There's nothing like a Mudflap Girl, so I was intrigued when brothers started building Mudflap Girl products. Mudflap girls are the workingman's escape from constant asphalt treachery, workin' eight hours everyday on a construction site or hauling containers from some dank port to a train depot or concrete distribution center. Where are the girls? There ain't any, but there are Mudflap Girls to remind us of softer times.

So we've collected a handful of mudflap girl products from Billy Lane, at Choppers Inc. , 2-wheelers in Denver, Sturgis and Daytona and Nick from New York City Choppers. Then we needed a fitting bike project, and one surfaced. Seems a Bikernet babe grew up in the San Pedro projects with eight brothers and sisters. The oldest one, and most supportive, hardest working, was Brad Olsen, a longshoreman crane operator in the LA Harbor.

Those kids grew up on the tough side of the harbor and Brad took the brunt of the hard life, became a fighter and family member defender. He worked the ports, went to school, became a tugboat captain and ultimately, a crane mechanic. For eight years he trained under Richard Bustillo, who worked with Bruce Lee, and Brad became a master and owner of his own dojo, Harbor Kick-Boxing in San Pedro.

Brad fought for his brothers and sisters, and then worked with inner-city kids to build their self-defense abilities and self esteem. Brad has owned a 1961 Panhead for 25 years and keeps it pristine. It's his baby, but his kicking knee is damaged and he needs a long-distance touring bike with an electric starter. That's where the mudflap girl came into play.

The project started with a salvaged 1998 Dyna Glide basket, which we tore apart. We sent the engine to Harley- Davidson for a re-man effort with the help of Fullerton, California H-D. The transmission was rough and we wanted a 6- speed for those long Mudflap Girl highways. I had a JIMS 6- speed, which I returned to the JIMS factory. We switched and twisted the Dyna Glide 5-speed transmission into a JIMS FXR, 6-speed and a Softail 5-Speed for another project (my 1915 5-Ball Factory Racer).

I'm not a big Dyna, fan so we dug out my last Quantum, Kenny Boyce styled Pro Street FXR frame and went to work finding parts. I bought a used Arlen Ness FXR swingarm from LA Chop Rods and dug out a wide Custom Chrome inverted front end with turn signals built in. The overall design element called for building a tough and reliable touring motorcycle for Brad.

Another key element for the overall package was the bags we ordered from Redneck Engineering. Once we had a set of Renegade Wheels like we used on the Assalt Weapan, mounted to new Cobra Avon Tires we were ready to begin the mock-up stage.

Of course, I used Doherty Machine wheel spacers to center the wheels and had to machine a stock axle to fit the Custom Chrome wide glide.

Handling is an issue with any rubber-mounted bike and we pressed in Custom Cycle Engineering swingarm bushings to tighten the ride. Plus I'm still trying to work with a tougher swingarm axle from www.Glide-Pro.com.

I spoke to a couple of builders about installing the driveline in a FXR frame and some bolt the engine and trans together, then lay them on their sides. They slip the frame over the top and install the swingarm, swingarm axle, rubber-mount biscuits and transmission to the frame. Unfortunately, I don't care for that system. It's against the Code of the West to lay a Harley engine on its side on the ground. Bad mojo.

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