I got a shot at an Australian run and a brother Down Under bought a used Road King, so I’d have something to ride. The least I could do would be to shoulder a massive box full of D&D pure duals and climb aboard a plane. No shit, I did. The box was 6 feet long, 4 feet high and a foot wide, and the D&D team wrapped it with fiber-filled packing tape and even formed lifting handles so I’d look cool lifting it.

The girls at the International Departures Terminal for Pacific Airlines weren’t friendly at all. One clerk tried to pick a fight with some kids who were flying to Fiji. The staff on the flight was wonderful, but not the LAX team. When we arrived in Brisbane and taxied to the arrival port the custom guys were all over us. The lovely Nyla ticked the wrong customs form box, indicating we didn’t bring any commercial products to Australia. The massive crate gave us up immediately.

We survived, arrived and after a sidebar to a bike show in Milicente, on the other side of the country, we flew back to the east coast and rode Glenn’s bikes to Mike’s Custom Bikes in Noosa Heads north of Brisbane. What a ride, what a coastline, like Monterey on a sunny day. Every azure blue wave was perfectly formed. We pulled off the road onto a coastal overlook and gazed out to sea for a handful of relaxing moments.

When I straddled the bike it wouldn’t fire. It popped and wheezed but didn’t come to life. I switched it to reserve, nothing. When I leaned down to take a look the bike was on fire. I flipped off the gas and smothered the flames with my deerskin Lee Parks gloves. Fortunately I wasn’t wearing fingerless jobs. We shifted to the other side of the bike and noticed the carburetor had basically blown off. No wonder it wouldn’t start. Seems the plastic air cleaner, backing plate over-heated and slipped off the mounting inserts, allowing the carb to escape the intake manifold. I was cranking the throttle, squirting fuel all over the hot cylinders and then trying to start it.

We put her back together and used a couple of tie- wraps to securely hold the carb backing. She fired right to life and on we putted down the winding coastal road. Of course, the guys at Mike’s Customs gave us shit all morning about our breakdown as we installed new Performance Machine front brakes first. Seemingly an easy, straight-forward task. We stumbled along until the brakes were rockin’, then since the bike was cool, the old stock exhaust was a breeze to remove (the PM brake install will be launched shortly).

Pipes are the dirtiest aspect of any motorcycle. They’re a mess to handle, burnt, grubby, with fried clamps and stuck fasteners, but D&D does a fantastic job of making life easier. I’m not jacking around because D&D is a Bikernet and 5-Ball racing sponsor. This system came complete with flanges in place, all the fasteners, spacers and brackets and complete directions. I was impressed because all the heat shields were already in place and they included spacers and longer bolts to move the footboards outward on the right pipe for easy clearance. Imagine the time saved because we didn’t have to mess with exhaust flanges, fighting spring clips, or trying not to scratch the chrome while fuckin’ with head shield clamps. It was a done deal.

The only parts that were not included were the two exhaust gaskets and flange nuts, and then because the tranny bracket had to be removed, the entire front of the transmission was taken off to free one bracket bolt, but I’ll get to that. So we needed a tranny front cover gasket and transmission fluid and the oil fill gasket. Crazy.

Here’s the stuff included with the kit:
Left head pipe with shield
Right head pipe with shield
Two 1/2X13X1, ¼ Allen bolts
Four 5/16X18X ¾ hex head bolts
One 5/16X18X ¾ hex head bolt
One 3/8X16X1 hex head bolt
One 3/8 flat washer
One Trans bracket
Four spacers ½ od
Two spacers 1/4X1/2 id
One starter bracket for ’95-’06 Touring models
Five 5/6 flat washers
One 5/16 flange nut
One 3/8-16 flange nut

You get the picture. They supplied everything. First we removed all the stock exhaust crap and set it aside. D&D suggested we start with the mufflers and move forward. In the case of H-D pipes the heat shields needed to be removed before the pipes. Plus they ask that you save the exhaust flange nuts for future use.

Next, we had to remove the stock starter bracket and with the stock bolts install the heavy-weight D&D bracket.

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