'05 H-D "Young Look" Road King
A few months back Brian Boudreau contacted me through e-mail about his custom bagger. I get those kinds of e-mails on a daily basis and try my best to respond to the enormous amount of messages that stream through my e-box. Of course Brian said he had the sickest one-off Road King that I'd ever seen and I had to have it for the next cover. He sent me a photo and I was impressed with the bike that was a mixture of bagger creature comforts but had been worked over by Amen Motorcycles, a shop known mostly for its choppers and Biker Build-Off appearances.
I agreed to see Brian's ride during the annual Laughlin River Run to give it a better look and hopefully set up a shoot. It was early morning when Brian rolled into our deluxe RV camping spot. I only heard the pipes pull up and then saw a man and an attractive woman walking toward my dried out and slightly hungover body trying my best to rehydrate and find everything I lost the night before. Then I heard Brian ask for me and I was wondering what I may have done the previous night during our industry party that warranted the call out. I attempted to hide under my shades and large straw hat but Brian was pointed in my direction. It then became clear that I hadn't done anything to Brian the night before he just wanted to show me his King.
Under the bright Nevada sunshine Brian's RK shone like a diamond; the gold pearl glistening underneath a sheet of black and purple paint. The concave sides of the dished gastank reflected the light in every direction. Depending on where you looked the paint appeared to be a different color. It was a very unique motorcycle that had all the attributes I was looking for in a feature article. There was barely an area on the bike that wasn't customized, added to, or accented. We agreed to meet up later in the day, go for a little ride, and get the photos taken care of.
Brian came upon this Road King from a friend of his who had it built and shipped from Tennessee. It was added to Brian's friend's collection of nine bikes for a while before the friend decided to sell it. Brian had owned a Fat Boy and a Redneck Engineering chopper but was looking for a something that was more comfortable but not short on style. He wanted a 'young look' bagger, not one that made him feel old so he plunked down the cash and rode the Amen Road King home. Although the Spike Bike was already quite custom Brian wanted to add some newer technology to it.
Brian contacted Glen at Modern Image Customs to outfit the motorcycle with upgraded audio gear including working with Kenwood to get all the gauges in a flush-mount custom LCD touch screen dash. Modern Image also filled the stretched saddlebags with amplifiers and 6x9-inch speakers. The machine is essentially a rolling entertainment system with GPS, iPod, and video capabilities.
After most of the bling was taken care of Brian wanted the King to handle as well as it looked. He took the bike to Temecula Motorcycle Service to take care of a speed wobble Brian was having. Temecula worked out the bugs, replaced the wheel spacers to fix the wheel offset, and rerouted and mounted the exhaust pipes that had a tendency to drag hard in right turns.
It turns out that the trip to Laughlin was the inaugural run for the newly revamped bagger. Brian and his wife Angela rode out to enjoy the scenery of the Colorado River, take a trip up to historic Oatman, Arizona, gambled, and partied a bit. It was a great time and I was sure glad I answered Brian's e-mail. This King is one heck of a ride.