CUSTOMS•CLASSICS•CHOPPERS•BAGGERS•BOBBERS•TRACKERS
APRIL 2017
HOTBIKE.COM
100-YEAR-OLD BIKES RACING CROSS COUNTRY
10
PLACES TO TOUR BEFORE YOU DIE
SEVEN WAYS TO WAKE YOUR BIKE UP RIGHT
GROUND-UP SPORTSTER BUILD
APEHANGER & TRIPLE TREE INSTALL
DIGITAL SPEEDO HOW-TO
METAL SHAPING TECHNIQUES
FOREFRONT
SPORTBIKE-IFICATION BREAK LITES BREAKS THE MOLD ON OPERATION OCTANE
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ictory announced a competition to see who could build the best Octane by choosing 21 different dealerships to create custom versions. MOMS Boston was selected to build an Octane of their own and through a collaborative effort with Break Lites Motorsports in Peabody, Massachu-
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setts, came up with a game-changing idea: Take a sport cruiser and go full sport with it, incorporating elements of sportbikes into the build. The first obstacle was the front suspension. OEM was good, but this bike deserved amazing. Gregg DesJardins from Gregg’s Customs made triple
trees to incorporate use of an inverted front end with radial mount brakes. We measured and measured and found the best suspension to use was that of the legendary Suzuki Hayabusa. The over length of the forks was nearly identical, and the dry weights of the motorcycles were also similar.
WORDS: MARK TEMPESTA PHOTOS: GREGG CAPARELL
Second obstacle was the lines of the bike. If this was to be a sport-cruiser we needed more sport and less cruiser, so we ditched the rear fender. Once removed, the job became coming up with a tail cowling that complemented the lines of the fuel tank. No less than seven different models were considered until we found
the perfect donor. We choose the Honda CBR600RR tail cowling because of its simplicity, width, and size. Fabricating a tailsection to work like OEM proved to be extremely difficult. Imagine putting a Nissan bumper on a Camaro. After we decided which tail to use, Phil Bicknell welded it up. The good part is that
we were able to unbolt the subframe to let Phil take his time with it while still moving forward with the build. The swingarm and rear wheel were pretty straightforward. Take a rear wheel that has over a 1-inch axel size, reduce it to the 3/4-inch axel size of the Octane, and then work on the spacing and cenAPRIL 2017 / 25
MODIFIED
HOLY RO JD CUSTOMS BUILDS A PAIR OF RARE FXR3S WITH SOME HELP FROM ABOVE
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oth of these 1999 H-D FXR3s were refurbished together. One came from Colorado and the other from Texas. As soon as they both landed in Bakersfield, California, JD Customs got to work. Both bikes were stripped down and cleaned up, top to bottom. They rebuilt the front ends and then ran them out to Kenny Pifer and his team at Boulder Choppers in Henderson, Nevada, for a complete motor rebuild (port and polished heads, new pistons, new gaskets, and cams). Once they had them back in Bakersfield, they began to fabricate and install the JD Customs parts, including brackets, JD Customs FXRT fairing and lowers, and JD Customs FXRT
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clamshell hard bags. Next, they installed 10-inch Bidwell risers with bars and some JD Customs hand guards and original H-D FXR Tour-Paks. Once the two bikes were built, they completely disassembled them for paint and took them to a good friend, Andrew Babish, and his team at Paint By Bondo for new paint to match the original H-D production colors. When reassembling them, you could really see they were something special. They finished their final assembly the night before they hit the road with some club brothers for the 76th Annual Sturgis Rally. After a couple thousand miles both ways, the bikes were officially broken in and proving to show why FXRs
WORDS: JOSHUA “SHEPHERD” KIRSTINE WORDS: DEAN SHADLEYPHOTOS: PHOTOS:JOHN TIMOTHY REMUS ZAMORA
OLLERS
are truly special motorcycles. One of the cool realities with both Pablo Villa and Jerry “JD” Dove’s FXRs is that they were bought and refurbished as seen for less than $10,000 each. JD explains: “We are just bikers who are personally fabricating quality and affordable custom parts for bikers just like us. Club bikes are not built to show; they are built to ride. We ride all of our bikes even when going to a show. The club members that love our products are blue-collar guys just like us, so everything has to be affordable and reliable because these parts are going to get used, as we all ride a lot.” The story of JD Customs starts with JD growing up on the streets of Oildale in Bakersfield, California. “I was running in
the streets, running from the law, and running my life into the ground,” JD says. In 1993, by God’s grace and the order of the court, JD was given the opportunity to go to a one-year Christian discipleship program instead of serve that time in the state prison system. During that time, the word of God came alive, and God began to shape the old man into a new one. JD’s new beginning took another huge step when his love for riding motorcycles and for Jesus brought him to join Soldiers for Jesus Motorcycle Club (SFJMC) in 1999. SFJMC is an international Christian motorcycle club, which exists to glorify God by teaching God’s holy word, training up faithful disciples, and testifying of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the biker and motorcycle club community. HB APRIL 2017 / 43
RIPPER
DONE RIGHT
DYNA THE SPEED MERCHANT’S AWARD-WINNING FXDL
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WORDS AND PHOTOS: JOHN ZAMORA
W
hen it comes to the current Dyna trend, it can either be good, bad, or some kind of ugly. With so many options and companies popping up all competing for the same customer dollars, it was only a matter of time until the cream started rising to the top. One of those companies that continues to produce solid, quality work is The Speed Merchant from Long Beach, California. Owner Brandon Holstein has gained a reputation as one of those quality, proud, independent brands and one of the leaders in the industry who continues to innovate and not imitate. He explains how this custom 2016 Dyna came to be: “Jerry and I have some history together. He’s owned many motorcycles over the years. About 10 years ago, I had built him a 103-inch Panhead. It’s a bike that still remains a classic today. Unfortunately, almost two years ago Jerry got into a bad accident on another of his bikes, and it laid him up for a long time. Once he started to heal up enough to walk again, he started to get the itch. So about six months ago he hit me up to start this project.” That “itch” can be a powerful thing, and when Jerry bought the bike it went from dealer to shop with no stops along the way. “He bought a brand-new Harley-Davidson FXDL and delivered it to my shop without ever riding it,” Brandon says. “So we got to start with a brand-new platform.”
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