King Dayrit’s Wide Glide

Story and Photos by Billy Bartels

It’s not easy being the one big-bike dealer in a whole country. But that’s life for King Dayrit, owner of Manila’s Full Throttle Motors (FTM). In a country like the Philippines, a big bike is anything bigger than 500ccs with the norm being in the 125-250 range. When I stopped by a rental agency there and rented a bike to do a backcountry tour, the Yamaha 660 I got was the biggest in the fleet.

King’s looking to change all that, one biker at a time. He breaks local guys in on Sportsters, gets them hooked, then they move on to an Evo or Twin Cam.

King’s personal ride is intended both to fit his unique frame and to inspire others to modify their bikes in a country where the phrase, “stock Harley” is not an insult. At over six-feet and somewhere north of 250 pounds, he is seriously the biggest Filipino I’ve ever met. His Electra Glide reflects this with its towering apes and custom rear-set seat. He was sick of being teased that his old Fat Boy looked like a toy beneath him, so when he found this Ultra Classic with only 900 miles on the odometer, it was the perfect platform to build his ride.

Stripping it to the frame, he ditched the fairing, wiring harness, and sheet metal. Making a touring bike into a stable cruiser meant raking the front end and swapping the stock reverse triple trees for a more conventional set from a Heritage Softail. To fit King’s king-sized physique and add clearance for the racier front end, a three-inch stretch was added to the backbone.

To replace all of the lost plastic, a fiberglass nacelle was fabricated at Full Throttle to hold a V-Rod headlamp. Also made in-house were the gigantic 22-inch fatty apes, which FTM is attempting to find US Distribution for as I write this. To fit the new bigger dimensions of the bike, King stretched the tank eight inches and widened it four, blending it in with the lines of the FL frame. His saddlebags had some additional fiberglass added to their lower lips to wrap around the one-off exhaust. The fenders were also given the wrap–around look by FTM. To give a balanced look, the swoopy air cleaner cover is matched by a cover on the left that encloses some of the ugly electrical bits.

In a country with cheap labor, it’s easy to find people to fix just about anything for peanuts. What is not easy is to get them to do it right and not “cheap out.” King spends much of his time and effort doing things not normally associated with your traditional American custom shop. Things like paint, chrome, polishing, fiberglass molding, and leatherwork are all done in-house along with machining and welding. The few details he does outsource, he has to watch like a hawk to keep the quality where he wants it.

He doesn’t completely shun manufactured parts from US builders, but he is selective in what he plunks his hard-earned pesos on at the 50-to-1 exchange rate, which is then followed by more pesos to the shipper, customs, and so on. King utilized a Landmark stainless gas cap, Arlen Ness billet mirrors, Kuryakyn grips, an Andrews cam and pushrods, a Barnett clutch, and a Mikuni Carb (although technically that’s not American).

King’s next project is old hat for the US, but breaks new ground in the Philippines: A ground-up build on an Atlas frame with an S&S motor. His other pet project is to get foreigners to try their hand at riding in the Philippines. He’s building a small fleet of Harleys to rent to tourists so they can hit some of the Northern Philippines’ hot spots. As I can say from my recent dual-sport experience, riding here is not for the weak of heart (or those fundamentally against splitting lanes), but I can definitely say it’s an experience I’ll never forget.