get comfortable for long periods of time on the Goldwing and we looked into the Harley Triglide again. Frankly that is what we wanted the first time, but experienced“ trikers” told us the Harley was hot, expensive, vibrated a lot, and slower than a Goldwing; to some degree all true, but the Goldwing was totally uncomfortable for my long legs( OK, in fairness my knees and spine being beat up from rodeo and racing did not help either) and was just as expensive to purchase and maintain, despite what“ they” said.
So one fateful afternoon in June of 2013 we went to Mile High Harley and left later that day with a new 2012 Triglide that was Sunglow Ember Red and Merlot. We rode it for a short few months and the builder / customizer in me kicked in. I never could leave anything alone, not cars, bikes, guns, or my house! I started looking at the trike and figuring out what I could do to modify the trike and personalize it. I also wanted this to be a one-of-a-kind. I looked through all the bike magazines and you rarely ever saw a custom trike. The two I did see were over $ 100,000 custom creations ….. not too realistic for your common working guy. So one thing led to another and the next thing you know I am sitting in the driveway with a piece of cardboard taped to the side of the trike and I am drawing out new fenders. I had a 37 Ford Pickup back in my in college days and really loved the shape of the rear fenders. The long flowing lines were graceful and sexy and I decided to use that look as my inspiration for the rear fenders on the trike. Holly came out to see what I was up to and she understood the look I was after and gave some great suggestions and helped change the template. Good to have an artist in the family! After a few hours, I had the fender pattern shaped and taped to the stock fenders and sat there staring at the bike. I realized then it would not stop at the fenders. We were on to something bigger. Holly came back from shopping and I was taking the new trike apart and was ready to start the build. Of course Holly thought I was nuts but she knew I could not leave well enough alone and she also knew I missed building the race cars— so she went along with the new project and soon became interested and added her valuable input along the way. I think it really sunk in to us both when we took the rear fenders off and started building the new extensions.
We found Steve Sheets at that time and with his expert fiberglass work, in about three months we had two new rear fenders. Along the way I decided to lose the stock, blocky H-D taillights and glassed in the old holes and cut in new Bagger Nation snake eyes. Much better!
It was around this time we met Faiz Kahn while on the Veterans Memorial ride in Cripple Creek in 2013. He has built several beautiful bikes and was a great inspiration and he was one of the few who saw our project all the way from stock, to modified fenders, to completed project. Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions Faiz!
During the time we were building fenders, we continued riding without any rear fenders and Holly …. being on the back was not a big fan of the rain— she got the rain spray, but it added to the adventure.
We interviewed several paint and build shops, but decided on Gunslinger in Golden due mostly to their reputation for painting CVO’ s and the trust we felt we had in Tyler Goodbout. Tyler also understood that first and foremost, this trike was intended to be ridden and anything we did had to keep it a rider. He listened and made good suggestions to help us achieve the look I was after and he loved what we did with the fenders. Jeff, being a hot rodder at heart, understood immediately and we knew we had the right people. Around
February of 2014 we delivered the trike to Tyler and he started the paint design layout and then disassembly. Jeff Showalter and Tyler understood the build theme I had in mind and the paint scheme, but Jeff asked if he could show us some other ideas. Of course, I trusted the experts and a week later he and Tyler showed us an amazing paint layout and sample. Holly and I immediately told them to move forward. One thing led to another, and I decided to install a stretch tank and dash to complete the flowing line, a 23” front and 18” rear wheels, and then of course we had to modify the paint on the tank—( sorry Jeff), and then powder coated forks, LED lights, Klock Werks windshield, etc.
Come September, it was ready to go home with us. We drove up to Gunslinger to check out the final paint and assembly and we were overwhelmed with the quality of the paint and build. Our one-off rear- fenders looked great and the 23” front fender really fit the bike nicely along with the stretch tank. As a gift to Holly, Jeff painter her helmet to match the trike! I am sure I drove Tyler and Jeff crazy for 6 months, but I was involved in every step of the work I could not do myself, or did not trust my time and skillset to do. We were very happy we found Tyler! He now has his own shop, Goodies Cycles in Broomfield, and he continues to help us with modifications.
Once we got it home, we entered our first show, the Colorado Motorcycle Expo in September of 2014 and we won our class! We were stoked and started dreaming up the next changes. Soon I had a Legends air suspension and raked triple tree installed to give it the long low look I desired. The Legends air suspension provides about 6” of adjustability and from 0 to 130 lbs. of air pressure that are adjustable on the fly from an on-board compressor and handle bar switches. Additionally I installed LED rear tour pack lights, and“ Joe Florida” accent lights. A few more subtle changes and then we entered more shows and took home three more 1 st in class, and one third at the February 2015 Colorado Motorcycle Expo.
Since the build and photo soot, we converted the engine to a Screaming Eagle 110 with 585 cams to help out the power while we are touring. This combined with the original Stage I engine modifications we made earlier, this beast has some power! We have ridden it about 20,000 miles to Taos and
Santa Fe, NM, all over Wyoming and Colorado, Sturgis for the 75 th anniversary year, and we have more trips planned including the coast of Oregon this next summer. As we said, it was built to ride! Our typical Saturday or Sunday ride is 300 miles or more of just cruising.
The build came out better than I had envisioned and we are still working on other ideas,( I still cannot leave anything alone). We had originally added various chrome accessories such as shift levers, brake lever, timing & derby covers, windshield trim, and similar, and are currently changing some of the accessories to contrast cut to better match the overall theme of the trike. Some of the parts we are changing we installed when we had our original theme in mind prior to the final build and the whole theme changed and is driving the desire to clean up the overall theme ….. anyone looking for parts for sale? Very lightly used and cheap!
www. thunderroadscolorado. com February 2016 Thunder Roads Magazine ® Colorado 25