If anything makes me think of spring it’s a bike with an eye ball catching paintjob like this wild orange turbocharged Road King from Lance “Curly” Waugaman, owner of Curley’s Custom Cycles in Hobart, Indiana. Somehow crazy bright colors makes me think of warm weather for reasons I’ve never understood, but it’s gotten me through a bunch of long winters so I’m not questioning it. Curly’s wicked redefinition of a 2010 Harley-Davidson Road King makes me feel like there’s still a chance of making it through the winter although I doubt it up to the last day before the mercury finally hits 60-degrees or more. On this bagger called Ms. Wicked (for reasons I’ll get to), I feel like I could warm my hands up next to that paintjob it’s so orange-hot! Smores anyone?

    One reason it’s called Ms. Wicked is because just sitting there it looks like it’s going a million already with the matte black and gloss black pinstriped speed scallops blowing over the orange bodywork. Another reason it’s called Ms. Wicked is that hung all around the 96-inch Twin Cam is one of Trask Performance’s wicked turbo and intercooler kits. You want gobs of power quickly? Just bolt on an intercooled turbo or supercharger kit and nail it. Want more? Go internal young man and there’ll be plenty more just waiting to be set free. If you like horses, but not horse shit, this is the way to go and it’s cost effective in the long run too. Plus it’s just cool as hell to be able to say, “Yeah, that’s a turbo.”

    Custom baggers and big horsepower go together like peanut butter and jelly for Curly as he’s been at this for quite a while now and Barnett’s Magazine Online has featured Curly’s radical baggers ever since our first time back in 2013 featuring his rad Nitro in a Bag Street Glide. Needless to say, he’s taken everything up a notch or ten since then with a steady stream of baggers coming out of his newly built, extremely well-equipped “one stop shop” that try his ever lovin’ best to top the last one. And, Curly does.

    Once more, fitting a big ass front wheel like the 30-inch Renegade Whistler to a stock FLHR basically requires frame decapitation and then reinstalling a new altered and extended steering head. Curly turned to a favorite of his (and many, many other builders), Misfit Industries, for one of their tried-and-true  Short Neck Rake kits. This weld and play unit allows the 30-inch wheel to find a new home while keeping the steering geometry reasonable. The cut-out Misfit logo on the steering stop lets you know you’re dealing with quality stuff and it’s a neat touch as well. Hey, maybe I’m easily won over, but little things like that I do appreciate.

   The lines flowing from the front wheel sticking out there ever so beautifully raked out on one of the cleanest forks I’ve seen in a long time is stunning. Between the gorgeous headlight nacelle and the all-enveloping, tire-hugging front fender, there’s not a thing or a line out of place. It all just flows back into the rounded fuel tank via the swept curve of what look like comfortable and exceptionally clean bars incorporating their own risers. The up-an-over dash accentuates the flow before everything just blends into the Rubenesque frame covers and on to Top Shop’s Money Maker rear fender and bags.

    A lot of people do swoopy fender stuff and extended bags, but these I really like for their tight and right, yet unusual shape. Let’s face it, most radical baggers hold audio and electrical equipment in those containers (there’s supposedly a thousand watts of something inside these) more than a weekend’s worth of clothes and all those add-on extensions that were popular did nothing more than provide a space to “bury” a time capsule. Top Shop has taken that into consideration and made one of the slickest bag sets ever with its curved-in bottom that make this bike look slim, trim and fast from any angle, but especially the back. It’s all curved and pointy and cool as hell. Perfect stuff for a turbo bagger wanting to show its true identity as a sporty alternative on the custom bagger scene.

    I gotta give Curly credit for a paint scheme that if you described it to me instead of me actually seeing it, I either wouldn’t get it or wouldn’t give a damn. But, he’s pulled off a

striking glow of orange with matte black hot rod scallops that define the flow of this bike even when its Dirty Air suspension has dropped this bagger straight up and down on its MRI electric center stand. Just the stance, sitting so low and straight up and down now, makes side stand bikes look like drunks in a parking lot after last call. Ms. Wicked’s sitting there ready to rock on a moment’s notice just like my late, great German Shepherd Jimmy did. Not intimidating, not threatening, but definitely present and accounted for.

    Making a chrome and black TC 96 into a dark black orb of turbo’d power with orange highlights that somehow aren’t over the top shows Curly’s synergy with the rest of the bike’s design. Black wheels, black engine, black controls and even a black headlamp ring and bag latches work together with the black graphics to make this a orange bagger an eye catcher that’s got a lot more going on to its feel than just shock value. It’s a looker in its own bright starkness. Maybe this is one of those cases where the overused term “shock and awe” really does seem appropriate. Ms. Wicked’s a pretty cool name, but I think this bike deserves to be called Shock and Awe. It’s 2017 and I declare this my year, so Shock and Awe it is.

 For more info on Curly’s Custom Cycles, visit http://curlyscycles.com/ or check ‘em out on all the social stuff.