|
|||||||
| Archives - Production Motorcycles |
Custom Bike Review: Custom 2003 Honda VTX 1800C - From RoadBike March 2007  Into The Vortex By Jim Hutcheson As Told To Jon Langston I Got Into Drag Racing years ago, so I’ve always been into bikes and cars. The guys I used to run with, we all had the same need to go fast. All of us held a professional National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) license for bikes, and some of those guys still run on the national circuit. For a long time, I stuck to playing with cars, but then a couple of years ago, on a whim, I picked up a used 2003 Honda VTX 1800C.
When we got back to the shop, we could tell that Kurt was a perfectionist. He had gone above and beyond just bolting parts onto the bike. Up to that point, I had only installed a set of Morton’s X-Roid pipes, a Power Commander PC III, and a few other little pieces. Kurt set the bar for me, so to speak, and from that day on, I tried to reach it. While at Wide Open, I met the shop’s owner, Vince Faulkner, and in talking with him found that I had met another perfectionist, this time, a former VTX drag racer. We had a lot in common, and as Kurt was working on my bike, Vince offered advice freely and told me about his experiences with his custom VTX. During my VTX build, we were also customizing my wife’s V-Rod. Her bike was ready for paint before mine, so the search for a painter began. We stumbled onto the JE Illusions web site (jeillusions.com). Amazing work! We called Josh Ellison (the main man) and started laying out Lauren’s paint and designs. We sent the parts out to Josh, and by the time they returned, there was no question about it: Josh would be painting my bike, too. His business is a fine example of mixing artists with quality customer service. I have to give credit where credit is due, and I truly feel that our motorcycles have won prizes at bike shows largely because of the paint that they both wear. Before painting this bike, Josh removed the tank seam, filled in the gauge area, and added a pop-up gas cap. I had cut the Sumo X rear fender and the Xtreme Revolutions Undertaker front fender with a devil’s tail look, so Josh worked that into the paint scheme. A Hondaline fairing and radiator shroud, along with Dagger side covers from Xtreme Revolutions, were installed and painted. We added a set of a 6-degree triple tree from VTX-Treme and 11.5" Progressive shocks to bring the bike a little closer to the ground. A set of Dakota Digital gauges were hooked up after the stock set was removed. Then the VTX was taken to TSR Performance in Cockeysville, Maryland, for a session on the dyno, where Tim got all of the gases flowing right. In the future, I plan to have the bike stripped and the frame raked out 10 degrees. The fork will be extended 4", and the motor and frame will get painted along with the wheel centers and final drive. Most likely, by the time this story runs in RoadBike, my VTX will have morphed into yet another version of itself. The fun never ends! RB
Specifications OWNER Jim Hutcheson ENGINE DISPLACEMENT 1800cc CHASSIS FRAME Stock ACCESSORIES HEADLIGHT Stock
|
The downward spiral started when I found the VTX owners’ forums at vtxoa.com. After seeing what was going on there, the ideas started to flow, and with the suggestions of forum members, the first customized version of this bike got under way. I found a post on the forum by Kurt Peterson of Glacial Graphics, aka Sumo X, saying that he was going to Daytona in October and would be available to install his fat tire kits, if anyone was interested. Well, a phone call was made and a deal was cut, and pretty soon a set of RC Components Daggers was to accompany Kurt down to Florida along with one of his Sumo X rear fenders, a swingarm, and a custom seat. Kurt and his right-hand man, Trevor, met us at Wide Open Cycles in Daytona Beach. They got to work on the VTX while my wife, Lauren, and I went out to see the sights of Biketoberfest.