Adding even more pressure was the fact that the crew at Xotic Customs only had three weeks to pull it off as they had been busy finishing other builds and the coming out party at Sturgis was already scheduled. Now that’s a deadline if there ever was one. Goat dropped his well-used (some might say abused) 2008 Harley Street Glide with the only building stipulation that it was to be a big wheeled bagger and it had to be rideable. The crew at Xotic were given free reign to do whatever else they wanted, but they knew they just couldn’t build any old big wheel bagger. If they wanted the good kind of notoriety presenting it onstage in front of a massive Sturgis audience, it had better be something special. Needless to say, it was a huge hit.
I honestly have no idea how they got this build done as quickly to such a high quality level in three short weeks, but they apparently did. After stripping the FLHX down to its bones and basically chucking everything away other than the frame, drive train, and fuel tank, it was go time. The frame was hacked and whacked until the 30-inch laced and brakeless front wheel found a new home sitting between the good-looking legs of a modern springer with a funky-kool spring design. It wouldn’t surprise me or bother me that there might be a stock Harley-Davidson rear wheel hidden behind the tail dragger back end. What you can’t see is, well, not visible to the naked eye so why bother spending a ton of dough on something that nobody cares about? It’s all good.
The Motor Company’s Twin Cam 96 came in for a wee bit of a makeover too. Originally supplied in black cases and cylinders, it’s been stripped to raw aluminum just like I think they should be in the first place, but hey, who cares what I think? Derek decided to throw on a set of Panhead-style rocker covers while the air scoop is a vintage Offenhauser piece that you can still buy today at Speedway Motors who just happen to be based in Lincoln, Nebraska, too if you so desire. It’s a cool piece alright and one of the many vintage automotive pieces Derek incorporated in this build. With the engine buckled up tight, the only thing left was the unusual, but pretty Xotic version of a bundle- of-snakes dual exhaust that surprisingly, for a custom bagger, exits on one side of the bike only and you never see the final exits.
All of this stuff is well and good, but where the three-week build for me becomes pretty unbelievable (in a good way) is that there’s not a piece of plastic composite in any of the beautiful bodywork. It’s all metal, yes, hand-formed steel and aluminum. The gas tank and the rear fender with a ’62 Oldsmobile taillight inset vertically were fabricated in steel while the swooping saddlebags and side covers are completely aluminum. I’m surprised those pieces alone didn’t take more than three weeks. Ditching the Street Glide’s fairing made sure no plastic panels were in attendance and the looks of this kinda retro-style, somewhat chopperish modern day bagger only took a hit to the high side. That’s the kind of hit in the face I’d be happy to take if it were my bike.
In another surprising twist, all the gorgeous candy green and gold flake paint was shot in-house at Xotic and I can’t even begin to guess what the time frame was allotted to paint, but it couldn’t have been much at all. You’d never know that, though, as the paintwork is quite nice both in conception and execution with a fresh look of its own. Xotic’s Jeri Robinson was responsible for that dynamite bass-boat green diamond-stitch on white vinyl seat that becomes one with the paint and just looks cool as hell.
The sweeping look of the body and paintwork is enhanced by Xotic’s own air ride system that allows the bike to settle on its electric MRI center stand at rest while they still smartly kept the Harley side stand. There’s a time and a place for everything and Derek gave Goat more than one choice when parking it. One wicked cool and the other’s wicked convenient and you really can’t ask for more. Also providing a bit of design enhancement with a twist of chopper are Xotic’s own apes that have the kid-spirit of a set off a Schwinn Sting Ray while sitting on Xotic’s lovely brass risers and capped with their machined brass grips.
Derek and Goat both have quite a fondness for old cars and Derek incorporated a lot of vintage auto stuff throughout the build. That absolute knockout of a headlight only became a headlight recently as it spent its previous life as a siren on a 1940’s fire truck. Nice bit of re-imagining going on there, but that’s not all. Take a look at those scoops at the bottom of the bags and you might recognize that they’re pieces from a ’59 Dodge or those repurposed ’65 Chevy Impala rear seat speaker grills that sit on the bag lids. How cool is that? There are other trim pieces from a ’40 Ford, a ’47 Merc, and a ‘50s Buick that I’ll leave you to figure out where they are.
All in all this build couldn’t have a happier ending. Derek and Xotic Customs got the well-deserved recognition to take his company to the next level. Goat was thrilled to say the least and why shouldn’t he be? He gave them a trashed Street Glide and got back a kick-ass custom bagger that he’ll never have to make excuses for. And last, but not least, we all got to sit back and enjoy the fruits of what must have been a tremendously torturous build without any of the hassle. It just doesn’t get much better than that for everybody involved including us.
For more info on Xotic Customs, visit http://www.xoticcustoms.com/home.html or check ‘em out on Facebook.