Click here for: Mudflap Girl FXR, Part 5 Wiring is always a treat, unless you use one of those systems in a box like Phil's speed shop systems. I ran one on my factory racer, and it was a breeze. I'll try to find a photo. It was designed to mount to the frame seat post. Inside it contained the circuit breaker, the starter relay, the ignition switch, the starter button, high low beam, and horn button. Then a ream of wire rumbled out of a hole. I guided them to the appropriate spots and hook them up. Nothing to it.In this case, we worked with Wire Plus since they are the masters of wiring kits, Speedos and assorted equipment. They ...

Click here for: Mudflap Girl Part 4, the Spitfire Frames to Roller Life is nuts, but we are scrambling on the Mudflap Girl FXRs, at least mine. Us old farts constantly have discussions about how unmotivated kids are. I want to work on my bike constantly. Every waking minute I'm thinking about it, about new ideas, innovations, and who I can reach out to for resources. My son just complains: "I'd have to drive over there…"I constantly come up with Plan B, another connection, or build it myself. We crawled out of the Sunday sack at 6:00 a.m. to haul ass to the Long Beach Swap Meet, just to scour rows of vendors for parts, to find a handful of pieces, ...

Click here for: Mudflap Girl Part 3, the Bandit Engine Completed Suddenly we're smoking on the Mudflap Girl FXRs, but the week after I received the frames, I had to jump a plane to New Orleans and ride a Victory to the Smoke Out. I was itching to work on these bikes. I survived the Smoke Out, and since I just spent 1000 miles in a Victory saddle, I was motivated to get back in the wind. We looked down the barrel of the ticking calendar as I returned from the East Coast on Sunday and Monday the 27th of June I stepped back into the Bikernet shop and faced two Mudflap Girl FXRs on lifts ready to rock. I dove ...

I had a bad feeling about this mod. First, I don't like to pack anyone, any time. If you want a ride on my Panhead, carry a hand-towel and a bungie cord. I avoid giving a girl a ride home from the bar, even a babe with gigantic hooters. I would preferred to follow her home. I'm not the kind of rider to take a woman on a long run. I would rather have a variety of women in various towns and cities. Okay, I'm a bastard. Okay, so the pressure's on. Sin Wu want's to ride once in a while, and I want to get laid daily. Gotta give up something. I kept the stock Road King classic seat ...

We decided to take a run at an electrical article, since about 90 percent of problems and breakdowns come from the electrical component. Besides, it's riding season and we all need to check our electrical connections before we ride off into the sunset. This is especially true of bikes stored in moist or seaside climates. Besides, I'm riding the King to Laughlin and need to check it out. It's been awhile. Here's the lastest upgrade to the king: King Meets Zippers and D&D This article will cover some basic electrical checks, since being forced to charge your battery indicates deficiencies in your charging, or wiring system--or you left the goddamn lights on.This rambling will also cover all the aspects of ...

The King stripped for powder coating. The plan was to strip the bike of all the brackets, tabs and accessories we could get our hands on and have them black powder coated by Custom Powder Coating in Dallas a Bikernet Sponsor. We ordered additional accessories to enhance the clean black effect. First we ordered the Harley-Davidson black mag wheels and floating rotors with black centers. We pondered the front fender and trying to black out all the trim. During research we discovered, in the Winter P&A catalog, brackets to allow a Fatboy fender to be bolted in the King front end. The Fatboy fender is a cleaner unit, but it still has rivets and ribs. We opted for a solid ...

 Here's a couple of shots of the Bikernet Street FightingBuell for Sturgis 2001. This is how it currently stands with ahandfull of minor modifications and a lot of plastic removed. Let meknow what you think. Note the pulley guard. We had the notion to take levers andbraces like this off, lightening-drill polish and replace. Not sureif that's going to be the bit, now, but this brace was the test. Ithink we'll powdercoat rather than polish. Trying to keep polishedaluminum up on a bike that's well ridden is a pain in the ass. Haveyou seen a polished engine after a ride to Sturgis? We plan to removethe triple trees and swingarm. The tabs for the plastic dust shieldsneed to be removed and then ...

 It's part of our job as moto-journalists to try what's outthere in the American market and report back. The ultimate test is to take a bike, customize it and ride it to Sturgis. What could give you a truer test of a bike's ability to look cool and endure a long run? I've been fortunate enough to customize and ride everything from nearly bone stock bikes to ground-up customs. Each trip is an adventure. Each run has varying characteristics, and with each journey there's a new woman, but that's my problem. This year we needed to make a choice. I had a Kenny Boyce ProStreet frame that I planned to load a Twin Cam engine into and rideto the Badlands. I ...

A while back, I spent a week one day in the garageof Bikernet headquarters with Bandit. Bandit was hot to putapehangers on his shiny new Road King Classic.Once I arrived and cooled down his "high-bar desire", I suggestedputting all the handlebar switch wires inside the bars where theywould be safe from his undue attentions in the future. After a quickassurance on my part that I wouldn't feel a thing, he okayed the idea.With the bars off of the bike and the switch wires laid out on thebench, he started whining about "all those wires". It was at thistime I whipped out the handy dandy "wire vise" and showed him how touse it (it only took three times) to solder the ...

That last 25 miles were the worst of the trip. It rained off and on as the traffic became thick as mud on your boots. Lane splitting is not allowed and when we attempted to play ignorant travelers, motorists tried to hit us. As the sun broke over the parking lot of cars, the humidity rose with the mercury. Of course we got lost at one point, found the Two-Wheelers shop and ultimately the hotel. There was a major party planned for the 25th anniversary of the shop, but the threat of rain and the 450- mile trip to Sturgis the next morning forced us to take it easy and hit the hay early. We tried a local restaurant for ...