Larry Winkler’s 2002 Road Glide is a family man’s bike come true. Larry, a father of five from Neosho, Missouri, says that while he tries to ride responsibly, the underside of the bags are all scraped up from taking corners too fast. “I’m working on it,” he said. He wanted a safe bike that was comfortable enough for long rides, but said, “I also wanted something I could throw some luggage on, turn on some tunes, and not look like I was heading for retirement.”

The bike is Larry’s first build. “I spent the last several years riding old school choppers that other folks had built,” he said. “Even thought I had some cool bikes over the years, it just never felt right, because I’d never done any of the grunt work on them.” He rolled up his sleeves on this one. He and wife Angie did all of the work in their garage. They disassembled, reassembled and added accessories, learning a lot as they went along. They added a sixty-spoke front wheel, changed out the tires and the pipes, and added a Bad Dad rear fender and Cyclesmith Fatbars. Getting the custom rear L.E.D. lights to work right proved to be a challenge. “We tried about every wiring diagram that we could think of before we broke down and bought a load equalizer,” Larry said.

The most unique feature of the bike is the Harley Bar and Shield taillights that Larry designed. “I love the way the L.E.D. lights look molded into those Bar and Shield inserts we cut into the bags,” he said. “No one else has that – it isn’t something you can buy at the store and bolt on.”

Larry created the custom paint color, borrowed a friend’s paint booth, and riding buddy Rusty Tanner applied it, adding pearl ghost flame graphics.

The Road Glide “rides like a dream” according to its owner, which allows him to do what he and Angie do a lot of what they call therapy riding. “We own a business here, and when the stress level gets high we shut the doors and go riding. There is nothing better than finding a nice curvy road.”

Larry and Angie are the owners Hickory Creek Motors, a local car dealership, and they sell bikes as well. Larry says he keeps the Rainmaker hidden when he’s at work, so that he’s not tempted to sell it. He still has plans for more customization, including adding a 21-inch front tire and a quick detach Tour-Pak. Next on the agenda is customizing Angie’s Can-Am Spyder.

“Everyone says that I’m way too young to be riding a bike this big and comfortable,” Larry said of the Rainmaker. Still, he says that he likes this ride more than any other he’s owned, because he put so much work into it. “I appreciate this bike a lot more than the others, because it’s me. I can throw a leg over and ride all day and still be in a social mood when I park it.”

Larry is happy to have achieved another goal with his Road Glide customization, probably the most important one of all. “My kids still think their dad is cool,” he laughed. Not bad when you consider that there are five of them.