Beau Thurman's Road King
by Beau Thurman
I bought the bike in 2010 from
a buddy that I gave $6,000 to pick up
a service bike from either the Baton
Rouge PD or State Trooper. I ended
up with the 2003 Police Edition. It is
a former Louisiana State Trooper bike,
it was a runner from the get go, but to
be candid, like any service bike, it was
beat to hell and back. Floor boards
and primary covers were ground
considerably, fork covers were dented,
and basically was a bike that my wife
said, “You paid how much!?”
For about a year I perused every bagger bike I
could get my hands on. I had a 2006 Victory Jackpot
which is a beast of a bike, and although Victory is
solid and engineered exceptionally well, it just didn’t
have that Harley sound or the bagger look I wanted. I
wasn’t in a huge rush, but also didn’t want to borrow
funds for the Road King, so I sold it semi- reluctantly
to a buddy, so I get to see and ride it every so often,
and was able to fund a decent portion of this project
bike.
As the bike sat in the garage, I decided I would
tackle the tear down myself…thankfully I have a
buddy that had a Snap On impact wrench and in about
3 hours he and I had the bike down to a rolling chassis.
A few years ago through my business contacts
I had made friends with a biker, Ron, who lived in
Hollister, CA and had great contacts of engine builders
and his brother, Rob Kemberling, would paint the
bike. Since I had time to kill, in order to get the funds
together, I made the move to ship the bike to CA and
there Rob embraced the project by cleaning up the
frame and getting it powder coated.
In the meantime, you know how many parts
contribute to a build and the only pieces I salvaged
was:
·
·
·
·
·
Frame
Wiring Harness
Rear Pulley
Engine
Side Covers
Everything else I either bought from a salvage
yard in NC or on eBay. The tank is from an Ultra
18
CA, there is no humidity and he was able to set up a
temporary paint booth.
I did have Joe Vincent touch up some areas
that I needed when I got the bike back…no discredit
to Rob, but Joe tightened up the area and brought
additional value to it.
All in all the bike took about a year to
accomplish, and I was able to have the build done and
finalized at a tick over $20k, which is considerable,
however much cheaper than a new bike which a vast
majority of bikers will strip and customize anyhow.
The bike pulls like a train, has a balanced ratio
of 100 hp and 100 tq, and the mid range power is how
Mark at EMF set it up and I couldn’t be happier.
I didn’t set out to have a Wow Factor! bike. I
don’t think I do, I tend to think, and have received
feedback, that it’s a clean lined, eye appealing ride…
which is what I wanted.
Classic and all the tins are from Bad Dad. The floor
boards and primary covers I bought chrome and
pitted, but a quick media blast and powder coat cleared
that problem up.
My buddy Ron was able to get me dealer prices
on the wheels and rotors and then of course I dropped
the money at Harley Davidson as we know they are
really proud of their products and prices.
As for the engine build, that was accomplished
by Mark Madson and his shop EMF Motorsports in
Morgan Hill, CA. They bumped the 88 cubic inch
motor to a robust 95 inch, using Screamin’ Eagle flat
top pistons and an Andrews Cam (55H). I splurged
for a Baker 6 speed tranny and went with the Barnett
clutch pack.
Two pieces I knew I wanted was a 2 into 1 pipe,
but wanted something different, something that didn’t
disrupt the flow of the bags and would dump out in
front of the rear bag. I chose Misfit Baggers pipe…this
was before they were a big name, and really had just set
up their web page. The pipe I had was just out of being
a proto type. The other piece I wanted was a Dakota
digital, as with the dash on the new (used) tank, I
wanted something different so I chose the Dakota
Digital as the readability of those gauges is second to
none.
Lastly, the paint. During the initial phase when
Rob, the painter, had the bike. He buttoned up the
frame and began to fit all the body panels. Once that
was to his satisfaction the bike went to Mark, where
it would remain until final assembly. Rob came up
with the marble theme on the bottom using a candy
black and he did all the air brush. Believe it or not,
he pained all the parts in his driveway… being in
19