I was sittin’ around listening to Bandit and Zebra go at each other again, over some b-s detail, and thinking’ that I’d probably be doin’ the world a favor to just blow both of them away, when it hit me. We’ve all read about the Bikernet West versus Bikernet East build up. We heard about how much trouble Zebra had getting his ride over to Eddie Trotta’s, and Bandit gettin’ the Blue Flame over to Joker machine for a little tweak. I couldn’t help but think, “What’s the guy do whose only got his garage and hand tools?” Whatta ya do when you’re snowed in up in Maine, or there isn’t a high line custom shop within a days ride? I started to get steamed, “Bikernet’s for the rider, dammit!” “We need to show our folks a way to build a cool lookin’ ride when they don’t live close to a famous custom builder.” “Yea, right,” said Zebra, “how’re you gonna manage that?” I jumped to my feet, threw my Pepsi can against the wall, watched it bounce off Snake’s head, and announced, “I can build a hot custom using nothing more than Harley-Davidson’s accessory catalog and my credit card!” Every eye in the garage shifted my way, quiet laid over the shop like a blanket, Bandit fixed me with a cool gaze, “You’re on.” “Oh, crap,” I thought, “now what?”

Luckily, I had just made the deal of the century on a 2000 FXST.

That will be the starting point for what’ll be called Oz’s Garage Build-up. What we’ll attempt to do here is create a custom that anybody would be proud to ride and own, but we’ll do it as if we were living in some remote corner of the country. With no access to anything other than the H-D Accessories and Motor Parts Catalog and the main line shipping companies.

We’re going to build this thing completely in my garage, no mills, no paint shops, no welders, and see what we can come up with. Wish us luck, if I screw this up I may end up living in Maine! Check back, and ride safe, Oz.