The first question to you is about who built this gold sled of a bagger? I’ll give you a hint ─ He’s known for ridiculous horsepower street engines and there’s always at least one scary clown on his bikes. Figure it out yet? Okay here’s hint #2 ─ His company, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, is legally called Kendall Johnson Customs. Yeah, that last one might have been a bit too easy, but there you go. It’s Kendall Johnson!

 

  Now don’t take this as anything other than whatever it is, but getting back to the Harley custom bagger thing, can you point out to me what makes it a Harley for sure? Yeah, there’s a 45-degree, air-cooled V-twin powering it, but after all the cosmetic changes KJC’s made, is it a Harley or one of the many clones? Or, going back to the possibility of the bike once previously being a Harley-Davidson Road Glide in a former life, the radically custom dual-headlight fairing gives the flavor of an FLTR without the recipe. There are so many ground-up custom fairings with suggestions of various Harley tourers now that I’m never sure if a Road King picked up a fairing along the way to looking like something else.

 

  KJC’s bodywork also has little to do with The Motor Company besides having a similar layout of bags and fender. Especially since the boxy bags only have the slightest hint of a fender and that big squared-off butt makes a great billboard for graphics like a three-piece setup never would. Is that a modified Harley tank? Doubt it, but if it is, it’s really been modified into looking like nothing that ever came stock on a Road Glide.

 

   Back to that mystery fairing again, it’s a likeable piece with a view from the rider’s seat that shouts power and lots of it. No, I’m not talking about the KJC engine, but some form of crazed audio that’s about three or four stock Harleys’ worth in power from the looks of the 13 speakers of various types sitting dead ahead of the rider. I can only imagine powering that setup up would be like the time I thought I got great front row seats at a Doors concert only to end up sitting in front of a speaker bank and almost going deaf. But hey, such is the life of a custom bagger rider now. Maybe that’s why I’ve seen these guys turn on those mega-watt audio systems and walk away. They’re not stupid, but they’re laughing at us as we always walk up close and say something like, “Whoa, now that’s loud!” Stating the obvious is what separates us from the animals.

 

   The meat of any Kendall Johnson custom is always the motor. Once more he doesn’t disappoint with a claimed output of 250hp (!) from the ProCharger supercharged and intercooled, gold-accented engine. I don’t know if that’s at the rear wheel or on an engine dyno. But, even taking into account drive train loss if it’s at the flywheel, it still puts out a good 210hp at the rear wheel. I can’t imagine a bagger with over 200hp at your beck and call. You have to love the way KJC hid the often criticized appearance of the intercooler by plumbing it directly into the chin spoiler, Nice job on that one although having an intercooler (connected to a supercharger) exposed would be cool with me too like a Joe Hunt magneto says cool hanging off the side of an engine. . But is it a Harley-based engine or a built S&S? Your guess. Is as good as mine, but I take Kendall’s word on the prodigious horsepower.

 

    Where this bagger really goes over the top for KJC is what separates one radical custom bagger from the other more than any other part or piece ─ the paint. Yeah, that’s the way we all see it at Barnett’s Magazine Online and normally I’m not a big fan of Kendall’s clown-infused paintjobs, but he’s got a winner on his hands here. Lately that’s nothing new for Chad McCreary of Copperhead Graphics in Cana, Virginia, who has the ability to turn out one beyond-beyond paintjob after another. Here’s he’s got the gambling bug going with my favorite town emblazoned across the back, Vegas skyline, scenes, a giant roulette wheel on the maybe Glide’s fairing, and a bunch of cards and poker chips that look like David Blaine must have been holding the air brush instead of some guy from Cana, Virginia. They just float on and seemingly over the luscious gold base paint like there’s an atmosphere of gold hovering over the bodywork instead of a sprayed-on layer of paint. Chad also added some extremely tasteful gold leaf graphics that obviously add more gold to the Vegas paint stash while somehow being unobtrusively appropriate. Nice job, again, on the painted spokes Chad ─ classy like Ron Burgundy wishes he was.

 

   Kendall shockingly tempered his scary clown thing on this build with only a set of KJC clown floorboards that I could find. Maybe it wasn’t Kendall’s clowns, but an ode to Las Vegas’ Circus Circus Hotel and Casino. No, it’s part of Kendall’s DNA that requires clown like Christopher Walken requires more cowbell. Better to have them underfoot than in your face, although I’d never ever say that to Kendall’s face. Sorry Kendall, like a lot of things, clowns truly do scare me. If you’re a clown reading this, I’m sorry for all the carp I’m giving clowns, but, seriously, you scare the shit out of me.

 

   Clowns and unreal horsepower, it’s the Kendall Johnson way I guess. One’s scary and entertaining and the other’s just scary. Guess which one I’d like? Oh man you got it first guess. Now, since you’re so good at guessing, I’m going back to my first question for your final answer, “Is this a Harley?”

 

  For more information on Kendall Johnson Customs, stop your clowning around and visit http://www.kendalljohnsoncustoms.com/.