Keeping the rider comfortable for the long haul is one of Drag Specialties’ Smooth Predator seats.
Keeping the rider comfortable for the long haul is one of Drag Specialties’ Smooth Predato
Performance Machine also skinned the King in favor of new hide. Up front, that meant a simplified Harley-Davidson Street Glide fender. The Road King retains the gas tank that Cycle Fabrications stretched for it back in 2002; there’s a Drag Specialties Predator seat that wraps around the back of the tank. The Predator isn’t the only new animal here, though. The rear fender came from Performance Machine. It was made for smooth lines to match the hard bags and their Klock Werks extensions. The new back fender has a smooth Russ Wernimont license plate frame/tail light combination worked into it.
While a lot of change went into the wheels and sheetmetal, motor modifications were far more modest. Drag and PM weren’t looking to make a drag racer. Its case now has a Gardner Westcott bolt kit and Roland Sands added some style via new rocker boxes. Other than that, power changes were confined to what most reasonable Road King owners make to their stock rides—better breathing. The 88-inch Twin Cam inhales fuel-air mixture by way of a Mikuni carburetor underneath Performance Machine’s Element air cleaner and a Vance & Hines and RSD exhaust setup expel the spent gasses. Those fancy exhaust tips? They’re PM Sweepers finished to match the rest of the bike.
With all of the contrast-cut goodies on this machine, painting the rest of it in black and silver was an obvious choice to make the whole project come together. Matt Polosky at Color Zones Design had the distinct pleasure of handling that task. He used a silver metalflake base and satin black for a matte finish that catches the eye subtly. Much as chefs know a hint of spice can make or break a great meal, painters know a little color can make all the difference in a paintjob. In this case, Matt’s shop used blue pinstripe to that purpose. It not only adds a little dimension to the black and silver, it’s also found in the PM logo. This isn’t exactly a coincidence…
“The monarch was reborn at Performance Machine’s headquarters in Southern California. As you might expect, PM didn’t skimp on the changes with the wheels, brakes, and controls.”
After four months of work, Performance Machine and Drag Specialties had their latest entry into another custom tradition—the rolling calling card. The whole point of updating the ’02 Road King was to show off some of the two companies’ latest and greatest parts. Much like Drag did with this bike a decade back, they bucked popular trend. In 2002, that meant a bagger in the face of the chopper craze. Now, it meant revitalizing an old friend instead of using a new stocker straight off the showroom floor. PM and Drag didn’t invent the parts mule, but as we’ve just seen, they can certainly re-imagine it. HB