I have a lot of full custom bikes and love to ride them but when you’ve got that much money and time invested in something it’s hard to take it out and beat it up on a daily bases. When you leave a $50k bike on the street in front of the bar its hard to be relaxed.

Not that everyone shouldn’t own one or two full customs, but that you should also have the modified stocker that is replaceable. That’s what I set out to do with a ugly, heavy, 1999 Harley Dyna.

First thing to go was the front end which I replaced with a inverted sport bike model that is running big radial brakes. I set it up with a set of Black Bike Aluminum spoke wheels and some oversize Ohlins shocks on the rear.

The only frame modification was cutting short the rear fender struts and removing the oversize square box on the side of the bike that held all the electrical.

I beat out some aluminum panels to thin out the look of the center of the bike under the seat and fashioned an aluminum tail section to give a bit of a dirt bike feel. I fabricated the gas tank, a set of 1-inch motocross bars, and a simple set of mid controls. I got an Acerbis LED headlight and some cool parts from my bro at MX1West to give the bike a tough style. A few little pieces here and there and I was ready to head off to Sturgis for the yearly trip.

The bike performed great and got plenty of looks too. I pissed off hundreds of baggers as I flew past them on the many amazing roads of the Black Hills. The Ohlins rear suspension and upside-down front end, not to mention a lot of brakes, placed the Dyna in a whole other riding bracket. Able to lean the bike over in a corner and not worry about the kickstand or controls slapping the ground gave the rider piece of mind and confidence.

I was helping Dirty Dave finish up the build on his Streamlined Sportster for Bonneville Salt Flats, when he talked me into taking something to the salt myself. I figured the Dyna might be fun, so I changed the bars out for some clip-ons and banged out a front fender. We rolled into Bonneville after a couple late nights of working on the bikes, plus a 12-hour drive, and settled right in with the other salty dogs. We took the first day to get everything squared away with tech inspection and registration, then rolled out to the track the next morning.

The first run I figured I’d go out and feel the salt under my tires and maybe just break 100mph. Taking the bike up to speed felt smooth and comfortable; I think all the time I’ve spent on dirt has paid off. As I passed 107mph my speedo cut out, so I just kept rolling it on, and before I knew it I’d passed the 3rd mile and it was time to start decelerating. Rolling into the pit I heard over the speaker my numbers, and a time of 131mph. Right away I thought to myself, "let's go again."

I changed out a sprocket, and despite the 3.5 hour lines to reach the run gate, we purserviered, and got faster every time. Next run was 139.5. That’s when I realized I was getting close to the record of 142.7mph. All of a sudden the game changed, and I had a mission. I spent the next two days tuning and returning to check in. I needed to carve out faster times with each pass. On the last day, mechanics, salt conditions, wind and air denisity came together for a record run of 143.57mph, and a back up run of 146.54mph for an average record of 145.05mph in the 1650cc MPF class. An AMA Land Speed record, not bad for a stocker!

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