Maybe you remember the last AQG bike we featured in our August 2008 issue #63, you know the Sportster with bright aqua Fat Boy wheels? Yeah, that’s the ticket. I’m sure you remember the wheels if nothing else. Well that’s kinda what Aldo’s all about. He’s one of the most fearless and clever builders who can put wheels like that on a bike and then call it Stupida (no translation required from Italian) and have a good time with it. And what does that bike have in common with his apparently tankless S&S 50th entry? Nothing, absolutely nothing, except for a V-twin engine of course. And once more, he’s caught the eye of our beloved publisher and got another feature in Barnett’s Magazine.
Kudos to you Aldo.

Like most European builders, AQG usually wraps its customs around an engine with Harley-Davidson origins, but the chance to build a bike for the S&S 50th allowed him to step up to the 21st century in a big way. When he unpacked the S&S 117” X-Wedge in his shop, it must have spun his head in directions even he didn’t know of. Since this build was all about the motor, possibly the future of S&S Cycles, what better way to showcase it than a drag bike-style build. The whole idea of a drag bike is to take a motor and use as little as possible to inhibit the motor’s ability to cut the best quarter-mile time it can. Aldo’s finished product looks to me to be a collaboration with Michigan Madman EJ Potter’s outrageous sidewinder Chevy dragsters of the ‘60s where there’s nothing on the bike that’s not needed to go faster.

The Zodiac/AQG rigid frame provides the necessary mounting points for the drivetrain, wheels, and suspension with a tidy bit of drama supplied by the nine (number 9 again) holes punched through the smoothly curving top tube. The smoothed out H-D Deuce forks sit in AQG triples and reach out at a mild 36-degree angle. Avon Venom-R tires cover ‘60s-style five-spoke mags with a nod to all things modern in the disc brakes placed on each end. Modern power deserves modern stopping.

Aldo’s choice of painting the X-Wedge’s block Ferrari red (Rosso Corso to you Italophiles) changed the look of the engine totally. Quietly shimmering red in the frame, your eyes are immediately drawn to it and I’m sure S&S’ president Brett Smith couldn’t be happier. AQG’s high-mounted, matte-black powdercoated headers snake back simply, but take time to include a thoughtful heat shield right where your leg bends back to the minimalist Performance Machine mid-controls. The S&S closed-loop variable fuel-injection system throttle body inhales atmosphere through a velocity stack that any drag bike would be proud to wear. A collaboration of Performance Machine and BDL parts transfers the Wisconsin-made power to another 21st century revelation, BAKER Drivetrain’s 7-speed RSD tranny with enough gears to please even the most jaded. The only antiquity in this drivetrain showpiece is the wise choice of old reliable, the final chain drive.

The only noticeable bodywork is the drag-style rear fender that incorporates a gas tank and has a Cateye taillight integrated on top. For all it’s race-inspired looks, the thickly padded seat by Viano Upholstery seems a bit out of place, but there’s nothing wrong with trying to be comfortable. AQG clip-ons and a humongous Auto Meter tach perched over the Bates headlight complete the drag bike look. It appears that Aldo is planning to take life one quarter-mile at a time and it looks like it will be a blast doing it in AQG X-Wedge style.