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| Archives - Custom Motorcycles |
Custom Bike Review: 2003 Honda VTX 1800 Custom - From RoadBike August 2007
Soft Spell: By Sam Whitehead, Photos By Bob Feather
If this VTX looks familiar to you, you either live in Glenwood, Minnesota, went to the 2005 RoadBike Metric Show in Sturgis, or spend way too much time inspecting the pages of this magazine and comparing Vehicle Identification Numbers with all the scrutiny of an officer in a motorcycle-theft task force. You see, this is not the first time we’ve featured this bike. And who knows? Given the way builder Kurt Peterson overhauls his machines, it might not be the last. Seriously, we at RoadBike don’t intend to make a habit of rehashing customs we’ve already covered, but this one is just so outrageously different from its reincarnation that we deemed it worthy of another round. Actually, we didn’t even realize it was the same sled. And we’re professionals. At least, sometimes.
“Oh, cool,” Kurt said when I told him we were doing the story on his copper-and-tan VTX. “The thing about that bike is that it no longer exists.” What? Had it been totalled? “Oh no,” Kurt continued, sounding a bit too mysterious. “It’s no longer with us. It met a strange end.” Come on dude, shoot straight. Finally, Kurt laughed and informed me that he’d taken the VTX in question and torn it down to create a truly wild 330-tired, chain-driven beast that we’d already featured (see “Freak By Design,” RB November/December 2006). Nice. So I was looking at the same bike? “Not at all,” Kurt chuckled. The fact is that this VTX has actually had three lives. (We’re studying its second.) The same is true for many of Kurt’s machines. The guy just can’t leave well enough alone. Some of his friends consider it a terrible disease. This bike started life as a stocker ridden by a guy who couldn’t keep it on the road. Kurt picked it up salvaged and then proceeded to do what he generally does even when he buys new — rip it down to the frame. “Occasionally I’ll ride them around for awhile untouched just so I can give customers an honest before/after opinion when selling them one of my Sumo-X kits,” Kurt admits. Sumo-X, by the way, is Kurt’s company specializing in all things fat, cool, and crazy for metric cruisers. First up, Kurt polished the stock inverted forks and did some paintwork. Then he took a step back and thought carefully about the rear suspension. “The real reason I got this bike was to use it as a prototype for a few Sumo-X projects I wanted to develop,” Kurt says. The most involved of those projects was what Kurt calls his Sumo-X Mono Shock, a VTX-specific suspension system that hides a single air shock directly under the seat, thereby eliminating the model’s unsightly dual-spring setup. Kurt is quick to point out that his monoshock is not to be confused with a Softail suspension. “Totally different. Softail is really a Harley thing anyway,” he says. Although the mono shock proved to be a success, those wishing to have Kurt work a little mono magic on their VTX are out of luck. “I did a few and then scrubbed the whole idea. It was great, but it took way too long to install. We’re not going down that road anymore.” The monoshock firmly in place, Kurt turned his attention to the bike’s posterior. Because Kurt is a man who likes his babies to have back, he fabricated a swingarm that could accommodate a juicy 260 skin. That, of course, meant he had to come up with a different rear fender. And so, a Fat Katz hugger was ordered and then (can you believe it?) heavily modified, a la Sumo-X. The slick, almost ground-scraping result is what our man calls his N Fender, after the old VTX N series. And yet another Sumo-X goodie was born. Moving around, one can’t help notice those stylish pullback bars. It should go without saying that Kurt didn’t just flip open a catalog and buy them. The same can be said for the front fender and the chin spoiler, and while we’re at it, the seat, the side-mount tag bracket, and the wheels. There’s no denying that Kurt is one sensationally creative character.
Finally, the time came to coat the VTX in color. Anyone who knows Kurt’s customs knows that he always opts for radical paint schemes, often accented with intricate airbrushing. So what happened to this VTX? “I wanted the colors on this bike to be subtle,” Kurt explains. “I have no clue why. I guess I got tired of wild and crazy and had a soft spell for awhile. It didn’t last long though. Four months. Thankfully, I recovered quickly.” Kurt may have ditched his soft spot, but there’s at least one person who wishes he hadn’t so fully returned to the land of intense flames and Frazetta-type fantasy scenes. After this VTX won the RoadBike show at Sturgis, Kurt brought it home and shredded it to make the aforementioned insane ride that we already featured. “I did not tell my wife what I was doing because she really loved that copper-and-tan bike, but it wasn’t wild enough for me,” Kurt confides. One day his wife swung by the shop and asked where her beloved bike was. Kurt pointed at the monstrous VTX reincarnation. His wife said, “That’s not it.” He grinned and told her she was wrong. “Wow!” Mrs. Peterson cried. “I’m shocked. You totally ruined it. That was the prettiest bike you’ve ever built and you ruined it.” Maybe it’s time for Kurt to build another copper-and-tan cruiser. RB OWNER Kurt Peterson ENGINE DISPLACEMENT 1800cc CHASSIS FRAME Stock ACCESSORIES HEADLIGHT Stock
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