It hides the brake nicely allowing for a super clean right side and also keeps from relying on a sprocket brake. This gives us the opportunity to change rear spockets for optimum gearing and allows for a performance rear brake with out the greasy pads.”
Model: Mara Johnson
The Kraus crew handcrafted an aluminum headlight cowl to give the bike a little streamlining and carry the bare aluminum theme through to the frontend. They also added some trick fork covers down on the bottom of the forks. To help cut weight they took off the heavy passenger footpeg mounts and mounted some clean aluminum pegs directly to the swingarm. “Taking weight off in every way possible helps make a Dyna a whole lot more fun to ride,” Satya tells us. “It becomes agile and responsive.”
“With Nick’s bike I wanted to do something that would still appeal to Harley riders since one of Nick’s favorite bikes is his FXR. Thinking along the lines of minimal and to the point, we stripped a stock ’00 FXDX down to the frame and motor.”
The man behind the Kraus name (and the bike), Satya.
In the drivetrain area they cut up a motor plate for a Softail BDL open beltdrive setup so that it would mount up to the Dyna. Once they had the primary mounted up, they made a small aluminum belt guard to protect Nick’s fancy jeans when he rides. They dressed the engine up a little with a K&N air filter and a raw aluminum cover, then made a custom 2-into-1 pipe with a stainless steel reverse cone. “These pipes allowed us to run mid-foot controls,” Satya states. “The mids are custom and just simple and clean. No need to get too fancy, but they work great. We also left the forward control mounts on the frame so if Nick ever wants to mount up some highway pegs for a long haul, he easily can.”
To further enhance the ergonomics and get the aggressive riding position he was after, Satya bent up some 1-inch tubing for a set of bars that are sort of like mid-rise dirt bike bars. Satya then called up Gard Hollinger at LA County Choprods and had him send over a pair of ISR hand controls. “On my bike I used Acerbis plastic hand guards that are very functional but for this we fabbed up some custom aluminum hand guards that will help keep the wind off and protect Nick’s fingers and levers from making contact with mirrors while splitting lanes,” says Satya. “Nothing worse than having a cars mirror grab a whole lot of front brake for you as you try so slice between it.” To further clean up and lighten the bike and provide Nick with some instrumentation, the stock gauge was thrown away and a digital Trail Tech Vapor gauge was mounted on the top tree. It’s light and functional. At the rear of the bike, the bike’s blinkers are super-bright LEDs tucked away out of sight. “Nick’s Dyna is all about function with good looks, a Harley the way we build them,” Satya comments. “Nick is planning to ride the hell out of the bike, and I hope he does. That’s what they are for.” HB