Riding a Harley is a unique experience that shapes it’s origin in the soul of the rider. Basically, the ride means something different to each person. When I first started riding a Harley in nearly 10 years ago, I didn’t care what the bike looked like, what year it was, or even the model, as long as it was a genuine H-D. Before long I began to look at the different bikes and I began noticing subtle, yet noticeable differences from one to the next. As I got more involved with bikes and convinced friends and family they also needed a Harley, I noticed the extremely different types of rides each bike offered. While all the H-D models offer a comfortable ride combined with that genuine H-D styling, well after a while it all starts to blend together. You can only see so many Softails with “Live to Ride” or the new “Skull” badges all over them. And truth be known, when I first started riding, it wasn’t the “You meet the nicest people on a Honda” look I was after. While I am sure Honda riders have their exceptions, for the most part, H-D, Honda, Big Dog, Kawasaki, they are all motorcycles. They are all big, fast, mechanical bikes that each have their own panache, but they are all just a little…tame.

The first time I saw Jesse James on Motorcycle Mania, I had been riding a Harley for about a year. Out of the whole show, I remember the way he looked when he rode! It was unlike the way my Dad and Grandpa looked on their bikes. While they looked to be perched atop their bikes, Jesse appeared to be IN his bike. Rather than riding the road, he was devouring it through his front tire and shitting the remnants out the backside. I was hooked! From that day forward, I searched for that ride.

WCC’s parked in Sturgis. They look ready to eat the road even when they are parked.

I sold my Ironhead Sportster and in December of 2002, I bought a Fatboy. Over the next three years I changed everything I could think of changing on the bike within my ability. While the bike was different from the showroom, it truly stayed fairly “stock”. I wanted my bike to look as if it were punishing the pavement with the front wheel and making the road ripple behind the rear. I wanted to be IN the bike. I never achieved it.

Even with high bars, slouching my back, and leaning forward, I am still on it, not riding in it.

I eventually traded the bike in on a Springer Softail Classic and decided to take the “nostalgic” route combined with modern technology. While the bike was a beautiful bike that I rode round trip to Sturgis, it was a little too conservative for me. In Sturgis, the only guys riding a stock springer with bags were old men who were mostly lawyers, stockbrokers, and doctors. While I am in no way degrading those who have conquered life long enough to be called “old”, I am just saying I am too young for that. Besides, I never achieved that “in the bike” ride I had been after for so long.

I even look like an old bastard sitting on the bike!

Then I saw it! The Heartland Biker kit! I saw a Softail custom in Sturgis that sat low to the ground in the rear and the bike was undoubtedly still a H-D. The rider, while casually leaning against the seat and drinking beer with his buddies, appeared to be sitting in his bike. He was in it while just leaning on it; I could only imagine what he looked like riding it.

I had to ask him about the kit.

“Hey man, I like your bike. What did you do to it?” I asked him while eyeing the low slung seat.

“Thanks man. I took it to the dealer and had them do up the back end like this,” he said. “I didn’t want it to look like everyone else’s.”

“You had the dealer do it? How much did that run ya?”

“Not too bad. I think it was 6 grand after parts and labor. The kit comes from a company called Heartland or something.”

I almost threw up. “How does it ride?”

Random ass shot. You can never have too much of these pics stored in the hard drive.

“Fucking awesome man. I really don’t care how it rides, I just bought it because it looks cool.”

“How many miles you got on it?”

“Oh, well I bought the bike three years ago and I had the kit put on in June. I don’t know, maybe 1200.”

“1200 since June, cool. I guess it’s holding up ok?”

“Nah man, 1200 since I bought it. I just drag it behind the truck to Sturgis and come here to party.”

I could feel my ears burning as my blood pressure escalated to dangerously high levels. “Where do you live?”

“Me, I stay here in South Dakota, about an hour and a half to the East of here.”

I just walked away. Fucking faggot!

I researched the web for any information on the Heartland Biker kit. I found out they offer kits compatible for tires ranging from 180 up to 250. They have a new kit that bolts directly to the new 200 series Softails with just the struts and fender being replaced. According to the web, it’s easy to put on and can be done in just a few hours. If you like the way the kit looks when I am done, you can give them a call at 310-822-2697. You will actually talk with a person, so feel assure that if you run into a problem, there will be someone there to help you.

So where did I leave off last time? Oh yeah, I had just removed my old seat, fender, Electronic Fuel Injection Module and Bracket, and was now ready for the next step.

According o the instructions, I had to remove the frame horns from the bike. I had borrowed a saw-zall and a grinder from work, so the next thing that was left was the cutting of my stock frame!

These had to go!

To some out there, cutting the frame horns seems like a simple enough task, but it was my first time and I had never seen it done before. Most guys get their experience at shops, or at more experienced buddies’ houses. I get all my experience in my garage, by myself. The first time I saw the oil get changed in the bike was when I did it. The first time for brakes, spark plugs, tank removal, paint, wheels, fenders, everything was my first. This would be yet another first.

According to the instructions, the next step was to bolt the template to the frame so you have a line to start with, you know a reference.

You can see the template in the first picture and me cutting away in the second.

I aligned the template and went to work. The saw-zall sliced through the two horns like butter. They were easy.

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