Not So Classic Road King
Tim McColgan's bike started life as a fuel injected Road King Classic that was purchased from a long time friend and riding buddy, Dannie Pinard. It was basically a low mileage stock bike. Tim soon realized that it was still "my friends bike" even though the name on the pink slip had changed, so he went about doing small things to make it his. The bike went through a few minor custom changes that made it different than most Road King Classics, but it still didn't feel like Tim's own bike.
One night while hanging out with his friends James Crosby and Jeff Delisle, who are both world-class bike builders, the constant ribbing about Tim's stock "old man's" bike made it a necessity for him to tear it down and re-do it from the ground up. During the dismantling Tim had a clear vision of what he wanted the outcome of the bike to be. Being a sign painter by trade, Tim knew what to do with the paint and graphics along with the basic parts he was going to use, but looked to James and Jeff who advised him on mechanical and fabrication issues. While the bike was torn down to the bare frame, the motor was pepped-up a bit by Bill Chambers While Bill had it on the stand, Tim ditched the stock EFI unit and retrofitted a carbureted induction system using all OEM H-D parts. Before the engine was put back in the bike, Tim decided he was going to pull off the stock tin and use a set of Klock Werks fenders front and rear along with a custom gas tank made by James Crosby out of the stock FLHRC tank that was stretched with pieces from a Victory Hammer tank. Scouring eBay and other websites Tim found killer deals coast to coast for items like the H-D Hydraulic Clutch set-up as well as the hard bags which he stretched using Klock Werks extensions. All of the leftover parts were sold via the Internet to spend on the project, including the sheetmetal, leather bags, and the old EFI setup.
To pimp the bike out further, Cyclesmiths floorboards were used and the rolling stock was swapped out for a set of show-chromed 21 and 18-inch Evolution Industries 60 spoke wheels wrapped in Metzeler ME 880 Marathon rubber. The stock Harley-Davidson calipers and rotors were swapped out for chrome H-D units.
This bike was built on a pretty low budget, but designed to be ridden anywhere and anytime while catching looks from passers by. James was instrumental in helping Tim finish the bike, despite his objections that painting heavy flake on a bagger with that much real estate was a bad idea. When we first talked to Tim about his paintjob, we at Baggers thought it was going to be an ugly mess, too. The sum of the paint just didn't sound good, orange flake with black and orange graphics topped off with green and grey pinstriping as well as gold leaf? We thought Tim was off his rocker, but when the Road King rolled out, the design was stellar and really made this Road King stand out and look like a painter's bike.
After a week of riding the bike to shake it down and tie up all the loose ends Tim made sure the bike was ready to roll so he could load the bags up and head out for the Laughlin River Run with his buddies. The trip was not necessarily to go to the event, but more to explore old Route 66 between California and New Mexico. Tim had a very successful and memorable maiden voyage on the bad bagger sharing some good times, good food and some spectacular miles ridden with some buddies. The nine-year-old bike is now approaching 45,000 miles on the clock and gets the job done as a daily driver while still looking like a rolling jewel.
Not bad for a bagger that doubles as a show bike that scored a first in class at the 2009 Grand National Roadster Show validating Tim's vision of the completed bike. In the quest to infuse a used bike with his own style, Tim truly did it his way and came up a big winner in the process. Not too bad for a sign painter.