The Death Dealer | 2004 Harley Davidson FLHTC

2004 H-D FLHTC
What is it that makes us want to change what we have? Is it that feeling of wanting bigger and better, or the need to have something no one else has? If you are that kind of guy, then you know what Mitch Rouw of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, was going through. He bought a new '04 Electra Glide Classic, loved the bike and put lots of miles on it over the first year he owned it. But by the following winter the look of the bike was getting old, at least to Mitch. He was getting that, "it's time for a change" feeling. The bike was given it's first makeover with a new paint job, a set of wheels, and some motor work. The heads and jugs were sent out to Short Block Charlie in Arizona for porting and boring, then shipped to Diamond Heads in Nevada for cutting. The stock carb was sent to Bob Woods and converted to one of his 415 CV carbs along with a set of Andrews' gear drive cams.

Mitch was happy with the bike for the time being. It went from a stock looking Electra Glide Classic to more of a stripped down Glide. The bike ran and looked great and was winning some local shows and even took a 3rd at the Rat's Hole show in Myrtle Beach in '06. This was fine at the time, but shortly after Mitch was noticing that there wasn't much that set his bike apart and was tired of telling everyone, "It's not a Street Glide." Mitch felt he had to change the bike again. By the end of the next riding season Mitch made up his mind to strip the bike down and make a few changes, this time it was going to stand out one way or another.

It started when Mitch happened to run across a painter he liked as he was helping a friend get his bike ready for a trip the two were taking to Myrtle Beach. The friend was in need of some sheet metal and bought a painted set online from Billy Black, the painter who just happened to also be in Myrtle Beach. So when the two picked up the sheetmetal Mitch liked the work so much he made arrangements to ship his sheetmetal to Billy as soon as he got back home.

Once Mitch was ready to start working on his bike he realized that he didn't want to trash the paint set he had, and figured that it would be better to just get all new sheetmetal anyway. This way he would have a back up and could change the look and style with some custom fenders. He placed an order with Klock Werks for the rear fender and Russ Wernimont for the front. He also ordered an H-D replacement fairing, saddlebags, and side covers. Once all the mock-up and lighting was completed, all the parts were handed over to Billy Black to work his magic. At their first meeting Mitch told Billy he wanted a dark, deep and evil skull theme with black as a base with blue and silver accents. Billy showed Mitch some options and drew up the 3-D Reaper for the fairing. From there Billy just went for it! He decided on a House of Kolor black base with blue marblizer. The graphics were done in layers of skulls over the basecoat with the blue marblizer for color to get a deeper look as if the skulls were under water.

There were over 24 pieces that were painted, including the inner fairing, nacelle cover, and the custom dash, that also received a 3-D skull. As the paint was happening Mitch was working on getting the rest of the bike in order. A big box of parts including the engine guard, bag latches, and all the mounting brackets for the Tour-Pak were dropped off at the powdercoater. He also added Platinum Air Suspension shocks with the switches mounted in a skull horn cover. A set of 16-inch Cycle Smith's ape hanger handlebars was bolted to the risers as a Headwinds headlight bucket was mounted to the frontend. To keep Mitch's feet off the road he mounted a set of Billet Concepts Floorboards to the bike along with Accutronix Gothic Pegs.

The motor was freshened up by Short Block Charlie and a set of skull covered Küryakyn rocker boxes topped the motor and a new Screamin' Eagle air filter covered the modified CV carb. To let the motor breath a set of Vance & Hines Duals called the Hookers were hung from the bike. Just about the same time the motor and powdercoated parts were back on the bike, the painted parts showed up. Once Mitch had the paint on the bike he worked on the sound system filling the fairing with a Sony head unit, Biketronics controls, and a set of 6 1/2-inch Titan Speakers with a Blaupunkt amp. If the paint didn't grab your attention the sound system will.

Mitch was making this his daily rider but with show quality details and he pulled off both. He can ride to the shows and ride home with Best of Show and People's Choice trophies.