So what happens when you finally finish up your balls-to-the-wall custom bagger? Do you enter it in the first show you can find or maybe ride it around a bit and show your handiwork off to the great unwashed masses? Or, maybe a little bit of both. Those are the avenues most owners will try, but there’s always someone who takes the road less traveled. In this case, it’s a guy from Greenville, South Carolina, named Michael “Scooter” Powell who decided that his recently finished custom Harley-Davidson Road King needed a makeover. Yup, “recently finished” and “makeover” in the same sentence. What’s that all about?

  Well, it wasn’t a complete makeover in that the mechanicals were left alone, but the newly shot electric blue paint with lime green flame graphics just wasn’t cutting it for a guy who happened to work at BKP Art in Easley, South Carolina. BKP Art has painted a large number of Barnett’s Magazine Online feature bikes and by that, I mean a lot. Just punch BKP Art in the search box on this page and you’ll see what I mean. BKP Art owner, Brian Morgan, and guys like Scooter and airbrush artist extraordinaire, Daniel Robledo, have been turning out some of the wildest and most complex paintjobs, especially on baggers, that we’ve run across lately. Apparently having a nice and not a slam-you-in-the-face paintjob just wouldn’t do so it was bodywork off and start-over time. Kinda nice to work in a paint shop when your new paintjob just doesn’t cut it.

   I did see the other paintjob and it was okay, but nothing to write home about. A very nice blue base, but the lime-ish green flames just didn’t do much for me and apparently Scooter felt the same way too. Out with the old and in with the Evel ─ Evel Knievel that is. Just like a lot of us, Scooter has a warm spot in his heart for possibly one of the great characters of all time and not just in the motorcycle world. Everybody knows who Evel Knievel is and everybody seems to have some story of one of his jumps they can relate even if they’ve never been on a motorcycle. Everybody loved Evel and his legend not only lives on, but grows with time. There may be better jumpers today, but there’s only one Evel Knievel. So, out with the blue and green and in with a montage of Mr. Knievel and I think the bike’s better for it.

  The build itself is nothing to sneeze about. The bike itself was an innocent 2005 Road King that got the frame whack allowing it to be raked out for a 26-inch wheel as its starting point. Yeah, there’s all the good custom bagger stuff like air ride front-and-rear, a complete body makeover to today’s bagger standards including that lovely headlight nacelle, killer audio, new custom single rotor brake up front, cool min-apes, and all the stuff we’ve placidly just grown to expect. Even the old 88-inch Harley Twin Cam got into the hype being bored out to 95-inches along with the can’t-beat-it-for-the-buck and it sure adds a bit of attitude, intake and exhaust mods. Actually the smooth, show-polished forward-facing intake and the beast of a 2-into-1 exhaust dominate the right side of the engine like pipes at an oil refinery except these are bathed in shiny bling. So far, all good stuff, and having a sharper 95-inch punch makes it even better. Much more Evel-like.

     Hey, I’m not quite sure who did what when it came to the Evel paintjob, but since the lads at BKP Art really seem to like what they do and where for a living, I’m sure everybody had a hand somewhere. You just can’t do a life of Evel paintjob without everybody nicely (or not) suggesting something. Obviously you gotta do the AMF-inspired stars and stripes #1 logo along with the star stripes he had on his suit. Where it goes from there is to three murals of the man himself that are sure to strike a chord and some cool faux-patina stuff that keeps the whole rig from looking too metro sexual. The dulling down keeps it outta theme bike land and more into a tribute custom for the world’s most famous stunt guy of all time.

    You know, now that I think about it, this bike would look really good if they ditched the airbrushing and patina, but left the stripes and the #1 and made it glossy as hell. That would be an attractive ride too. I wonder how Michael “Scooter” Powell would feel about pulling the bodywork again and trying it out for me? Um, maybe I shouldn’t bring this up although they say, “Third time’s a charm.”

  For more info on BKP Art, you gotta check ‘em out on Facebook as websites are none of their business.