When I look at a bike and the very first thing that comes to mind is, “What the hell were they thinking?” I have to imagine their trade-in allowance must have been pretty low or maybe the dealer had extremely bad taste too. I know there’s supposedly “an ass for every seat” as the old used car saying goes, but you don’t want to be one to broadcast that you’re that ass every time you ride. Those same bikes seem to languish on dealer floors almost forever and then one day, “Poof!” they’re gone. Did the dealer just realize their mistake and wholesale it? Did somebody in service or parts just try and hipster it up a bit with a quickie rattle-can flat black paintjob? Or even more amazingly, did someone actually like it and maybe pay dearly? Custom bikes can be hell at trade-in time.

 

  There is another alternative and that involves the mildly-customized, but kinda in-your-face-in-a-good-patriotic-way 2005 Deuce belonging to Darrin Domko of where else, but lovely El Paso, Texas. Now for those of you that might not know, El Paso is the headquarters of the Army’s second largest base, Fort Bliss, which stretches through Texas and New Mexico over a little plot of desert covering roughly 1.12 million acres or 1,700 square miles. There’s not only a lot of patriotism here, but a lot of military patriots that decide to retire here. With easily over 300 days of sunshine a year, it’s damn near perfect for motorcyclists as long as you don’t mind a bit of heat come June or July or August.

 

  Now I don’t know Darrin personally and I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but from the pics I’d never want to be on his bad side. And I don’t think any motorcycle salesman, no matter slick they thought they were, would try and pull one over on him. Luckily for Darrin, he did the near impossible and found exactly what he wanted in a customized Harley right on Barnett Harley-Davidson’s sales floor. “I am a retired Army veteran of 23 years and my favorite aspect of the bike is the patriotic paint job with the American flag detailing the whole bike. Basically I have always wanted a Harley and as a retirement present to me I decided to look around,” said Darrin. “When I went to Barnett’s there was so much to choose from, but when I saw my bike it grabbed me and called to me. This was the one. Being a combat vet and a proud American I had to have that bike. I really don’t know much about bikes, I just know I wanted one. I am slowly learning.”  

 

   Somebody dropped some serious bucks into Darrin’s 2005 Softail Deuce before divesting their investment. The 88” Twin Cam is internally stock with typical external mods like intake and exhaust mods giving a nice bit of zip to the delivery along with a much more exciting sound track. For a guy like Darrin, it was a great way to Harley-up while still maintaining the reliability for the Sun City’s 300+ days of riding. Throw in a set of mini-apes, billet grips, custom foot controls, a custom billet front wheel, a chin spoiler, upgraded brakes, splashes of chrome, and that patriotic paintjob and I doubt the return on investment was great for the original owner, but it ended up a great deal for Darrin.

 

   When I asked him how his first Harley ownership was going he replied,” I get comments from children to old men and women, everyone loves it.  It’s has been nick named the Captain America bike.  My six-year-old daughter, Nora, is the biggest fan. She tells everyone that her dad rides a Harley-Davidson. When they say, ‘Oh, he has bike,’ she says, ‘No, I have a bike; he has a Harley-Davidson.’ I love that.” 

 

  And, not only is Darrin totally abusing the Army retirement privileges he earned on his Deuce, but he’s letting others enjoy it along with him. “I ride my bike for fun. Nora loves to ride on it to school. I take her and pick her up everyday that the weather is nice. She loves my bike maybe more than I do,” said Darrin. “I customized the rear foot pegs so she can reach them. The heel toe pegs from the front were moved to the rear so she can reach the pegs.”

 

   Darrin also answered my question that I posed at the beginning of this story about the odds of finding a used Harley modified exactly the way you’d want it saying, “The only changes I plan to make is to replace the highway bars. When I first got the bike, I dropped it and they saved the bike from further damage. But, I bent them pretty good so I need to replace them.” Sounds like a very satisfied customer to me.