"I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who overcomes his enemies." Aristot
2006 H-DFLHT
Absolutely no oranges were harmed in the making of this FLHT. But it wasn't for lack of trying. Mike Adams threw a lot of effort into setting this bike apart from the common dresser; not just in the paint but in the one-off creations he made for it.
The road leading up to that was a long one. It started more than 40 years back, when Mike first threw leg over a motorcycle seat as a kid. Decades later the path brought him to his first custom job in 1995. One thing led to another until he and his wife, Lesley, found themselves the proud proprietors of Smada Customs in rural Maine. A decade later, Mike picked up this bagger; it stayed stock just long enough for a few poker runs. The reason being, every time he took a run he came across tourers just like it: stock and black.
That's all it took for Mike to take this baby under the knife for a makeover. He wasn't into just throwing a bunch of aftermarket replacements on it and calling it a day, though. That wouldn't be different enough for him. Sure, he outsourced some of the new parts, but others are his own one-offs.
He started off with a few small projects, like creating a new horn cover to flow with the same lines as the stretched RWD gas tank; the same with the air cleaner cover he made for it. At the same time, he didn't like the way the stock bags looked with the new back fender and stretched them to flow better. In fact, you could pretty much call "go with the flow" his mantra for transforming this bagger. He swapped out most of the bodywork in favor of an RWD gas tank and front fender with a Klock Werks back tire skin at the rear and molded it all for a clean fit.
Mike focused a lot on the sheetmetal but mostly left the motor and frame alone. Sure, he swapped the wheels and brakes out for style and stopping power, but if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? He did, however, tweak the performance with Andrews cams, Rinehart duals, and a Demon Cycles air cleaner.
At any rate, once he was done with the raw build, it was off to Wicked Paintworks for pigmentation. Mike went with a combination of black and Copper Sunset everywhere. That was the final step to make it all stand out.
See? No hurt oranges. Maybe some copper, but who cares? It's metal. Tell it to quit crying. What's really important is taking a normal bike and adding the "extra" in "extraordinary."