The Shop's '01 Shark Nose
It all started when a friend of mine, Keith Hall, who helps out in The Shop (my business), called me while I was at the fire station and said he found an '01 Road Glide on Craigslist but no pictures were available and the price was $9,000. It was pouring down rain when I made the call. I was told it was a one-owner bike and it had moved here (Oklahoma) from Arizona. I asked if he would hold the bike until the next morning when I got off work. At 7 a.m. I headed that way and by 9, I owned the bike.
Bikes, Blues and Barbeque (Fayetteville, Arkansas) was at the end of the month, so my wife and I took the '01 and rode it bone stock (not my choice, but time was limited) along with all our friends that we had built badass bikes for in the past. During the ride, all I remember hearing from my lovely wife was, "Why are we on this and not on one of those?" As you can imagine, I couldn't wait to get back and tear into it. Once home, I had a customer interested in the bike, so I sold it to him and we laid out his plans-stretch, rake, motor, and color. Once the bike was under construction/destruction, I found an '03 Anniversary Road Glide and hauled ass to Tennessee to grab it as well. It was a great bike and way too nice to cut up, so I figured I would do some mild modifications and sell it. As we arrived back at the shop, I pulled it out of the trailer and my customer (the new owner of the '01) was standing in the distance. He approached and told me he wanted it instead of the '01. The next day I owned the '01 again and he owned the '03.
Work began. All the guys in the shop began the complete teardown including every part of the motor. We sent the heads to Revolution Performance for Stage 2 work and had the pistons and cylinders set up, along with 650 gear-drive cams. Once we got all the parts back, they went to custom powdercoating, then to Diamond Heads for cutting. The frame was stretched 1 inch and raked 5 degrees, and then it was off to paint. The tank was factory, but stretched, and a custom dash piece was done by a good friend and great fabricator, "TFAB." He also built the custom-fit bars and built the pipe that I had designed to be totally different than anyone else's out there. The motocross floorboards were an idea of mine, giving the bike a simple but hardcore look.
The bike was painted industrial silver by Mike and Rodney with R.A.B. here in The Shop. Over the next few months, the bike was assembled by everyone in the shop along with some talented friends, Keith Hall and Phillip Ferguson, who played a big role in the success of this bike both times it was done (more on that later). The bike was set up to utilize all Harley components, such as a Tour-Pak, a backrest, and all standard controls, just in case of a breakdown on the road-all the parts were not custom pieces that leave you stranded. We made the Sturgis road trip along with another 2,500 miles over to Wyoming and Montana, through Yellowstone and back to Sturgis before heading home.