From the East Coast to the West Coast, Harley-Davidson customizing trends can vary from mild to wild. Strangely enough, and contrary to what one might imagine, it is the East Coast that usually leads the way when it comes to the wilder stuff.
The owner of the blue bike featured here says that a fellow never knows when a business opportunity might present itself. Mickey Mullaney of Virginia Beach, Virginia, tells us the occasion arose to open his new LED lighting business after a series of what he calls "disappointing experiences" with the neon setup he had professionally installed on his '99 Harley-Davidson FXD while attending the Myrtle Beach rally in South Carolina.
"At first I was really pleased with the outcome of the neon job, but then a few problems arose. The vibration from my Dyna had caused a few of the frame-mounted neon tubes to break, and exposure to the elements appeared to have done some damage as well. During the process of tracking down the shorts in my neon setup's wiring harness, I discovered the 12-volt electrical power source running to the neon transformer was connected without incorporating a fusible link. This concerned me because I was worried about an electrical fire or worse yet, an explosion," Mullaney says.
It wasn't long after this that Mickey set out on an investigation to discover whether he could find an alternative to the manner in which his neon light setup was installed. In his search, he discovered the "wonderful world of LEDs" as he phrases it, and his new business venture was born. His company's name is Cycle-Delics, and you can reach it at (757) 749-6425 or log onto www.cycle-delics.com.
The meat and potatoes of Mickey's Dyna is his 80-inch Evo motor with a five-speed transmission. Moving from the exhaust system inward we find the inspiration for Mickey's Blue Thunder's moniker is a pair of Vance & Hines Long Shots cut short and re-chromed by Royal Chrome and Silver of Norfolk, Virginia. Mickey says his bike is the loudest one he's ever heard. Helping to create the thunder is a pair of Wiseco pistons in H-D jugs, boosting the compression ratio to 10.5:1, assisted by ported and polished genuine H-D cylinder heads. Induction and spark are handled via an Edelbrock Quicksilver carburetor and Crane Fireball electronic ignition. Blue Thunder's hot-rod idle cadence is thanks to an S&S 635 bumpstick poking stock H-D lifters and pushrods into the top end. Bridging the gap between the motor and tranny is a 3-inch-wide Primo beltdrive wrapped around a Primo clutch basket and Primo clutch.
The blue in Blue Thunder is thanks to House of Kolor's Candy Blue sprayed on by Norfolk, Virginia's Lance King who also applied the silver metallic graphics and extra-deep, UV-resistant, House of Kolor clearcoat. Lying beneath the HOK paint is an all steel gas tank from Battastini's of England and a pair of steel fenders from Jesse James. Seating arrangements are thanks to a custom seat from Danny Gray.
Since quality lighting is an important feature for Mickey, it's only natural that a specially modified Joker Machine taillight houses an LED card from Cycle-Delics, and a Headwinds headlight brings up the front. With all of the special attention to utilizing blue as the color theme and LEDs for lighting purposes, to use anything other than blue LED instruments would be a blatant lack of attention to details, so Mickey selected Dakota Digital for its intense, bright blue LED instrumentation.
...
>>next page