ROOSTER
I
have ridden motorcycles of various brands my whole life. In 1998 I just happened
to be in the market for a new bike. First place I looked was at McKinney Harley
Davidson in Lawton Oklahoma. They had a beautiful 1995 Heritage Softail that was
already customized and fit me and my personality perfectly. Well, my wife and I
talked it over and decided we would look at all the other shops in the area
before we decided to buy the Heritage Softail. Thank goodness we did because the
very last shop that we looked at was Southwest Suzuki in Lawton Oklahoma. I can
not tell you how much I really wanted that Heritage Softail. I had my heart set
on it as a
matter of fact. Well as soon as we walked in the door of the Suzuki shop I went
absolutely numb. I couldn't speak, I had forgotten all about the Heritage. The
reason was, I absolutely fell in love with what I now know is the one material
thing that I can not live without. It was a brand new Suzuki VL1500LC. It was
black and green and had everything basically that a heritage softail had, with
the
advantage of being oil cooled and shaft driven. Well I couldn't stand it
anymore, I had to atleast set on the
LC to see if it fit as good as it looked. I'm telling you, as soon as I swung my
leg over the LC I knew it was the bike for me. I thought wow this thing is
really wide, then I put my right foot on the floorboard and stretched out for
the bars. Man this thing is long, I could really stretch out on this one. well
to make a long story short, I bought that very same bike that day and haven't
looked back since.
I
have tinkered with things my whole life and just new this would be no exception.
The crowitis hit me long before I even new what it was. I added saddlebags, 14"
apehangers and a Mustang 3 piece seat. Then I did a stage 3 with a kit from
Factory Pro and some Cobra Fatties. Well somewhere along the way I got a little
side tracked
and just didn't do any more customizing. I paid the last payment on the LC in
august of 2002 and when I was putting it with the other mail to be mailed out,
my oldest son chimed in with the old why don't we redo it since it's paid for
trick. Well as you probably guessed it, I was already thinking that very same
thing. Besides I couldn't let the opportunity to do a major project with my son
go buy, He had that I would be proud to help look.
On December of 2002 I had scraped together enough money to order a few parts, so my son and I sat down and
started sketching Ideas out on paper. when we were done we hit the catalogs and ordered alot of the parts we needed.
We ordered new grips, a new seat and various other parts. When it came time to order new handlebars my soon looked
at me and said this thing needs some taller handlebars, so we finally decide on some 18" apes. I wasn't to sure about them
at the time but me being 6' 3" tall I decided to go ahead and get them thinking I could always change them out latter. Well
as it turns out they are perfect for my long arm span and couldn't be more comfy.
SUICIDE CLUTCH
Not wanting to miss the riding season ahead we decided to wait until the winter of 2003 to tear her down all the way.
We took her all the way down to the bare frame. We cut off a few tabs here and there on the frame and kinda touched up
some of the welds. then we blasted the whole shebang and filled in the wholes on the rear fender.
We were trying to come up with a paint scheme when my son says to me, Dad what is the three things that men like
you and I know about life. Me thinking wow kid are you sure you are only seventeen. He say's well we know we have to have
some form of alleagence to something and for you it is motorcycles. I say go on that is kinda interesting. He say's we also
know that throughout life we both could not make it without a good women. This is when I look at him and say, you know
alot for such a young man don't ya. Then he said that the one absolute thing we can count on is that someday we will die
so we need to live it up while we can. I was dumbfounded, this coming from such a young man that had been so eager
to not listen to a thing I said all those years. The Iron crosses in the paint are for my alleagence to the LC. The strippers
are actually pictures of some of the best women that I have ever known. Then all of the skulls represent death.
While everything was at the painters we decided to do some one off things such as the license plate holder and the
suicide clutch. I can't tell you how many times people have commented on the clutch setup. It's either a love it or
leave it type of deal. some like it and some say they would never do that to there bike. Well for me it fits my
personality and the bike as well. the Glass knob on the clutch lever is from the set of original door knobs in my
Grandmothers house. she had a big influence on me and practically raised me every summer. The license plate
holder is the stocker mounted to a custom fabricated muffler mount. the tag light is a glass candle holder with a
red led inside of it and then capped of with a budwieser beer bottle cap, witch I was actually enjoying at that very
moment.
By this time I had already missed my deadline of july 2003. I wasn't to concerned because I wanted everything to be
perfect on this one so we took our time doing things right. I called the painter to tell him to take his time and he said
he had a couple of bikes to do in front of mine so it would be awhile. I said as long as it's done right and it gets back
to me by febuary of 2004 it should be fine. I didn't really mind because I also have a sportster that I had bought for
my wife and could ride it any time I wanted.
Well in febuary of 2004 just as promised, my painter delivered to me what has to be the most beautiful paint job
I have ever seen. It is exactly what I had invisioned with strippers on every piece of tin except the side covers,
skulls and iron crosses being stretched and melding into each other and a cool tribal laid out in orion silver.
man this kid could paint. It was amazing.
My son and I had acquired some help from my dad by this point and began the final assembly. My dad, an old
drag racer, can spin a wrench like you wouldn't believe. He would help my son with assembly while I was gone to work.
We put her together in exactly a week and a half. I was so excited when we pulled her out of the shop. For about an hour
all we did was drink some beer (and a coke for my lil helper) and stare at the magnificant piece of art we had created.
what a point in life to remember. three generations taking pride in something that in some form or fashion we all had
a hand in. Now thats livin. Being the greatfull person I am and knowing deep down that it would meen alot to him
I put my arm around my son and said, well what are you waitin for? Start her up. You should have seen the joy
on his face. He could not have been prouder and I could not have been more proud of him. If it wasn't for him
I don't think it would have turned out as good as it did. I owe alot to him. He also came up with a name for the LC
by the way. We was just standing there taking it all in and he said that red looks really good, kinda like a lipstick
red with some glitter in it. Then he said with excitement, hey you should call her mabilene. So the LC is now known
far and wide as mabilene. Hope you have enjoyed the story of how she came to be. Enjoy the pictures.
Rooster
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