Operation Bag A Fatty | Transforming A Soldier's Softail

Transforming A Soldiers Solftail Sgt Adam

A while back we received an email from a Sgt. Adam (last name withheld) of the US Army National Guard. Adam explained to us how he was currently on deployment in the Middle East and was desperately missing time on his '99 Fat Boy. Adam told us he was due back stateside in a few months and was interested in turning his Fat Boy into a more comfortable long-distance rider while maintaining that Softail look-basically a bagger without the fairing.

With only a few years of Harley experience under his belt and his long stretches of deployment, Adam was looking for some insight as to whom or where he could send his bike to have the transformation done. He had several specific ideas that he wanted incorporated, such as hard bags, a new dash to replace the ratty leather piece that was currently zip-tied down, and a seating arrangement that could go from one- to two-up with removable backrests.

We exchanged emails with Adam back and forth for several weeks tossing out ideas as to shops in the Wisconsin area that could handle his project. Then one day while watching an old episode of Overhaulin' we thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if we could do something to give back to a young man who is risking his life to serve our country? It would be great if we could kidnap Adam's bike and have it made over while he was on deployment and have it ready for him when he got back."

After making a few calls to see if some of the industry's heavy hitters, such as RC Components, Avon Tires, Bad Dad Motorcycle Finishes, Keyboard Motorcycle Shipping, and Mustang Seats, would be interested in chipping in on a project like this, we immediately ran into our first and biggest obstacle; the gate keeper to Adam's bike while he was deployed: Adam's father.

It's probably much easier to approach someone out of the blue and try to convince them you want to "steal" his son's prized possession for a makeover when you have a huge budget and a production/film crew hanging over your shoulder. Adam's father was real skeptical with our initial pitch and rightfully so. So we decided to let the cat of the bag and tell Adam about our intentions. We informed him everything was taken care of, all he had to do was make sure his dad was home when the truck arrived to pick up the bike, and a few months later when he returned from deployment his "new" bike would be ready to cruise cross country. Adam didn't hesitate to get on board with our plan.

01. First thing's first, we had to get the bike from Adam's house in Wisconsin to the shop which was going to be doing all the work, Bad Dad Custom Motorcycle Finishes in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For this task we turned to the one motorcycle shipping company we've had the most experience with, Keyboard Motorcycle Shipping. Yeah we know it sounds like this company should be moving pianos-they do-but it has expanded to motorcycle transportation as well.
01. First thing's first, we had to get the bike from Adam's house in Wisconsin to the sho
02. The unique thing about the people at Keyboard is that being motorcycle enthusiasts themselves, they know how important bikes are to the owners, so they have developed a motorcycle transportation platform that allows them to ship uncrated motorcycles safely and easily from one end of the country to the other. Motorcycles arrive unscathed and ready to ride. Pretty much all the big shots in the industry use Keyboard when they need a bike transported. Coincidentally, Charlie, the driver who delivered Adam's bike, had also "visited" the Middle East from 2003-04.
02. The unique thing about the people at Keyboard is that being motorcycle enthusiasts th
03. Here's Adam's pretty much stock Fat Boy as it was delivered to Bad Dad. What originally started out as Hinsey's Pro Paint owned by Derk Hinsey, began to evolve as Derk and his crew churned out a few clean customized Harleys. As the shop's popularity grew among the local Harley owners, Bad Dad was born with its own parts line catering to the Harley crowd. In a short period of time Bad Dad has become one of the industry's go-to shops for parts to dress up your bagger, or in our case, for parts to bag a Fat Boy
03. Here's Adam's pretty much stock Fat Boy as it was delivered to Bad Dad. What original

04. This would be the last time Adam's old Softail would look like this. Minutes after the Keyboard truck rolled away, the Fat Boy was pushed out of the cold and onto a lift in the shop.
04. This would be the last time Adam's old Softail would look like this. Minutes after th
05. It didn't take long for the Bad Dad crew to secure Adam's bike to a lift and begin pulling off the parts it would no longer need, such as the seat and the rear fender lighting/license plate mount. You can see some of the Bad Dad components (rear fender cover and stretched saddlebags) waiting to be installed in the background.
05. It didn't take long for the Bad Dad crew to secure Adam's bike to a lift and begin pu
06. One of Adam's desires for his Softail was to get rid of the stock leather panel that covered the tank below the dash console. Rather than just replacing the leather panel with something like a decorative billet piece, Derk decided to take things further, a lot further, so the stock console, speedo, ignition switch, and the leather panel were removed.
06. One of Adam's desires for his Softail was to get rid of the stock leather panel that