Everyone brings their best and their baddest to the Hot Bike Tour, and we always end up with some of the most insane baggers the world has ever seen. This year Paul Yaffe did something a little different with his bike, he built a Knucklehead.

Now I personally am a sucker for old engines but I'll ask the obvious question: isn't it going to be less reliable and provide less power? Apparently not, the only problem they had was a split fuel line which they fixed in two seconds and got back on the road. Flying from stop to stop, no one would second guess his engine choice.

The panelling on the fenders is all nickel, and the name of the bike is blasted into the side of the tank: "Rubber Knucky," we're assuming because of the rubber mounted drivetrain. We love the look of the matte black on the nickel and the understated but incredible attention to detail on this gorgeous bagger.

For more information on Paul Yaffe and his awesome baggers, visit BaggerNation.com

When the third day's voting came time to be announced and we had still not heard Shope's name from the stage we could see the Dirty Bird team getting a little nervous. It was truly anyone's show right up until the last moment this year but straight out of the gate: Shope's bike was causing a big stir. As they always do. The bikes from Dirt Bird Concepts have a way of polarizing a crowd, just as they can draw one out of thin air. There is nothing quiet about John Shope's style, and why would there be when he keeps winning awards like this!

The long sweeping lines with the extended fishtail pipes. The lowrider style pencil drawings throughout the middle of the bike, accented with the insane candy-flake peacock paint on the outsides. The INCREDIBLE attention to detail on the engraving that covered nearly every surface that wasn't painted. The big ole intake scoops cut into the gas tank. We could go on but we still won't manage to capture all of the details and the amount of hand done craftsmanship that went into this beast.

When John was pulled over on the side of the road on the last day of the tour having some trouble with his rear wheel, a kid from Pin-Up Baggers pulled off to offer some assistance. It was clear that Shope wasn't going to be able to ride this bike in with the rear wheel in the state that it was in so the kid pulled the wheel off of his bike so that John could roll into Billings for the final day of judging. It is this sort of epic brotherhood and willingness to help strangers that brings us together and makes the Hot Bike Tour so awesome. While accepting his award John was sure to give credit where it was due and sent the Pin-Up Baggers guys home with some awesome gifts as a thank you. Brian Klock even gave the kid a "Good-Guy Award," which was much deserved.

For more information on John Shope and his wicked baggers, visit DirtyBirdConcepts.com

Because we're all fans of the Harley-Davidson Street Glide, and more importantly custom H-D Street Glides, we wanted to show you some cool custom baggers we've featured from over the years in honor of Harley's Street Glide turning 10 in 2016. Click the links for each bike for the full galleries and articles behind the builds.

1. Roland Sands Design's 2014 Street Glide

Roland Sands Design's 2014 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

2. John Shope's 2013 Street Glide

John Shope's 2013 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

3. Knock 4-6 Customs 2009 Street Glide

Knock 4-6 Customs 2009 Street Glide

4. Eddie Trotta's 2013 Street Glide

Eddie Trotta's 2013 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

5. Jeff Zielinski's 2007 Street Glide

NAMZ Custom Cycle's 2007 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

6. Performance Machine's 2014 Street Glide

Performance Machine's 2014 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

7. Bad Dad Custom Cycle's 2014 Street Glide

Bad Dad Custom Cycle's 2014 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

8. 2015 Harley CVO Street Glide

Harley-Davidson's 2015 CVO Street Glide

9. Pete Tingstrom's 2009 Street Glide

Pete Tingstrom's 2009 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

10. DA Perfomance's 2009 Street Glide

DA Performance's 2009 Harley-Davidson Street Glide

Building a bagger takes time. Precious time and money and effort and skill. Bad Dad makes it look easy, knocking out this insane build in just over two minutes (kidding).

We love being able to take a look inside of a top-shelf bagger like this and see a little bit of the process. The guys over at Bad Dad are true craftsmen and make some wicked parts that you can see on this bike and many more that they have rolled out of their shop. Click the link below for more information on Bad Dad and their bad-ass custom parts.

Bad Dad Quality Parts for Quality Motorcycles

In the barbecue world, burnt ends are the most flavorful part of the brisket. Cut from the point of the meat, they're the fatty part that holds much more flavor than the leaner slices you'll find on a brisket sandwich. This is a lot like how custom bikes have more flavor than stock motorcycles. In that sense, customizing your ride makes the burnt metal of motorcycling. Jeremy Brendle took that idea a step further with his shop, Burnt Metal Customs LLC. He's the owner, designer, and fabricator and while he named his shop as a tribute to his early years as a welder and metal fabricator, I'm sure he'd agree that custom bikes are where most of the fun is when it comes to riding. “I've been riding, repairing, and customizing motorcycles since I was a little kid,” he says. “My passion for fabrication and my love of riding is what inspires my designs. The ultimate goal is to create never seen before designs that combine form and function.” This 2012 Victory Cross Roads is a great example of his manifesto.

For Jeremy, his company's motivation comes from men like his father that work tirelessly to provide for their families but also want something affordable for themselves to enjoy. Brendle designs bikes that the average, hard-working person can afford that are also bad ass.

When Jeremy bought this bagger in 2012, he saw tremendous potential for it as a customization platform: “I believe that the Victory brand offers superior dependability and ride quality but this model needed some additional styling to turn it into a uniquely designed motorcycle. Ultimately, it took a combination of reworking factory parts and fabricating new parts to achieve our goal.”

That meant leaving the motor and frame mostly stock while upping the style game to another level. Jeremy cleaned up the back end with a frenched-in plate and smoother turn signals but that's minor compared to what he did with the bodywork.

Every bit of skin on this pony has his handiwork on it.

“I wanted people's eyes to go on a visual journey. I set out to create a bike that's aggressive, fairly radical, and when you sit on it, you just want to ride the hell out of it and I think I did that.”

The minimal rear fender and fairing set the stage for a smooth, seamlessly flow that's picked up by the extended side panels before transitioning to the reworked rear fender and bag combo. As involved as making that all work together is, none of these parts was the biggest obstacle he faced.

No, that honor fell to the beautiful three-part nacelle up front. Designing and building it so that it belonged naturally gave him fits but in the end he got it done. “I also wanted to design a more realistic location for the cruise control module so including that in the nacelle was a necessity.” Creating enough space to house the stock speedometer while keeping with the original styling cues so it looked like it belonged there was also pretty difficult.

In the end, Jeremy Brendle was happy with the results, for obvious reasons. Not only that, these parts are in production so any Cross Roads owner can have the same look.

For more information on Burn Metal Customs, visit their website BurntMetalCustoms.com

Earlier this year, Jim Nasi and Bahn Products unveiled this 2015 Street Glide during Daytona Bike Week. It's an industrial-styled Harley, blending form and function in Nasi's clean, no bullshit style. It was a great collaboration that really shows what you can do with Bahn's high-quality bolt-on parts line. Here's what Jim Nasi had to say about the bagger project.

Baggers: Why partner with Bahn? What attracted you the most about the project?

JN: I’ve been wanting to partner up with someone and obviously Holger [Mohr, President at Kuryakyn] has an excellent reputation, I’ve known Holger for a while, and I really wanted to work with him on a project. Bahn's product line has a cleaner look. Bahn parts are kinda new, and they're clean, no logos all over everything. I used to do a lot of billet stuff in the pre-bagger years and would distribute the parts through Drag. Once that died I started doing more fenders and body panels, that kind of stuff. And the clean look of the Bahn bolt-on engine and billet accent pieces combined with the work I do make a good combination of cleanliness and new products.

Baggers: Talk about some of your plans to modify existing Bahn parts for this build – what did you do to them finish/style-wise?

Bahn x Nasi bagger

That’s why my bikes take a lot of time. I’m real anal about everything. Everything has to be the same color. If you’re offset with different shades of black it just looks half-assed to me.

Baggers: What’s the overall theme/style of the Bahn/Nasi Bike Build?

JN: It’s an industrial look – no chrome at all on the bike, which isn’t necessarily an easy thing to do because there’s so many pieces including all the hardware and everything so it’s a little tricky.

Baggers: What’s your favorite part of the build process?

JN: Creating different looks. I’ve done a bunch of rear bag kits and fender kits and stuff like that and on this bike I did a whole new rear fender that’s all metal and was not an existing part of mine. We’re trying to target a consumer that’s gonna buy these Bahn and Nasi parts and bolt them on their bikes without any complications or worries about it hitting the curb so I wanted to design something a little more subdued than what I have in my product lineup. This new fender we fabbed fits the theme of the bike really well. We also designed a new license plate mount for it as well.

I’m keeping mass production in the back of my mind instead of one-off. I’ve gained a lot of experience over the years making parts so I kind of know what it takes to build something for production or one-off so I have to keep that in my head the whole time I’m doing that. In short: The creativity, the sheet metal the overall designing of it.

When you do the finishes you really have to take a lot into account. You really have to think about where you’re going to bring the colors. If I have the pushrod tubes and cam covers in the bronze, then I need to take that color over to the left side of the engine. You can’t just splatter it everywhere, you need to look at the whole bike overall.

Baggers: How have you seen the aftermarket P&A industry change in the last 5 years?

JN: If I’m being honest, I see a lot of junk out there right now. Back 10 years ago when I was doing this there was a selected few at this. Quality metal craftsmen. People didn’t knock everything off and now everyone’s trying to make a buck, slapping shit together and taking parts and copying them. Back in the day when you saw a custom bike you knew who built it. Now when you see these baggers all the bags look the same. You can’t tell who’s who and it kinda sucks. To me it’s a lack of creativity. If they can’t come up with a great design of their own they just say ‘hey, I’m gonna throw something bigger on there and make me better than that guy.’

Baggers: What's in the works now?

JN: I just finished my second all metal bagger and they give you the freedom to do what you want with the rear and bags, lids, it’s just total one-off and that’s stuff’s fun. If it comes out looking real good you can make a mold out of it. Obviously you can’t make metal saddlebags and sell them economically. I picture a finished build in my head and then getting that info out of my head and relayed to my crew – the whole process is fun. And a lot of the customers , it’s fun for them, exciting to be a part of it.

Click here for more information on Jim Nasi Customs and Bahn Products

Baggers is accepting applications. No, Morgan, Jon, and I aren’t quitting or getting fired (right, Jordan?). Bagger nation at large is growing. As the bagger scene continues to evolve, those of us who are old enough to remember discussing the Pablo Escobar manhunt in school (and, perhaps more importantly, remember rapper Nas’ subsequent “Willie Esco” alter ego) and not just know him as the character from Narcos with a badass retro mustache, the time is ripe to consider falling back from our skate decks, foam pits, and dirt tracks. We aren’t suggesting that when you hit a certain age, just like that—bam!—the rodeo is over, but as older cats are fond of saying, Father Time is undefeated.

With that in mind, we spoke with semi-retired freestyle motocross (FMX) legend Carey Hart, who is a 40-year-old in transition between being, as he puts it, “The old guy in motocross to the young guy on a bagger.” We checked out his take on a modern bagger and picked his brain on evolving from an aggressive FMX stance to a more leisurely bagged posture.

“I’m always going to ride a dirt bike,” Carey says. “It’s in my blood. There’s going to come a day where I don’t get paid to do it anymore, but I’m still going to ride a ton. When I’m not on my dirt bike, though, I want to be comfortable! I want to be able to settle in and have a fairing that knocks the wind down with comfortable bars and music.”

Carey doesn’t embrace the notion that there is a definitive break from one scene to the next. He’s just like anyone else who likes to embark on a long haul but also lusts for performance, and this Road Glide’s Twin Cam 103 so happens to fit the bill. He sees the icy perception of baggers being unwieldy behemoths that are difficult to handle and not worth the trouble thawing over the past seven, eight years. He tells us there is in fact no transition needed for the freestyle moto guys and skaters. We can ollie off our Canadian maple decks right into a cushy leather seat.

“I think now more than ever that persona of a big, heavy, hard-to-manage bike is starting to go away because you’re seeing so much performance-driven stuff,” Carey says. “Look at it this way: If the Unknown Industries guys can wheelie a Road Glide, then any athlete can jump on one and go for a ride.”

With this in mind, Harley-Davidson set out to have Carey, grand marshal of the 75th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, try his hand at personalizing one of its 2015 Road Glides in time for the event. Getting down to brass tacks became a real challenge amidst Carey’s busy racing schedule; he only took receipt of the bike on June 1 and didn’t manage to get a wrench on it until June 25. The plan was to have the bike done with 500 break-in miles before setting it in a trailer bound for Nashville by July 21 to kick off a ride.

“I think it’s fun for me to be, I don’t know if ‘spokesman’ is the right word, but I just want to bring the eyeballs that follow me into bagger and V-twin culture,” Carey acknowledges. “It’s such a cool camaraderie, and I absolutely love going to rallies. It reminds me of what motocross was as a young kid racer back in the ’80s. It’s so do-it-yourself. It’s not so much about having someone build you a bike; everyone talks bikes and about the struggle they went through to put these parts on and how the ride there was, and I want to do my little part to bring more attention to the V-twin market. I just enjoy doing it.”

Carey recognizes the multitude of help he’s gotten along the way. He tells us that there is a laundry list of companies that offered parts, help, and support throughout the process through direct messages, and he is very thankful and appreciative of them all. However, one specific name that he keeps mentioning to us is his buddy, Jesse Rooke, an accomplished builder himself, who has been showing him the ropes. Jesse has gone so far as to build Carey a bike with a sidecar on it for his little girl to join in on rides. We’re told she loves it, naturally.

“I come from a very competitive world where people do not always want to help you,” Carey says. “It was definitely a really cool change. Thanks so much, everybody, and I’m really looking forward to doing more bike projects in the near future.”

Matt Risley and his shop, MRI Customs, went to town on this bagger. You can’t truly understand just how medieval he went on its ass unless you’ve seen it prior to all of his hard work. Bought sight unseen with over 60,000 hard miles under its worn out tires, it looks absolutely nothing like the sanitary blue vision of awesome that it is now.

The first phase was the keep-or-toss process you go through whenever customizing a stocker. In this case, Matt held on to the back wheel configuration and transmission while modifying or outright replacing pretty much everything else. His battle plan boiled down to recreating the bike as a timeless bagger that was so far beyond clean that it wouldn’t be fair to the bikes around it. With 20 years of experience fabricating metal and working with bikes, he certainly had the chops for the undertaking. All MRI parts are made with minimal tools and maximum effort.

Not only would this FLTRI be clean, it would also have serious one-off street cred to boot. He didn’t leave so much as a wire exposed on this custom. Hell, the gas tank alone took a week to make. Fabricated completely from steel, by hand, the tank was easily the most challenging part of this build. No glue or fiberglass went into it. Making the gas bag wasn’t hard just because of all the handcrafting; Matt kept the stock fuel pump and made the tank partially to hide the pump.

The majority of the parts, though, were either sanitized, modified, or both. In the case of the motor, MRI buffed it up to 120 inches and optimized its grunt with a combo of Screamin’ Eagle parts, T-Man cams, balance flywheel, and a welded crank. Although the transmission was left stock, it’s connected to a Performance Machine clutch and primary.

Matt Risley also cut and reworked the frame neck to accommodate a 26-inch front roller, set in a Race Tech front end. If that wheel doesn’t look like an off-the-rack Glenndyne 69, that’s because it isn’t. Matt created it in conjunction with MRI custom blanks. Skin-wise, it’s all about the flow with this beauty. MRI put in insane meticulous detail making the Harley fairing, MRI gas tank, and the side panels flow with razor precision into the lines of the Guy’s Upholstery seat and Black Label saddlebags.

Finally, when Matt first got his mitts on it, the bagger was originally red. The easy thing to do would be to shoot black all over the scoot and be done with it. Matt and his shop aren’t about easy, though. He needed this machine to stand out, wherever it went. That’s why he brought in Sinthium Inc. for re-colorization. They mixed up the custom turquoise and silver scheme that draws eyes and jealousy in equal measure wherever the bagger goes.

Transforming this Harley into an awesome blue vision wasn’t easy. You see that in the Old World craftsmanship Matt Risley brought to bear on the project. What you don’t see is just how jacked up the bike was when he started. On the one hand, that’s too bad: it’s hard to truly appreciate the extent of the changes. On the other, does it truly matter? Look at how beautiful it is now.

For more information on MRI Customs, visit MRICustoms.com

Barnstorm's Custom Bagger Build

The boys at Barnstorm Cycles don't think of a bagger as your standard Geezer Glide per se. In fact, they take the opposite approach by upping the engine displacement ante and sprucing the suspension to turn a pretty mild machine into a pavement-thrashing tourer that revolves around performance. Which also means having some fun at their local racetrack, Thompson Speedway in nearby Connecticut. Check out the VIDEO BELOW of the 2001 Road Glide Custom Barnstorm just finished, and more importantly, putting the custom Harley bagger through its paces.

Oh, and stay tuned for more of the Barnstorm Bagger in an upcoming issue of Baggers Magazine featuring model Lauren Luongo soon!

Winters are tough on those who have to battle below-zero temps and snowfall on a daily basis. These cold snaps are especially worse on those who love motorcycles. Having to wait for a specific season to get out and ride gets old after a while, but the downtime does pose the perfect opportunity to make some real progress on project builds. “Canada” Craig Campbell is all too familiar with this specific subject of give and take. Living in Ontario just above the Minnesota border means that he has learned to seize every available hour suitable for motorcycle riding before hibernation time presents itself. But once the white stuff starts falling, you better believe Craig is still wrapped up in matters revolving around his bike.

Some 12 hours away in Lake Villa, Illinois, is DD Custom Cycle, where Craig’s ’07 Road King has migrated to for the winter the past few years. Dave Dupor, proprietor of the shop, has spent many countless hours sculpting Craig’s bike farther and farther into the realm of becoming a trophy-snagging bike—something that we’ll touch on more in just a bit. Before Dave laid his hands on the Road King, Craig had already changed things up about four different times, but none of the versions were nearly as close to what it has currently evolved into. After investing close to $30K on his last project, Craig swore up and down that he would never again allow himself to become so consumed in another build. Clearly, the power of his will was no match for what would soon happen once his bike took that first fateful trip to Dave’s place.

The two met at the Donnie Smith Invitational bike show in Minnesota one year. Craig was captivated by what he saw at the DD Custom Cycle booth, and the way he explains the situation makes it sound like it was only yesterday when he stumbled onto the ultimate source of inspiration.

“The first thing I noticed were bikes that had been cut and raked on big wheels—I’m partial to the long and low look,” Craig says. “After I started talking to Dave, I instantly got the impression that this guy was the real deal. He was down to earth, knew what he was talking about, and didn’t try to blow smoke or attempt to make any sort of false illusions about what his work is all about.” Little did these two know, they would soon become good buds and collaborate on building one of the slickest Road Kings out on the road today.

And Craig does push his bike down the highway more than most people would imagine. In fact, that’s how his relationship with Dave really started to pick up. Craig was out riding one day, and he ended up scraping and cracking the back fender. He could’ve done the repairs himself or had a local shop fix it up, but it boiled down to a matter of convenience and a little bit of luck that made him drop the bike off with Dave. Craig says, “Dave’s estimate was extremely reasonable. It was actually about the same as other shops were pricing, but being a fan of his work, I figured the money would be better spent with him.” So Craig loaded up the bike and ventured south to DD Custom Cycle—a place that would soon become a second home for both him and his hog.

During the following four winters, Craig’s bike ended up at Dave’s shop in the off season, and every year the Road King was transforming into something Craig never intended. Of course, not one single complaint ever left his mouth. Aside from the fender repairs, the set of DD Custom Cycle’s Ghost Bars sparked the entire rest of the project.

When looking back where they first started, Dave retraced their first steps and the initial game plan development. “Clean was the overall main goal of the build,” Dave says. “We wanted this Road King to stand the test of time and make sure that it wasn’t being built too far ahead of its time only to get left behind in a year or two. Once it made its way into our shop, we installed the bars Craig had wanted made and began work cutting and raking the rear end before fabricating the all-steel rear fender.” It was the avoidance of fiberglass (among many other nuances) that Craig really tuned into. The quality and style of work that he would receive from Dave and his team was exactly what he had been looking for.

“I had my doubts at first,” Craig says. “Not to say that I didn’t trust Dave—it was just me being paranoid. Once my wife and I took it for a spin, we couldn’t imagine how great it rode. It handles like an absolute dream, and Dave delivered everything he said he would.”

With large forward steps being made every winter, it was the springtime that proved to be the most exciting part of the year. Craig was finally able to introduce his bike to the light of day, and he started entering it at the Donnie Smith show—the place where it all started.

“I placed second for three consecutive years,” Craig says. “The competition out in the Minnesota area is tough, but I figured that since I was going to head to the show anyway, why not enter my bike and get some feedback from others?” The runner-up award was a bittersweet title for Craig. He was grateful that the reception of the bike was consistently on point, but he felt that maybe a few points of interest on his Road King were possibly being overlooked.

Dave and the boys continued to spend the winter months with Craig’s bike, and after the fourth year of showing it, the tide finally turned. The first-place trophy was awarded to Craig, and although it was an honor he was excited to receive, he had no intention of celebrating the victory and leaving the bike as is. “Onward and upward” has been the unofficial motto of this build, and just like the years before this one, this winter is being reserved for further renovations.

Craig let us in on what’s in store for the build, but you won’t be getting any sneak peeks here. We aren’t the gossiping types (not at the present time, anyway). We’ll allow the true writers of this story to unveil the next chapter as they see fit. Stay tuned, dolls and gents—you never know what might be lurking underneath the frost.

Spec Sheet

For more information on Dave Dupor and his bikes, visit DDCustomCycle.com

I don’t want to jinx myself here, but I have this sense of rider invincibility when I’m on the BMW K1600 GTL Exclusive. I feel as though I am in this magical little bubble where the sun will still shine while it rains everywhere around me. In fact, that sort of happened when I rode from Orange County to Ventura, California, in light rain and managed to pull into the driveway 99 percent dry. Magic. Or the first time I got on the bike and gently worked my way through the six-speed gearbox on an open highway, only to look down and see that I was somehow pulling the smoothest 120 mph of my life. Magic. The ride of the GTL reaches an unparalleled level of comfort and ease, but with the lack of aftermarket parts available and the mild, sport-tourer styling, is it worth it?

This is the sort of bike you want to do the “Iron Butt Challenge” on. Nowhere is too far on the K1600 GTL. Smoother than silk on the highway and easy to confidently maneuver through the twisties, this bike was an absolute pleasure and ate up the miles like they were nothing. The sound system pumping, GPS guiding your way, your best gal on the back for the comfiest ride of her life, and a weekend’s worth of luggage in the bags—this high-tech, two-wheeled RV is a dream machine.

One small touch of the throttle and you’re listening to a symphony of German engineering. With a large touch of the throttle, you can redline it on its centerstand and the thing won’t even budge. Maybe it’s because I have been on a massive V-twinning bender and am so used to the rumble-grumble of the American hogs, but I did not find myself missing the vibrations at all. Sure, a little rumble to life is nice, but much like the strange times I find myself wishing I had a kickstart, I need to remind myself that not every bike needs to be nostalgic. You will not find yourself complaining about noise in any way; the balance of quiet and aggressive is maintained very well with the K1600. While at idle it does have the trademark BMW “sewing machine” sound (very quiet), it roars to life like a NASCAR and has a hearty, powerful sound that makes every guy within a quarter-mile radius turn his head to satisfy his curiosity.

With 160 bhp, 129 pound-feet of torque, and a curb weight of less than 800 pounds, the K1600 GTL is incredibly nimble for its size. The thing can throttle wheelie in second (not that we would possibly know from experience) and can feel as responsive as a 200-pound dirt bike in the right revs. The higher bags give it better cornering clearance than most any bagger out on the road. The suspension is adjustable while riding and can be switched between Sport mode, Comfort mode, or Normal mode and single rider, single rider with luggage, or two-up. There are so many features on this bike. It’s easy to lose track, but the on-handle dial was incredibly easy to use, and the system interface was natural and easy to manage.

The bike comes with a one-year subscription to Sirius Satellite Radio, or you can easily connect to your phone or MP3 player via Bluetooth or USB. You can switch between audio functions through a set of buttons next to your left knee on the fairing or by going through the menu, but it is nice to not always have to go through the menu to quickly change what you’re listening to. The bike is also set up to broadcast its satellite radio to your headset or give you GPS directions in your helmet if you are equipped and prefer audio output that way.

There are three riding modes to choose from: Road, Rain, and Dynamic. Being in sunny Southern California, I kept it in Road mode most of the time but did hit a bit of rain and noticed the throttle response softened up quite a bit when changed to the appropriate ride setting. Shortly after is started raining, I noticed two indicator lights pop up, neither of which had easily discernable meanings. So I opened up the manual. One was just a traction indicator basically saying that the road was wet. The other was saying that one of my headlights was obstructed, so I went up to the front of the bike and saw that there was a leaf stuck to the headlight causing a bright orange indicator to pop up on my screen.

Maybe I am old school in this sense, and I’m sure there are some situations where that is totally useful, but I would rather have a leaf on my headlight (one of many headlights, I might add) than a light flashing at me about something that isn’t affecting my riding at all. I will say, however, that this was my only negative experience with the technology, and it was incredibly minor.

The front of the K1600 GTL diverts air from the rider’s body so efficiently that it actually creates a vacuum in front of you. But wind pulling you any direction can be fatiguing, so the bike is equipped with two small fins that can redirect air back to the body of the rider. The windshield is also easily adjustable from the thumb and can stand nearly straight up, blocking both the rider and a passenger from any buffeting. The Exclusive comes equipped with an adaptive xenon headlight (with a halogen high beam) and LED daytime running lights, as well as two LED fog lights on the lower fairing.

Being a taller rider at 6-foot-4, I found myself a little bit cramped on the GTL. The seat has a ride height of about 30.7 inches, which is great for shorter riders, but I found myself needing to stretch out occasionally on longer rides. The seat is large with a wide area of weight distribution but locks the rider in and does not allow for very much movement forward or backward. Also, you’re equipped with footpegs rather than floorboards, so there aren’t any options for foot placement while on the road. The windshield adjusts to nearly vertical, allowing one to nearly eliminate buffeting for the rider and passenger. The passenger seat is wide and very comfortable, and the armrests were a very nice addition, according to my passenger.

It seems like BMW thought of everything when it came to this bike. I find myself inspired to go on unnecessarily long rides, and while on them, I again find myself enjoying the scenery and an effortless cruise. I don’t think there was one bit of technology that I have seen elsewhere that I didn’t see perfectly executed on the BMW interface. It does not distract or take away; it does exactly what it is meant to do: enhance your ride and decrease fatigue so you can ride longer and focus more on what’s in front of you on the road.

The ride is quick, comfortable, and easy. The bike is highly visible, highly reliable, and incredibly functional in just about every way, but in the pages of there’s an elephant in the room. This bike is khakis. When you imagine the owner of the GTL, there is a very high chance he is wearing a full, brightly visible BMW rain suit over his suit and tie, regardless of the weather conditions or to where he is riding (coffee run). It’s not like you can hop online and find a new seat, handlebars, and exhaust pipe to make this thing over real quick either. There is no badass factor, no element of personal style, and I really cared about that…until I rode this thing. After a week of really getting on it, I was ready for my BMW modular helmet with the intercom and full-branded rainsuit. Hell, if it’s all as good as this bike, sign me up. If this bike is khakis, they’re lined with Kevlar, decked out with utility pockets, vented and breathable, and I want a pair. Maybe I was too quick to judge my dad’s friend with the golf clubs on the back of his Gold Wing when I was younger. Looking back it seems like that’s the guy who had it all figured out.

For more on this bike and others from BMW, check their website BMWMotorcycles.com

The only thing constant in life is change. Nothing seems to remain the same for all too long. People come and go. Fashion trends and the cool factor of the latest wannabe thug rapper only seem to stay hip for about a year—maybe two. Decades-old hometown landmarks are ripped down to make room for custom condos built for yuppies. Now, the reason for these reflections isn’t based solely upon simple nostalgia, but rather the hope that when things change, they do so for the better. When one less-than-loyal friend exits the permanent rotation of hangout pals, there’s an immediate opening for a more dependable one. Hipster beards and Aubrey “Drake” Graham fans are now officially existing on borrowed time—thank Jesus. But the next wave of what’s “cool” is not too far off on the horizon, and who the hell knows what will wash up when it breaks at shore.

While some find comfort in the now, others like San Diego, California tattoo artist Dago Dane embrace what the future has in store. Now, there’s one thing that you must know about Dane before this story progresses. When it came time to revamp the look and feel of his customized ’94 Road King, he glanced to the past for inspiration. How’s that old cliché saying go —you gotta know where you came from to understand where you’re going? Well if that’s not it verbatim, it’s pretty much the same overall gist, so don’t go reporting us the national board of quotation enforcers. Dane took a trip back to the beginning—back to when he was a kid and custom cars and bikes were uncharted territories to him.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve always been into lowriders and bikes”, Dane tells us. “They were different and didn’t look like the rest of the other vehicles on the road.”

Dane had already gone the distance with his Road King one time before. It had been fully customized and featured in our sister publication, Hot Bike magazine. But there was just something about the bike that Dane grew tired of—it just didn’t reflect the styling cues and feel that he had chased when he was younger. “I started off with a lowrider bicycle when I was young and progressed into real lowriders, Cadillacs and Harley-Davidson bikes when I was old enough to drive/ride them. I needed to go back to the old school, back to what got me interested in this whole thing from the start.” So Dane, along with his good pal Rich Lora, tore the bike down to the core, deleting all the work that had been completed just 5 years before. It was the only way to truly build the bike he was after. Once the Road King was gutted, Dane spent day and night as he built the bike right back up again. There was no doubt in his mind about being able to achieve the results he was after, and he would be damned if it was going to take longer than only a few months to do.

Just to clear the air, Dane’s bike wasn’t previously an eyesore or even anything remotely close to one. It just wasn’t keeping him interested or motivated to take it out of the garage. The champagne-colored paint, low beach bars, and fat 40-spoke wheels just weren’t enough to keep him captivated anymore. Instead, Dane wanted a clean and classic OG-style appearance that was a spitting image of the cool cars and bikes he became addicted to when he was a kid. “I liked the other style, but I needed an old school bike to ride around on. I tried my best to incorporate a lot of vintage style to the rebuild. I used old Panhead emblems and Shovelhead exhaust tips that were unique at the time when we first mocked them up, but I’ve since seen them on quite a few bikes out there on the road. I tried my best to break away from the norm, even with the tiniest of details.” And boy, he isn’t kidding. This bike is all about the minuscule detailing that the untrained eye could easily pass over and mistake for stock or completely nonexistent.

Here’s a test: Did you happen to notice that the stock front fender isn’t quite a stock fender at all? To properly fit the 23-inch wheel, the fender had to be gutted and stretched 4 ½ inches to make it appear to be completely stock. A lot of work went into creating this illusion, but to the keen eye the overall shape appearance and ability to stuff the 23-inch wheel is a dead giveaway. Another detail that might be difficult (almost impossible) to notice is the functionality of the rolled up Pendleton blanked mounted on the handlebars. Yes, the blanket actually serves another purpose other than decoration. There is actually a cylinder-shaped PVC enclosure (think Bazooka tube) hidden inside that houses a pair of tweeters that are aimed out to fire on each end. One wouldn’t have a chance at finding them when the stereo is turned off, and even once it is on, it still is tough to pinpoint where exactly all the sound is coming from. While we’re on the topic of stashed sounds, there are also a couple turn signals that have been hollowed out to hide more tweeters. There are a total of 10 speakers wired up, and man, do they come together for a mean SQ session.

Even though the Road King was starting to take the shape Dane was hoping for, there are some important details to recognize that have now come together to make the bike a lot more personal. The count of one-off parts on this bike brings a respectable number to the table, not to mention overall execution. Dane had hand-drawn a series of filigree patterns that he wanted to imprinted onto a leather seat and floorboards. Luckily, he knew just the right guys to help complete the process from the initial design phase. Brett Blaisdell of Smuglabs custom laser tooled the designs onto the leather and Eli Scarbeary sealed the deal with his hand-stitch work. Now, for the seat, Dane had 4 little words in mind that he wanted to see every time he prepared for a ride—Pray For Us Sinners. “This has to be one of my favorite pieces that make up my new bike”, Dane tells us. “It can be taken in many ways when people read it. It all depends how the message relates to them.”

Now that the Road King has been custom tailored for its owner once again (this time with a snugger, more comfortable fit), it can now lead the life it was destined for. The bike gets ridden at least once a week and to occasional show around the SoCal area, and the only time it hitches a ride on a trailer is when it’s mechanically disabled and is left with no other option. Dane says the official time it took to complete the bike’s resurrection was 3-4 months. The exact dates became blurry towards the finish line, but the bike got done, and that’s what matters most. “All I really have left to say at the end of all this is thank you. Thank you to my mother for all the support she has shown me from when I was a kid working on one project or another. She made me into who I am today. Thank you also to my many talented homies who helped build this bike and make it happen for me. C/S.”

Spec Sheet

It’s long been said that men are naturally attracted to the scent of vanilla. Taking in the sultry curves and eye-popping shine of Dirty Bird Concepts’ latest Indian creation, we can’t help but detect hints of the aphrodisiac wafting in with notes of searing motor oil, charred exhaust fumes, and burned rubber. Indeed, this creamy V-twin dessert tantalizes all the senses with its meticulously designed lines, painstakingly engineered tufts, and salty-but-sweet colors. Vanilla is apropos considering the spice was cultivated by pre-Columbian Mesoamerican people—a regional commonality it shares with the bike brand named for the North American aboriginals the intrusive European migrants referred to as “Indian.” One of America’s indigenous motorcycle brands itself, Indian Motorcycle, is in full stride following its latest comeback after numerous walks on the spirit trail, and John Shope of Dirty Bird Concepts is at the forefront of bringing aftermarket cool to the reincarnated brand.

“I love Indian,” John professes. “I love the name; I love the history behind it and that we’ve had with it from the beginning.”

Submitted for your approval is John’s latest foray: DBC’s custom 2014 Indian Vintage. The bike is a showcase of the shop’s Tomahawk Series of parts designed to sprinkle more flavor onto this saddlebagged squaw’s roasted maize. Gloss black flames drip over its curves like chocolate syrup over mounds of vanilla ice cream. Its 30-inch Gorby’s Machine front wheel spins like a blender mixing all the decadent sweets together. A plume of Wonka factory exhaust leaves the only evidence of the saccharine combustion set in motion by the Thunder Stroke 111 factory motor and expelled by the DBC pipes.

“I’m super proud of this bike,” muses John, the imagination-into-reality Willy of this real-life “Hsaw Aknow,” (“Wonka Wash” spelled backward). “It rides like a dream. I love the color and that dumb little windshield thing on the handlebars. We just slipped on a tiny little windshield to give the impression of a windshield on the handlebars. It’s funny, but those are my favorite parts.”

Leave it to the maestro to appreciate the finer details. And although that mesmerizing color is reported in the spec sheet as a pearl cream, John isn’t quite sold on labeling it as such.

“It’s just like…earth-toned,” John struggles to articulate. “It’s a cream, but it’s a deep cream. This thing goes toward… I keep thinking tan. It is a custom-mix created by Steel Vision Garage. We tried to match the tan and burgundy from the Indian gauge. They threw some pearl in it to give it a little more life when the light hits it, and then they did the gloss black flames with the burgundy pinstriping. I’ve wanted to do an earth-tone bike for so long, but I never had the balls to do it. It was just the right thing to do with this build. If we had done a candy red or something, it just would have been too fancy, too today. We wanted to keep a little bit of yesterday in it.”

John takes great pride in everything he’s accomplished with Indian Motorcycles in the company’s latest incarnation. Not only does this bike mark Dirty Bird Concepts as the first to stake a 30-inch front teepee to one, but DBC also has been quick to the market with the first full line of aftermarket Indian parts.

“I didn’t even blink, man,” John recalls. “I just believed. I was kind of afraid at first, but Eddie Trotta told me that with my name and my designs, if I built it, they would come. I was like, ‘That’s Eddie Trotta telling me that; that’s my man!’ Sure enough, it’s going good.”

Come, they have. And who could blame them; it’s hard to resist the Lewis-and-Clarkian journey toward a new frontier that John Shope has blazed for the rest of us.

“Now that people have seen me cooking along, they can jump right in,” John deduces. “There’s no risk now. I’ll be people’s Huckleberry; I’ll be the risk taker. That’s what they call me on the [Biker Battleground Phoenix] show, the risk taker. Whatever you want to call it, I’m good with it.”

Our readers love their baggers! And we love them too! Seeing all of the submissions that pour into our inbox every month is absolutely awesome. Metrics and standards alike, we love the bikes that you guys have built and love being able to give you the spotlight once a month to show the world what the guys back home are doing!

We hope you enjoy this month's Reader Rides as much as we do and as always, stay tuned for more!

I once caught a stranger head-down-ass-up digging around in the cabin of my car. I’d been about to jump in my whip to head to work in the broad 9 a.m. daylight but was completely stunned by the sight. Overcome by shock, all I could muster was a weak, “Wh— What are you doing?!” The apparent good Samaritan said he saw someone else in my car and was checking to see if anything was missing. I didn’t know how to respond to that. He then jumped on his nearby bicycle, directed an F-bomb toward me, and pedaled off. Although he didn’t take anything that morning, my car got broken into again later that week, and I ended up short one nice aftermarket audio head unit.

You’ll have to forgive me for not making this story cooler with a Schwarzenegger one-liner followed by a swift beat-down of the vandal, but that would be fictitious. We deal (mostly) with facts here at Baggers, which is what makes the story of Alfred Mirazo’s bike build all the more extraordinary. You see, the Rancho Cucamonga, California, resident wasn’t lucky enough to come face to face with his antagonist; he only had the misfortune of finding his 2007 Harley-DavidsonRoad King Classic “half dead,” completely stripped down by some low-life. If Alfred were more like me, he’d have stood there dumbstruck and conceded that he mustn’t be meant to have nice things. Instead, he doubled down, determined to raise a magnificent phoenix from the ashes of his calamity.

"I grew up on dirt bikes and ATVs,” Alfred recollects. “Thirteen, 14 years ago, I ended up buying my first Harley, a ’91 Softail with Evo motor. I fixed that one up and liked the whole feeling of being able to look at the aftermath and say, ‘That's something I did.'"

Perhaps pursuing another hit of that same gratification he felt all those years ago, Alfred embarked on his “Evo Wayz” Road King custom rebirth with the notion that he’d always loved House of Kolor’s Kandy Root Beer tint. He came to find out that there are several ways to shoot it (perhaps an A&W-versus-Mug type of debate) but eventually settled on the look Rico from Duran’s Quality Painting in Baldwin Park, California, offered up. The result is a hue so deep you could dip your arms in all the way to the elbows and lick sugary syrup off your fingers. The swirls of copper leafing and pinstriping applied by Phillip’s Fine Lines of Montclair, California, circle the surface of the tins like hints of vanilla in this 96ci-powered root-beer float. Ultimately, Alfred’s delectable delight carries with it a classic simplicity and elegance that mirrors his personality.

"I wasn't expecting to win anything,” Alfred admits. “The only reason why I actually even entered was because we were all going to the Toby Keith concert anyway. I knew my friends had nicer bikes than me, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. My bike is just simple.”

To Alfred’s modest sentiments, we respectfully cite the poet Walt Whitman who once proffered, “The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.”

“The art of art, the glory of expression and the sunshine of the light of letters, is simplicity.”

The moral of this story: If you ever catch a dude trying to jack your deck, you better whip his ass or you might end up the butt of a sad anecdote in magazine. It’s much better to give that dude a figurative middle finger by building a dope-ass bike that makes you the hero in a feature. We’re pretty sure Whitman would agree with all of this. Conclusion: 19th century American poet Walt Whitman rocks!

“Well, I'm definitely not a builder, but I did design it 100 percent,” Russell Godsil tells us. “This is my second Harley. My first bike was an ’87 Softail, and, yes, I went all out on it also. I really wanted a bagger though, so the hunt was on.” His quest for a suitable lab rat spanned the Interwebs, lasting all of a month. Finally, he found this one: a 2001 Florida Highway Patrol Road King. Other men might have seen a worn-out old bagger; all Godsil saw in it was potential. What he didn't see was the chaos monsoon that lay ahead.

It wasn’t an actual monsoon, though he's probably seen his share of tropical storms in Florida. His personal disaster was the two-legged variety: a guy who said one thing—“Oh, yeah, I'm a certified mechanic…”—and meant another—“…sorta kinda-ish.”

Like any good hurricane, this one started calmly enough. Godsil bought the bike, envisioned it, planned it, and procured the parts for it. “I've always been a large fan of the lowrider vehicles and culture,” Godsil says. “With this bike I knew I was going to go straight cholo lowrider style. I had a vision and wasn't stopping ’til I achieved it. I know other people have been through the same thing. It takes way too damn long. I couldn't wait to be done and riding.”

“With this bike I knew I was going to go straight cholo lowrider style. I had a vision and wasn't stopping ’til I achieved it. I know other people have been through the same thing. It takes way too damn long. I couldn't wait to be done and riding.”

Dark clouds blew in when a friend introduced Godsil to the alleged certified mechanic. The mayhem started at tear down. While the man knew a lot, unfortunately he didn't know everything. All of his good work was offset by mistakes. About halfway through the build, Godsil sought more help.

The chaotic maelstrom subsided eight months after it started. Godsil’s bike was really coming together. He hit a snag with the wiring, but going into month nine he was really diggin' his bagger.

For the most part. “I was pretty happy with what I had came up with but felt like I was missing something,” Godsil says. “Pinstriping! Damn, what was I thinking?” When Godsil picked his finished ride up from the paint shop, he was way stoked: “Everything in my nutcase of a brain was in front of me.”

In the long run, it was a pain in the ass. A glorious, completely worthwhile, cool pain in the ass. Godsil would absolutely do it again. And again, and again, and again. “I had a great time doing this bike and have received nothing but great reactions,” he says. “I hope you enjoy my 01 Road King as much as I do.”

Specifications

For as slick as each issue of Baggers looks when it heads out for printing, it's an illusion. At least, partially. While it might look (hopefully) like the ads and stories are all one big happy team effort, in reality ad sales and editorial don't always agree. Sometimes, ad sales sees us editorial types as overly privileged soapbox jockeys, riding test bikes and enjoying free parts to play with on our scoots, while they do all the real work. On occasion, we see them as cash-grabbing opportunists working any slick angle they can to make their commission, kissing advertiser ass while we perch on our soapboxes impressing ourselves with whatever words spew forth from our gigantic, ego-inflated heads. Both of these stereotypes are based in reality, though neither is absolute truth or fiction. So when I heard that the Binford's IT/ad guy dropped this Street Glide while spilling a cappuccino on it at the local Starbucks, I was far more amused than surprised. In the 15 years I've been writing for the bike books, I've known some ad sales guys who'd ride circles around me; they were great riders by any sensible standard. I've also known a few who've made this exact same mistake or some close variant of it, so strong were they with the poseur side of The Force. With its $40K price tag, that bad day at the coffee joint resulted in what's either the world's most expensive cappuccino or an inexpensive Binford's bagger.

Two brothers around the shop were looking for a big-wheel bagger, and they really didn't know which way to go. Paul ended up paying off his yuppie little buddy for his scoot, and the build was on. Naturally, Binford put his twist on it as if it were his own bike.

After some damage assessment and a tear-down, Binford's turned the Street Glide's Twin Cam mill into a 95-inch powerhouse, courtesy of Shackley barrels, Branch heads, and Woods cams.

Binford's stretched the bones 2 inches and raked the neck to 40 degrees, not just to sleek out the profile but also to run one of Paul's new wheels from Sinister, which will have a line in its 2016 catalog. Combined with the KewlMetal raked trees, the bike's new stance is sweet. The new front hoop doesn't overpower the rest of the bike.

Rico, painter for Binford's, really stepped it up for this beauty too. Not only is the flakey white his doing, but Paul sicced him on the graphics, skulls, and brass knuckles that make it impossible not to look at this bike. He did a terrific job matching the paint job to all the powdercoat found throughout the rest of the machine. Factor in Binford's Knuckle Gear parts that are sprinkled throughout the bagger, and this Street Glide is a serious eye catcher.

Grabbing eyeballs is exactly what this bike did when it debuted at the Sacramento Easyrider Show. That's when the love connection with its new owner, Kyle Galbiso, started. And if he's spilled a drink on it at the Starbucks drive-through, he hasn't told anyone yet.

Specifications

For more information on Binford's Custom Cycle, check out their website Binfords.com

When the time comes to blow the scene, handling is everything. And rightly so—how are you going to make a clean getaway and hit the corners accurately (and safely) with a 30-inch wheel guiding the way? You’re not going to, and that’s that. It’s not a matter of who’s the better rider because, let’s face it, Evel Knievel himself wouldn’t have dared to jump the smallest of kiddie pools filled with the warmest of water while riding on a blinged-out baller hoop in front of him. Some people might have called him dumb for the stunts he pulled, but nobody could ever accuse the man of being a dumbass. Look, there’s a time and place for everything, but when it comes to aggressive, performance-minded riding, stability is where it’s at. Your bike and your life depend on it, man.

“When the first 23-inch wheels started showing up, I decided to go in the performance direction, kind of what’s going on with all the hopped-up Dynas right now,” he says convincingly. “The growing diameter of front wheels just wasn’t my deal, but the only problem was this was back in 2009 when it was a ‘big’ thing. This is when I first got this bike.”

Now, Robbie Lane might not be a hardened criminal or a seasoned daredevil, but he knows what he likes, and what he likes is a motorcycle that can whip him through traffic when he’s late for a dinner date or simply needs to feel the rush of the cool Cali breeze on his knees. As a founder of Alloy Art, he’s stood on the front lines of the latest trends and innovations in the motorcycle industry for years. One thing he never bought into was the whole big-wheel frenzy that swept through the land like an epidemic of unforgiving pubic brush fire. “When the first 23-inch wheels started showing up, I decided to go in the performance direction, kind of what’s going on with all the hopped-up Dynas right now,” he says convincingly. “The growing diameter of front wheels just wasn’t my deal, but the only problem was this was back in 2009 when it was a ‘big’ thing. This is when I first got this bike.” Not one to swim with the current, Robbie did his thing and stayed true to his own mind’s eye.

After working and designing for other companies, Robbie started Alloy Art in 1999. Everything it produces is mocked up and fabricated in Southern California—there are no exceptions to that. Alloy Art’s products range across the board from fancy-schmancy dress-up parts to bare-bones components, as well as high-tech performance mods. To better showcase the spectrum of goods his company has to offer, he picked up the ’09 H-D Street Glide y’all see here. He knew he could throw his whole inventory list of goods and turn it into the most effective sales tool money could buy. The new H-D frame platform had just arrived, and performance touring was a market that he was looking to jump right into. “We combined a lot of our older product designs and our brand-new stuff for the H-D’s new touring frame,” Robbie says. “The bike was set up to handle. With the insane power being pumped out by the T-Man motor we used, there was no other option. Our direction has always been geared toward motorcycles with equal parts muscle and finesse.” And knowing Robbie, that direction will never waver down any other path.

“The bike was set up to handle. With the insane power being pumped out by the T-Man motor we used, there was no other option. Our direction has always been geared toward motorcycles with equal parts muscle and finesse.”

Since Robbie’s bike was beginning to show genuine signs of turning into one mean motor scooter, the plan was to take it out to the V-Twin Expo in Cincinnati to showcase it the right way. Meeting a deadline for a big event like this takes a lot of foresight and forward planning. But no matter how far ahead things are put into motion, something always comes up to slow the proverbial roll.

“Engineering the triple trees to work properly with the stock H-D frame had to have been one of the most challenging parts of building the bike. But nothing was more unexpected and blindsiding than what we experienced with the paint situation.” Now, we’ve heard him tell this story firsthand, and reading about this part is nowhere near as intense as the real thing. So apparently, Robbie and his guys were waiting on the bike to be delivered from the painter the night before they were going to pack up and hit the road for Cincy. Yeah, their backs were against the wall right to the bitter end. Here’s where things get juicy though. The bike arrived at 9 p.m., and it was nothing like Robbie had discussed or expected. Instead of just bending over and taking it, he immediately wet sanded the whole bike and picked up a case of Krylon rattle cans from Home Depot just before they closed the doors. Robbie and his guys were up until 4 a.m. spray-painting like a pack of hopped-up taggers. As morning rolled through, the bike was loaded up and they were off to Ohio—hungry and half dead. At least the flat finish makes for an easy touch-up, and finding the matching color is a cinch.

How’d the reception at the Expo go, you might be asking? Damn good. Even though Robbie had to resort to plan B, things worked out just fine. Without a distracting paint scheme to take eyes away from the quality and fitment of the components, things might have ended up even better than he anticipated. But unlike other average trailer-bound show princesses, this bike puts real work in on the streets. It gets Robbie to points A, B, C—pretty much through the entire stinkin’ alphabet week in and week out. A bike built solely around visual aids couldn’t hack this kind of hustle.

Times do change, and with that change comes new trends. It’s nothing to haze or ridicule, but the good stuff usually tends to stick and the crap takes a dive—sometimes it just takes a lot longer than necessary. Change is good but only to a certain extent. You can’t go flippin’ yourself around every time the “cool” kids find something new to glom onto. Whatever ends up becoming the flavor of the month years from now, you can bank on Robbie and the Alloy Art crew doing the same rad stuff they’re doing now (which might actually be the “in” thing to do at the time). Guess we’ll have to wait and find out.

Specifications

For more information on Alloy Art, check out their website AlloyArt.com

We love bringing you the best baggers that custom builders around the world have to offer, but there's something really great about seeing all the custom builds that our readers have accomplished. Here are some of our favorites form this month, we hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

If you have a custom bagger that you would like to show us, send an email to BaggersMag@BonnierCorp.com for a chance to be in the mag!

I don’t recommend setting a live shark on fire as a hobby. You might get bit, catch fire yourself, or find yourself in lockup. It also tends to piss off the shark. If you really can’t resist, though, adding flames to a shark-nosed scoot like this 2013 Road Glide is really as close as you want to get.

In all seriousness, this is the third project from Bad Dad for customer Brad Nemec. Brad scooped this ride up new from his local Harley-Davidson dealership in 2013. His other two Bad Kids were the 2011 Street Glide (featured in Baggers) and a 2012 Ultra Bad Dad created for him. All three of his two-wheeled custom children live at home.

For as much as he loves his two eldest, Brad was drawn to the stability of the frame-mounted fairing, but most of all he simply liked the way the Road Glide looks. A few break-in miles after pickup, the new hog was off to Bad Dad for the full treatment. “He wanted to build another custom bagger, but he wanted this one to be the most radical of all the bikes we had built for him,” Jacob Hinsey from Bad Dad said.

"He wanted to build another custom bagger, but he wanted this one to be the most radical of all the bikes we had built for him,”

That’s a tall order for a big bike. The other baggers weren’t slouches when it came to cool customization. Both are seriously classy rides walking the knife’s edge between aesthetics and everyday functionality. Outdoing them wouldn’t be easy. “Luckily, we were in the process of releasing our new Competition Series line of parts at the same time we undertook Brad’s Road Glide project,” Jacob told us. “Our Competition Series parts are an expansion upon our great line of custom bagger parts. Our Competition Series parts are the longest and most aggressive designs that Bad Dad offers. Brad’s Road Glide project was the perfect platform to display these new designs and satisfy Brad’s most important requirement for this project.”

For starters, the Competition Series Tank features a custom bodyline that is recessed into the side of the tank. That line extends across the tank and smoothly flows into the bike’s Competition Series Side Covers. The custom bodyline found in the Competition Series Dash really stands out in the flat black paint to complete the look of the tank assembly. What’s more, Brad’s Road Glide is the first custom build to feature Bad Dad’s Competition Series Rear End. This rear fender and saddlebag combination is stretched 4-1/2 inches down and 7 inches back, so the bike is still very rideable. That longer fender and bag setup is unlike anything Brad has on his previous custom projects.

Going big didn’t just apply to the back end though. “Another requirement of this build was that it must have the loudest stereo system of any of Brad’s bikes,” Jacob said. “We finished the bike with a set of our Competition Series Speaker Lids. In addition to the great stereo system, these speaker lids feature a great custom bodyline, which we used to install custom lighting. Our Competition Series parts really helped set off this project, and we are flattered that Brad has chosen to work with us on so many of these great projects.”

Part of that working relationship means creative freedom for the shop. Brad gives Bad Dad an idea of what he wants then lets them whack open the creative throttle until the job’s done. In this case, it meant a shark-nosed, practical daily rider with great lines and a little fire. The bagger also looks a lot better than some flaming hammerhead charring away on a dock somewhere. And unless you have lemon butter, it probably tastes better too.

Specifications