American Iron Magazine - September 2000

"Revamped - If at first you don't succeed..."

Owning a Harley-Davidson was a natural for Leroy Johnson. The 45-year-old, natural gas technician from Camp Springs, Maryland, has been around them all his life. In fact, you could say that his elders inspired him. When Leroy was growing up, his dad and an uncle rode Harley-Davidsons on a regular basis. Leroy's own time in the saddle started when he was 16 years old with a 1972 Sportster.

We all learn that in life there are wants and there are needs. In Leroy's case, the want soon became a need, a need to have a machine good enough to win shows.

Leroy also learned that there's a right way and a wrong way to secure a project. The right way is to find a person who you know will be able to secure the look that you desire and make it complete. At first, Leroy stumbled onto what was the wrong way. He had a company prepare an FXR for him, but it just wasn't what he wanted. Simply put, the soft-spoken gentleman just wasn't pleased with the end result.

That's when he hooked up with Roy Chamberlin, owner of C&C Cycle. Leroy told Roy he wanted him to take the bike to the next level. However, the only way to do that would have been to tear it down and start all over again.

"The bike was iin pretty good condition, but wasn't show quality," explains Leroy. " I wanted a show quality bike. I brought the bike to Roy, and he explained what would have to be done to take it to that level." While Leroy contends that the bike wasn't all that bad, Roy saw it in a different light, as a customizer. In his opinion, the bike lacked any particular direction, and his overall impression was that of a haphazard construction.

The first thing Roy did was get out a sketchpad and draw up a design for the bike. He had an idea of what he wanted to change and the things he wanted to add to the scoot. The first thing that had to be done was to create a direction for the bike. Previously, there was a series of things that detracted from the machine, such as billet wheels when nothing else was billet, not even the motor. Some things were round, and some were square. It was very apparent that nothing flowed on the machine, and any customizer worth his salt knows that flow is a must. The bike was stripped to the bare frame.

A new swingarm was ordered from Big Boar, and it was modified to fit the wide tire that had previously been stuffed into the frame. It was widened to accommodate the wider rubber and was likewise offset by 3/8". The next item was a new handcrafted rear fender to accommodate that fat rear skin and a custom-crafted LED taillight, which sports the shape of a diamond. Roy explains that this was the most painstaking area of the entire project. He insured the taillight's survival by protecting it underneath with a special waterproof cover.

The new fender required a new set of fender struts, which would incorporate Arlen Ness billet struts with integrated turn signals. A special tag bracket to hang off the swingarm was also created by C&C Cycle. The wiring needed to light up the radical rear lights was routed through the swingarm.

Leroy also wanted double brake calipers in the rear, so a set of four-piston calipers was added. This was a tricky assignment, but adding a bracket that was set upside down on the bottom side of the swingarm conquered it.

The frame was molded extensively, eliminating a lot of stock FXR characteristics. If you know the configurations of an FXR, you are very much aware of the triangular piece under the seat, which has small pieces of metal welded where the frame tubes come together. Roy felt it would give Leroy's bike a unique twist by totally encapsulating this area. Roy covered the traditional small side cover and the small piece below it as well. This clever trick provided more surface area for the upcoming paint scheme.

Moving forward on the bike, the original tank was scrapped in favor of a CCI on that sported a Low Rider design. This tanks was stretched to flow with the quickly developing rear section and frame. A long Softail dash was then incorporated into the modified tank. A digital speedo and starter switch was added to the dash.

Seeing the motor was already rebuilt, Roy went through it to insure all was in proper working order, adding some more billet along the way. As for the tranny, a new case was needed and installed.

With the power plant finished, the front of the frame was enhanced with a frenched-in air dam as a continuation of the flowing bodyline.

Two billet oil coolers, which are essentially tubes of billet with rings cut into them, were also made and installed onto the frame's downtubes, one on each side.

The front end was also reworked to include a set of Arlen Ness Wide Glide trees along with stock 39mm forks and powder-coated lower legs. The front end was also dropped to provide a low-slung, sleek appearance. An AB Tech hidden front axle completes the look.

All the hand control wiring was internally routed through the drag bars with the entrance point at the left riser, returning through the other riser and then entering the frame.

Don Maloney at BGM spent quite a bit of time matching up the powder-coating with Dave Baisel's paint scheme, which is a work of art.

Now that everything is completed and he's set on the right track, did Leroy learn a lesson? "Absolutely. This most definitely has been a learning experience." Leroy explains, "In order to build a show quality bike you have to have feel very comfortable with the one building the bike. You really need someone that is street-smart when it comes to building these things."

Word has it that Johnson is planning another project: a Fat Boy. We'd be willing to bet the farm this Harley lover won't make the same mistake twice.

written by:

Bobby Bennett Jr.

photographs by:

Al Mojica

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