All of a sudden he was jumping up and down laughing hysterically and let forth a totally annoying song/rhyme (below) that came out of nowhere. If you’re old enough maybe you remember it.

                              Made you look. You dirty crook.

                              You stole your mother’s pocketbook.

                              You turned it in. You turned it out.

                              You made it into sauerkraut.

    I still remember being dumbfounded about what any of this meant and I still feel that way today. Hell, I didn’t know what sauerkraut even was at the time. Plus, I couldn’t believe how proud Richie was at boy-singing this stupid little ditty like he had caught me red-handed looking at something that wasn’t even there. It wasn’t too long before I stopped hanging out with Richie.

   Anyway, that’s exactly what came to mind when the first photo of this ridiculously bright white Harley-Davidson Road King popped up on my computer. Even if you’re not a lover of radical custom baggers or even hate them, this vision in white and red by Marcos Mendieta of Inland Empire Baggers in San Bernardino, California, made you look. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna sing the rest, but you did look.

   Marcos Mendieta has been steadily turning out one rad custom bagger after the other and this is not his most outrageous design, but it sure is an eye-catcher just by the sheer force of white with über-bright neon red accents and graphics from tip to tip. Yes there’s a lot of standard custom bagger stuff like extensive frame mods to fit the 30-inch front wheel, custom bodywork anywhere you look, air suspension front and rear, and a set of apes a gorilla would be proud to call its own. But, there’s something else going on here and that’s Marcos’ choice of finishes both in paint and metal which helps make this a standout in a crowd of custom baggers.

    Actually, this bike has been around for a while, but in a slightly different final livery as you see it today. It was basically finished and ready to go as is and would have been a fine build any custom bagger lover would love to own. Marcos decided to amp it up a bit and the final result is amped up a hell of a lot. Originally there was even more white on the Road King canvas like the wheels, headlight and other bits like the engine guard mounted speakers, but the makeover went deeper especially with the metal finishes.

   I’m not sure exactly what the machining pattern is called on the front wheel and other bits besides the Diamond Cut heads, but it sure is extensive detailing to say the least. Someone spent a lot of time at a milling machine or whatever to make just the front wheel into a machined metal wonderland never mind all the other bits that got a slam of metal finishing. Don’t forget the carrier on the rotors, the calipers, the front axle and even the axle clamps for heaven’s sake.

   And that’s not even getting into the engine where just Diamond Cut heads and cylinders are just not enough sparkle according to Marcos’ idea of what’s enough. Nope, not when you can have the Twin Cam’s rocker covers, primary and any add on stuff like engine covers and air cleaner getting a machining of its life. If you’re going that far, why stop at the foot controls or floorboards too? Here, they’ve spent time being patterned away like all the rest of the engine. Hey, and there’s bag latches and exhaust tips that got the makeover too. I would even dare call some of it engraved machining as patterns are carved into the metal too. Man-o-man, that’s a lot of mind-numbing hard work.

   It wasn’t all metalwork that pulled this together better than the first incarnation. Marcos brought in a touch more of that red from the lovely tank graphics to include the speakers, handgrips and those ballsy extremely red and extremely long throttle, clutch and brake lines. Those swooping arcs of red really define the front end into something more than just a white bagger. Strangely for such a flashy bagger, there is very little chrome involved other than the exhaust, flush gas caps, and instrument bezels. For a blingy/flashy/over-the-top custom bagger, that’s about as un-blingingly chromey as you can get. I think even Harley’s Dark Series bikes show more chrome although I wouldn’t put money on that.

    Funny how this bike is so zombie eye-catching that you might not even notice things like the white baby alligator seat. I don’t know how long someone had to wait to hunt a white alligator for this cover, but it was worth it. On any other bike I can think of, this would be the first thing I’d notice as any kind of reptile is none of my business. Here, it hides in plain sight even though the eyes should be a dead giveaway. I love the way the red seat accents pull this whole wild design scheme together without trying too hard. I’m not exactly sure why there’s a big pointy spike at the back of the seat, but passengers be sure to take notice or the ride could be over before it started. Ouch!

   If you love your baggers with a bit of low rider style or just want something that’s over the top but still capable of hitting the road in anger, Marcos could just be your guy. Matter of fact, I saw my first bike of his in Lowrider Magazine which caters more to four wheels than two, but his style and craftsmanship caught my eye immediately just like this bike caught yours. Since then, he’s popped up in all the print mags pretty regularly so obviously I’m not the only one that digs his work. If you are too, you can reach him on Facebook or Instagram as his web site died a couple of years ago like so many other builders’ web sites.