WORDS: TIM DUBA PHOTOS: MIKEY V.
KEEP IT CLASSY,
SAN DIEGO A CLEAN, CLASSY, CROCKER-INSPIRED FXR
G
rowing up, my dad was a Navy Spec Ops guy, and our family was moving every two to three years. I spent the majority of my youth between Ventura, California, and different parts of Florida. When my dad was home, he spent pretty much 100 percent of his time rebuilding motors, muscle cars, or riding his Harleys. He restored anything from ’57 Lincoln Continentals to Shelby GT350s in there, and he was pretty well known for his work. My dad still wins lots of major shows today, and growing up he would always preach about keeping things clean, simple, and classic, as it never goes out of style. When I picked up this 1993 FXRS, it was mostly to help my buddy Scoot out. I had picked up a 2009 Fat Bob with low mileage and a 110-inch motor in it for next to nothing from a guy who was selling everything and “moving to Mexico” in a hurry. Scoot was always having trouble with his FXR, which was the year and make I had been looking for. Since I also had a 2002 FXDP, we worked out a great deal for him to take the Fat Bob, and I got the project bike I wanted. I knew I wanted to work with Chip and crew over at San Diego Customs and get it torn down right away to see what we had ahead of us. I also knew I wanted our friend Pete “HotDog” Finlan on the paint because he definitely knows classic paint jobs. I came to them with the idea of making a modern classic in the same fashion the old-timer bikes ran back in the ’40s and ’50s. I had always heard the stories of guys removing anything they didn’t need from their bikes and experimenting with different motor configurations to create these incredibly reliable sleepers—stories about guys leaving California to go to Daytona with $20 in their pocket and hustling other bikers in drag races to get the rest of the way. I wanted my bike to be like that—minimalist but deceptively quick and able to ride long distances. AUGUST 2017 / 59
