Backpressure

Welcome to another episode of HOT ROD'S BIKE-WORKS. I'm Billy Bartels, and I'll be your host this month. You might remember me from the old days, when Bike-Works was Hot Rod Bikes, and we had a logo with tailpipes. I liked the old days, some of my best on a motorcycle (or a magazine), and I'll be doing what I can to bring them back.

Back then, we had a jolly crew (myself, Frank Kaisler, Todd Canavan, and Mark Masker) bringing you a world of in-depth Harley tech, dyno tests, Todd's Garage, and smoking hot babes on the cover. For this version of your favorite tech mag, we've got two out of four...those pesky dyno tests are so much harder with that newfangled fuel injection, and Todd's Garage is now located in Kauai, Hawaii. Give him a holler at the Harley dealer if you're in town.

Getting back to basics is the theme for this issue. I am sad to say (and this is a deep, dark secret) that I am not a gearhead. But what I've always loved about this magazine is that even a klutz like myself can sit down, follow along, and try some things that perhaps seemed impossible. So this issue we've got everything from dropping a Dyna to swapping motors on a Sportster, to a nifty article on how to install a Paughco Mustang tank.

Plus, we check out the newest custom creations from Daytona Bike Week, along with some vintage iron in Dave Eady's garage, and get inside the inner workings of seat moguls Corbin. So sit down at your bench, crack a cold one, and enjoy yourself with the mag in one hand and a TIG-welder in the other.