Email your submissions to: Hot.Bike@sorc.com Or snail mail to: HB Reader’s Showcase 1733 Alton Parkway, Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92606. Please include hi-res jpegs, your name, hometown, email, phone #, bike year/model, engine size, frame, wheels, sheetmetal, painter, custom accessories, and anything else interesting about your bike.
Miss USA
After wanting to build a bike for six years, John Ball, finally made it happen two years ago. John knew he wanted a low-slung, stretched-out bike. He also knew he wanted to build it to honor the military, veterans, fire fighters, and police officers that put their lives on the line, because John says without them, he wouldn’t have been able to build his bike. John learned a lot along the way and was very fortunate to have great companies, friends, and his nine-year-old daughter, Haley (yes she turned wrenches on it too), to work with. When his build was finally complete, John and his daughter dubbed it “Miss USA.” Since then, the bike has been a tool to grow his company, JB Designz. John has even been asked to build a trike for a customer, and he is looking forward to building another shop/show bike to further market JB Designz.
Happy Family
Jeff Fortkamp from Ohio wanted to show us the three loves of his life, his wife, Katie, and his two Harleys, a ’79 FLH and a ’05 FLHTCSE2. John says he picked up the Shovel back when he was 20 and has since rebuilt the engine, added a BDL 2-inch enclosed belt with chrome inner and outer covers, and upped the trans to a Baker 6-into-4 overdrive. An S&S Super E carb fuels it while an Accel coil gives her fire and the true dual fishtails from Jireh Cycles give it a classic look. The entire bike has been chromed out from the headlight nacelle to the swingarm, while a Mustang seat provides cushion for long rides. Jeff did most of the work himself but his friend Jeremy Hess helped with the bodywork and paint. The odometer currently reads 72,500 miles.
As for the CVO bagger, Jeff says it was an eBay purchase sight unseen from a used car dealer in Phoenix. He couldn’t get off work so he bought his brother, Kyle, and his girlfriend, Kelsey, one-way plane tickets to ride it 2,250 miles back to Ohio. The bike already had Rinehart true duals and all the factory chrome on it. The stock 103 ran pretty well, but Jeff added Andrews #37 Cams, a Screamin’ Eagle updated cam plate with hydraulic tensioners and high-flow oil pump, along with a Power Commander and K&N air filter. On the dyno it made 95.4 hp and 113.7 lb-ft of torque.
Back Again
Last issue we showed you Ron “Plowboy” Limon’s ’94 Softail Springer that he had put together. Well, Plowboy is back again, this time he wanted to show off the rest of his motorcycle kingdom. “I’ve been a reader for many years, and I love riding all these bikes,” Plowboy tells us. “I am the luckiest man alive because I get to ride about 20,000 miles a year! And for those that say I have too many bikes, I say they all have a purpose. My collection consists of (from left to right) an ’03 Indian Chief, a ’62 Harley-Davidson FL (1995 Daytona Bike Week winner), an ’07 Harley-Davidson Dyna Wide Glide, an ’11 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide Ultra, an ’09 Harley-Davidson CVO Road Glide, a ’94 Harley-Davidson Springer Softail, and an ’04 Scooter.”
Thanks Ron Limon, a.k.a. Plowboy