How much? Well let’s just say that the only wiring (or should I say ‘wire’) on the whole bike the owner could find was to air up the SAS-99 Air Ride System for show duty. Bike goes up, bike goes down ─ just don’t expect the big ass Ultima 127-inch engine with a MagnaCharger Supercharger towering up the right side to fire or even turn over. As you can imagine, wiring up a completed bike after the fact is no easy task, but the undaunted owner went ahead with putting in all those needed fiddly wires and then hiding them to keep it show bike clean.

 But, it didn’t stop there as trying to fire up the engine brought its own plethora of problems such as redoing the minty-fresh engine to work under supercharged conditions. Besides getting correct compression pistons from Ross Racing Pistons and many, many other things like a reworked crank to do the intended job, he found out that the MagnaCharger also needed a complete redo at company headquarters for this application, never mind getting the dual Mikuni HSR 42 carbs feeding this monster to properly carburate  Hey, if you’re not actually going to do more than static-display, why bother making it run was apparently the behind the scenes motto and worked just fine as a Jack Daniels display bike. That actual running thing is highly overrated in some circles. 

  Yeah, there were lots of things to be done just to make it run, but then some owner preferences kicked in like not having a front brake to help stop this 200hp beast. Up front there’s now a dual disc setup featuring hidden calipers behind the American Suspension B-17 inverted fork legs, but not a brake lever in sight. Keeping with the original look as much as possible simply because he loved it, the front brakes are activated by a twist grip connected to the master cylinder. And here I thought it was missing a front brake lever because it must be plumbed into the rear brake system (which it originally was), oh well, it was just a guess as I couldn’t see how it was going to work otherwise. I like this twist-grip idea much better.

  Part of the reason for wanting a front brake had to do with the hand shifter setup that can really make you start dancing stopping or going. A great fix for this was installing an EFM auto clutch that eliminates having to manually clutch the bike stopping or going again. It’s a tried and true system that I’m surprised hasn’t caught on a little more with the jockey shift crowd especially the newbies. You can still be hand-shifter cool working the BAKER Drivetrain OD-6 transmission without all the potential nastiness and learning process a foot clutch can ensue. Plus they’re tough as a nut and super efficient coming from a drag bike back ground. Oh, by the way, the clutch lever on the hand shifter is not for clutching, it works the air ride that dumps the bike squarely on the ground with no need for a kickstand when parked.

  As far as the rest of it, pieces like the War Eagle Conqueror frame with a single-sided swingarm controlled by twin shocks under the engine like a Softail was just peachy as is. Same goes for the War Eagle split five-spoke wheels with the rear one wearing a manageable 240mm tire ─ not too fat, not too skinny, not too tall ─ and the same description could be said about the front wheel and tire. No fooling around with the bodywork either that features a Jesse Jurrens’ (of Legend Suspensions fame) headlight and fuel tank along with a pair of custom built fenders. The looks on this bike were never a problem to the current owner; it was all the other stuff.

  Speaking of looks, how does that faux wood paintjob grab you? In case you were wondering, an unknown Las Vegas air brush artist did his magic after Jack Daniels provided an original wooden whiskey casket for him to mimic including the metal banding. There’s over 70 hours of air brush work involved never mind the time originally put into the base and accent colors. I don’t know what the airbrush guy makes per hour, but it’s enough to keep him in Reese’s Peanut Butter cups for a long time. There are a ton of other little Jack Daniels’ touches throughout the bike like the shot glass velocity stacks to keep the theme in theme bike. 

  All in all, the owner got what he wanted the way he wanted it and that’s all that really counts. Either way, it’s all a helluva story and according to the owner, it’s true. From the looks of the bike in Jack Cofano’s photos, it doesn’t look like it’s been ridden much although now can be ridden. This is one custom build that took place over eight years until completion as a runner and it rewarded its owner with a first in the radical class and the people’s choice award at this year’s Boardwalk Show in Daytona. Maybe the ride-in aspect instead of pushing it into place was worth it for both he owner and the show-goers. Like I said, it was eight years in the making, but who’s complaining now?