2004 Harley-Davidson Electra Glide - Setting The Standard

Margaret Nicastri's Electra Glide Standard
Margaret Nicastri has been throwing a leg over a multitude of Harleys over the past 20 years and has finally found the right one. Countless choppers, bobbers, and bone stock Softails were ridden endless miles until one day Margaret saw a Street Glide and all her past love affairs were over.

The only thing she didn't like about owning a brand new FLHX was the thought of reoccurring payments. Buying a new bike was pretty much out of the question due to the fact that Margaret and her husband own and operate C&C Cycle in Raleigh, North Carolina and have been independently building, fixing, and selling Harleys for quite some time.

Both of them thought being able to find a low-cost bike to quickly hop up into a Street Glide-type hybrid would be the easy thing to do, so the search for an alternative bagger was launched.

While on the hunt, one morning Margaret spotted a wrecked FLHT for next to nothing on eBay, punched in some numbers and much to her surprise a few days later won the auction with a ridiculous bid. The bike showed up at C&C and was only supposed to get a quick fix and subtle paint job, but we all know that bagger building can easily get out of hand.

Starting with the bodywork the crew at C&C modified a Russ Wernimont Designs front and Fat Baggers Inc. rear fender along with stretching the OE tank. C&C also stretched the stock saddlebags to hide the exhaust. Once a few slight modifications, such as adding LEDs were done to the fairing the crew at C&C moved onto the drivetrain.

Starting with a low-mileage Twin Cam engine, C&C stripped it down and punched it out to 103ci with the help of Screamin' Eagle forged pistons, Feuling lifters, S&S pushrods, and porting by zippers. To add some flash to the healthy motor, the cylinders were diamond cut and all the nuts and bolts on the motor were covered by Hot Toppers.

The bike rolls on a set of Weld 18-inch front and rear wheels shod in Metzeler rubber. The binders are a set of chrome-plated H-D calipers clamping onto a set of Weld Rotors up front and a single in the rear with a matching pulley. To get the bike down to a comfortable ride height and keep it rolling along as smooth as butter, Margaret chose to use a set of Perse legs with Progressive Suspension drop springs in the forks and a set of lowered Progressive Suspension 430 shocks and a Tour Link stabilizer out back.

C&C made a ton of one-off parts for this build such as, points and derby cover to match the wheels, O2 sensor covers, oil pressure switch cover, voltage regulator cover, floorboard cover, ignition switch cover, and even the exhaust tips. The coolest hand-made parts for this build have to be the mirror mounts, which are the cleanest we have ever seen on a Batwing fairing.

Once all of the mock up was done, the whole bike was blown apart and taken down completely to the bare frame for a bit of paint. The bike was shot in House of Kolor magenta and black in a two-toned fashion including the frame. To break up the extreme difference in paint shades a silver-leafed tribal design edged in blue pinstriping was also applied by Artistic Creations.

Margaret tells us that the mega-modified Electra Glide Standard rides like a dream and gets lots of attention no matter where the bike is ridden. With that combination of killer paint, big-inch motor and one-off parts, we have no reason to doubt her.