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| Archives - Custom Motorcycles |
Real-World Custom: 2008 Kawasaki Vulcan 1600 Classic - From RoadBike August 2009
Stealth Bagger By Jon Langston, Photos by Bob Feather
It’s a Bagger Nation out there, people. Like it or not, the latest craze in customs celebrates bikes with saddlebags. Choppers, Pro-Streets, café racers, streetfighters — and baggers? Who woulda thunk it? But this ain’t your daddy’s bagger. Sure, it’s got saddebags, and it’s built for the long haul, but this black beauty is anything but pretty. About the only obvious objets de “bling” are the chrome Maltese air cleaner cover and those fish-tipped pipes. And that’s just the way Bill Wilhelmi wants it. “I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty,” he says. “I knew it was going to be a gamble; it would either be as ugly as sin or look good and mean. It came out pretty much just the way I wanted,” the Texas native says. Bill has built “four or five” custom bikes, but this one is his personal ride, built for himself and designed for the long haul. Since he retired a couple of years ago, this jocular Texan and his wife, Kelly, try to get out of their suburban Fort Worth neighborhood once a month or so on a good long ride. Kelly always rides her Mean Streak. (“It’s faster than any of my bikes!” he admits. “She kicks my butt. It’s embarrassing.”) Now Bill used to ride alongside his wife on a ’98 Vulcan 1500 Classic, but once Kawasaki bumped its big cruiser motors up to 1600cc, Bill knew it was time to get onboard with Bagger Nation. “I’d never had a bike with a fairing and hard bags,” he says. “But after I retired I knew I wanted to build one more bike. I’d had the idea floatin’ around in my head about building a bagger with a fairing, so I started getting serious about it. I looked at some Harleys and the Street Glide was pretty close to what I wanted.” But why the Vulcan? “Now I’m not married to Kawasaki or anything — heck, I’d build anything — but around ’96 I was looking for another bike,” Bill explains. “I’ve ridden lots of other bikes. But I saw that 1500 Classic and just thought ‘I really like the look of that,’ and I ended up with one. Over the years I’ve found out that the motor’s basically bulletproof. It’s just a well-built bike, and, ergonomically, it fits me real well.” Once Bill got his hands on this 1600 Classic, the first step, of course, was to strip it down to its bare bones. “My first priority was to make it look like a badass bagger. Which is a lot harder to do than a badass chopper!” True enough. As he stripped the Vulcan, the ideas came naturally, organically. He already knew it would be a matte-finished black, and so imagine his delight when he got the bike down to frame and metal and realized he wouldn’t even have to paint Kawasaki’s flat black frame. He also liked the shape of the tank and the look of the rear fender, but hated everything about the stock front fender, so getting rid of it fell right in line with his plans. “I always try to make my bikes as light as possible,” he offers, “and replacing that huge hunk of metal for a smaller, fiberglass one was an obvious means to that end.” But first, the guts: this is where the assistance of Dave Rollins and the Kawi experts at Thunder MFG in Phoenix came in handy. “What I wanted in performance was passing power,” Bill says. Rather than a complete high-power overhaul, Bill knew he could get that power with some minor, but essential, upgrades to the big Kawi power plant. A new air kit, reflowed heads, opened-up intake valves, some Roadhouse Dooley pipes, and a Power Commander to dial in the mixture was all it took to complete the motorwork. “Instead of really blowing out the motor like I’ve done on some other bikes, basically we did everything we could do to make it breathe better.” Did it work? “Oh, we got there,” he says proudly. “It’ll jump from 70 to 90 in a quick hurry.” Beyond that, the only other nuts-and-bolts work was done to the suspension. Bill mounted chrome Progressive shocks on the back for comfort (okay, maybe the chrome finish provides a tad more bling!) and replaced the fork springs with shorter Progressive springs, which lowered the overall bike slightly, providing flatfooted security for those week-long runs. Then came the makeover. “Well, you can’t have an old-school bagger without fishtail pipes,” Bill says with a laugh, so those tips were a stylistic necessity in his eyes. Bill knew he wanted it as black as he could get it. “Any color is fine on a bike — as long as it’s black or chrome.” So his list of items sent to Cross Link Powder Coating in Denton, Texas, numbered 56. “We even sent them the gas cap. You ever try to take one of those things apart? Don’t,” he laughs. Once those parts were returned and the bags and fairing were painted, the transformation from stock Vulcan cruiser to stealth bagger was nearly complete. A Corbin seat and pillion were added, some Küryakyn taillights bolted on, and black Arlen Ness mirrors were hooked up to finish the picture. With Harley’s Street Glide as his model, Bill Wilhelmi’s dream of a long-distance Stealth Bagger was now a reality — amazingly, with a net weight gain of only about 6 pounds.
Next stop, Sturgis? “I’ve done it about every way imaginable,” he says of the annual rally and races. “I’ve ridden all the way, trailered a bike up, even hauled the bike halfway and rode the rest of it,” he says. “Heck, last time Kelly went with me, we trailered the bikes up to Spearfish [South Dakota], spent one night in the hotel, then rode 2,500 miles before we ever got to Sturgis. Sturgis is only 14 miles away, and we rode 2,500 miles through Montana, Wyoming, and everywhere else to get there! “But I’m not sure if you’ll see me up there this year or not,” Bill says, his jolly demeanor turning slightly sour. Bill had reservations at his favorite hotel in Spearfish for this year’s rally, but balked when he was informed that the rates had gone up. “Can you believe that?” he asks incredulously. “An economy like this, and they want to raise the rates after I already made the reservation. That tans my hide.” By the time you read this, the rally will be in full swing. So if you see a stealth bagger coming down Lazelle Street, you’d best get outta the way, unless you want Bill Wilhelmi to tan your hide as well. But chances are, the good-natured Texan will greet you with a handshake and a smile. “It took me about three months to finish it, I guess. I worked on it several hours a day, which is easy when you’re retired,” he says, laughing. “I’ve got nothing much else to do, except play with the bikes, play with my grandsons, play a little golf. I finally found something I’m good at!” RB
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