Burned-Out Bagger | 2008 Screamin' Eagle Road King

Matt Anderson first met Derk Hinsey of Bad Dad in a classroom in 2007. Matt was sitting behind the desk of a custom paint class that Derk was teaching for Ivy Tech Community College. Derk was teaching the class as part of an experimental course for the school and Matt, who was already in the painting industry, had enrolled in the class to further practice and expand his painting portfolio. Derk identified Matt as being one of his premier students and was impressed enough with Matt’s expertise and work ethic that he not only gave Matt an A in the course but also offered Matt a job doing all of the paint work at Bad Dad.

Matt was a great fit for the company because of his knowledge and experience in the paint industry. He was also a great fit because he was a motorcycle enthusiast. Matt owned two Honda CBRs when he went to work with Bad Dad. Although the Bagger industry was responsible for his paycheck, he swore he would never give up his sport bikes for a touring model. Matt was too young to own a Harley-Davidson, and a bagger could never replace the handling and acceleration capabilities of his sport bikes.

As the months rolled by at Bad Dad, Matt was instrumental in a lot of the projects that came out of the shop. He was responsible for a lot of Bad Dad’s custom bodywork, he helped design several of Bad Dad’s custom parts, and he painted all of the custom bagger projects that went through the shop’s doors. After putting hour after hour of energy into the Bad Dad bikes that would later win awards and receive lots of recognition, Matt decided he wanted one of his own. Matt sold his two sport bikes and went in search of the perfect bagger.

After scouring the internet, Matt finally found the bike that would be perfect for his build. He found a motorcycle that had recently caught on fire and burned to the ground at The Party Palace in Butte, Montana, along with seven other motorcycles. The bike was a 2008 Screamin’ Eagle Road King with 303 miles. Matt jumped at the opportunity for this bike as its 110-inch engine made it an excellent platform for all of his custom plans. The 110-inch engine was the only real selling point for the bike as the fire had destroyed just about every other part of the bike.

Matt had the bike shipped to the Bad Dad shop and he quickly tore into his new project. He removed all of the charred pieces that were once a prized Screamin’ Eagle Road King and began building the custom bagger he had envisioned while perfecting the bikes of other Bad Dad customers. Matt began upgrading the look of his Road King by adding a 23-inch wheel to the front of the bike and then covered it in Bad Dad’s 23-inch Wrap Fender. He wanted to further elongate the front end of the bike so he also added one of Bad Dad’s Stretched Headlight Nacelles and then filled it with an HID projector.

To keep things long and low, Matt stretched his gas tank using one of Bad Dad’s Stretched Tank Shrouds and then custom-made his own stretched dash. He custom-made his own flush gas cap and then removed the bike’s gas gauge to clean up the look of the gas tank. He also removed the ignition switch from the dash and relocated it to the bike’s side cover.

Matt wanted to keep the sides of his bags as smooth as possible so he added a set of Bad Dad’s Shaved Saddlebags with its custom internal hinges. Matt finished off the back of the bike’s wide look with a custom-made Bad Dad rear fender. Next Matt flush mounted all of the bike’s taillights into the Bad Dad rear end. He flush mounted a bar & shield brake light into the rear fender with the words “Screamin’ Eagle Custom Vehicle Operations” to pay tribute to the bike’s original heritage, and he flush mounted the Bad Dad logo into the side of the shaved bags.

Matt completely disassembled the entire bike so he could re-weld every seam throughout the motorcycle, and then he molded each panel from the bike’s neck to its swingarm. He liked the fitment of the bike’s Badlander seat so he had it wrapped in an old leather jacket to give the seat a great distressed look. After all the hours spent building his bike, Matt really grew to love the bike’s original Anniversary Copper Crystal color. Matt decided to keep the copper and then did his own 23-karat gold leaf to separate the copper and black two-tone. The finishing touch on Matt’s custom paintjob? Matt custom airbrushed flames across the bike to pay homage to the bike’s party-animal history.

Matt’s tenure at Bad Dad has marked a huge transition for Matt. Matt has given up his sport bikes for a bagger, and in 2009 Matt also took the role as teacher of the custom paint class where he originally met Bad Dad. Talk about full circle.