2008 H-D Road King FLHR
It all started off with a guy by the name of Alfredo Ramirez running into this dude Josh Bradwell at their local H-D Dealership. Alfredo overheard Josh talking about doing some custom bikes out of his garage and before Josh knew it, Alfredo was over at his house and they had his '08 Road King torn down to the frame. Josh could tell that with such an undertaking that Alfredo was a little frightened at first, but Josh reassured him of his talent and vision.
At the time, Josh was just a Harley tech with a whole bunch of crazy ideas that the owners of dealership wouldn't ever let him do, so he had to moonlight. With a few custom bikes of his own and a reputation around town for building some crazy bikes, while building Alfredo's bike Josh decided to leave the shop he was working at and go full throttle working out of his garage.
Josh is just your average white boy who grew up in Stockton, California. Stockton, which was previously named both Gas City and Mudville, is known for being culturally and ethnically diverse since its beginnings as a muddy-street gold-rush camp turned agricultural stronghold. Growing up in Stockton Josh gained a respect for lowrider cars as well as the Chicano culture that thrived there early on. Along with his love of Harleys and his technical prowess, Josh made "the two-wheeled lowrider" a prevalent theme on Alfredo's bike.
As with all lowriders, the wheels make the ride, so the bike rolls on a set of Sinister Big Daddy wheels in the 21-inch front and 16-inch rear variety. The wheels have alternating white and chrome diamond-cut spokes with gold and chrome nipples covered in some killer paint. Avon white wall rubber was used for that classic lowrider look. After the rolling stock was set, the bike's ride height needed to be dealt with. To get the bike on the ground where true lowriders need to be, a Legend Air Ride system with hidden wires and lines was installed.
With the wheels and lowered suspension splayed and laid, Josh knew he couldn't just put covers on the black brake calipers that came on the bike, so he manned-up and shaved the OE Brembo calipers before sending them off to West Coast Chrome.
The handlebars were definitely the second item to make the bike earn a piece of the lowrider style, so Josh ordered up a set of LA Choppers 16-inch Slim Muthaz handlebars. At the time LA Choppers didn't make a bar for the '08 Throttle-by-wire, so a piece of the OE bar was graphed onto the right side to hold the sensor. Once the bars were on the bike Josh added the full-chrome cover treatment to the stock H-D hand controls, and then added a set of Arlen Ness grips and mirrors. The foot controls that Josh chose were from Harley's Streamliner collection and fit the style of the bike perfectly.
Internally the engine is a stock mill, but Josh dressed up the 96ci Twin Cam with a few Kryakyn and Harley chrome covers as well as a Screamin' Eagle intake. After the motor was shining bright, it came time to get some pipes for the bike, so a set of Samson Cholos were bolted up. "Like any others would do?", Josh said.
The sheetmetal has all been massaged a bit. Up front the stock H-D fender was stretched and shaved. The rear fender is an Arlen Ness number with a custom sunken license plate frame that doubles as the brake light and turn signals. To get the taildragger look they were after, Josh also stretched the saddlebags before the pile of parts were prepped for paint.
When it came time to dream up the paint, Josh called up his friend Horacio at Kreative Koncepts, and told him do something lowrider and something with crocodile. The man got down with a technique Horacio himself coined Ghost Kroc, which mixed Vanilla and Cinnamon hues with Gold Pearl and Root Beer metallic over the top. All of the sheetmetal and even the wheels got the "Krocified" treatment. Topping off the epic paintwork was a few tape fades and miles of goldleafed pinstripes.
While the bike was at paint, Josh contacted Danny Gray for a custom-made Short Hop two-up white on white gator seat that really sets the look of the bike and shows the world that this is one clean Road King.
As soon as his pals at Arc Audio found out Josh was building this bike Arc kicked-down a pile of killer stereo stuff. Josh then carved up a custom iPhone dash and completely fabbed the one-off hidden sound system. To aid in the clean looks of the bike, false panels were installed in the bags to hide all the unsightly stereo wires. If the bike wasn't pimped enough, Josh installed tons of hidden neon and LED lighting. The Road King really glows at night and it was also rigged to strobe to the beat of the music.
This bike was Alfredo's first Harley so it was kind of scary to see him ride it for the first time. "When we pulled it out of the garage. Alfredo jumped on it without fear and took off with no feet on the pegs holding on to those apes for dear life. And now he rides it like a pro all over the central valley." Josh said.
After the bike was built and on the show circuit, Josh decided it was time to bust out in a big way. He called up his friend Danny Ray, who has more than 20 years experience customizing Harley Davidsons with a proposal. After speaking, they both decided it was time to open a custom shop and called the business Precision Cycle. Josh and Danny have been slammed with bikes looking to be different from the rest. "I'm only 28 years old and I feel like I'm living my life-long dream!" Keep the dream alive Josh, there are plenty more custom baggers that need to be built.