On your mark.. Get set..

 What really get's us going? Is it going out to the garage to see that sinister two wheeled machine waiting to be throttled? Or is it putting on your Harley Davidson tshirt and riding to the local bar, sporting your skid lid with the ever so popular DILLIGAF sticker, hoping you'll find a bunch of other toads there wearing the same damn thing (hopefully not)? Or is it the obvious for the FXR sickness.. getting on your FXR hoping you'll get to smoke some yuppie at the light straddling a chromed out Harley garage ornament. Yep thats it!

 But then comes the next question, does the ol' girl have it in her to beat that 2012 ,103 cubic inch Christmas tree idling next to me? Then reality sets in, probably not. I could run the shit out of this Shovel or Evo and hope it pulls through and if lucks on my side, my ego won't be crushed when that 103 walks past me. What do I do? I love this FXR to death and my Evo IS bullet proof, but that damn CEO next to me just has a bigger wallet. Screw that dude! I'm running it! Who knows the outcome? Chances are, if your like me, you'll run it, but not too hard for fear you might get dusted. The solution...

                                                                 MORE MOTOR!!!


What should I do? Save up my lunch money and buy a CAM? Ask my wife for an early birthday and Christmas gift and see if she'll buy me an exhaust?

Answer: You begin the painstaking process of doing your homework, talking to educated buddies that have built motors and searching PLENTY of motor forums. That's when you realize "Damn this engine thing is a bit more complicated than I thought". Adding parts to a motor or building a motor isn't as easy as just going to the accessory catalog and picking out which horsepower level to run with. I found I was getting different advice from each person I talked to. One person would say I should run an Ev 51 Cam another would say I should run an EV 27 Cam.  A lot of guys recommended the Crane ignition, and one dude swore they were junk! That same guy recommended a TwinTech ignition, but another would say they were cheap.. You need face reality when building a motor.. someone out there is always going to have a bigger and faster motor than you! So what next? For me I had to decide the following:

1. Do I plan on making a hot rod or sleeper that I'll ride hard every once in a while?
2. Do I want longevity in my motor or just raw power?
3. WHAT LEVEL CAM TO USE?
4. Bare FXR, FXRP, FXRT or Mad Max?

My answer "Yes".. Ha! So to cut to the chase heres where my FXR stood upon purchasing it:

• Stock 80 inch EVo
• Drag Pipes
• S&S Super G carb
• Thunder Jet

I had a small accident in February where I almost totaled it, and in repair I replaced those horrid drag pipes with a Thunderheader!!! Man, I can't say enough about how much that bad ass Thunderheader woke up that sleeping Evo! If you've got an Evo, do yourself a favor and put a Thunderheader on it, you WILL TOTALLY NOTICE IT!!

I am happy to say that the FXR is currently in tear down status and awaiting to take on Phoenix status! Here's where my FXR will stand in a few days:

• Branch stage 4 heads
• Crane Hi-4e single fire ignition
• New pistons and cylinders
• Andrews EV 35 Cam
• Screamin Eagle pushrods

I decided to use the mentioned parts because truthfully, I just had to decide.. Sure I could have used a set of paired Branch pistons with my Branch heads, but then I would have had to have my cylinders board. I could've used an Andrews EV 51 cam, but whose to say I would have really ran my motor hard enough to appreciate when the power came on.. This is the FXR sickness!! It never ends.

So if I happen across that same toad on I-95 sporting his 2012 satin black, 103 inch Fat Boy with a forced air induction system on his fuel injected Twin Cam (retard!) and neon orange Screaming Eagle plug wires and he happens to see me coming up on his left, I might just give him a run for his money with my old ass 1989 stock looking slow 80 inch motor! Ha! 

FXR Evolution.. get with the sickness-      GO!!!

  

Why FXR Evolution?

I know it's obvious that my '89 FXR has an Evolution motor in it, but the meaning behind the title of this blog is not to give praise to the Evolution motor, but to explain the evolution of the FXR community, as i see it and to explain the evolution of my motorcycle world because of the FXR. I recognize that my understanding of the FXR community is only so deep, as deep as a skinned knee, nevertheless from what I have read and witnessed the FXR community has definitely evolved. For some time now certain motorcycle clubs have ridden predominantly FXR's, and in doing so, the FXR has gained the reputation as a 'club' bike. Upon learning about the FXR it's no wonder that certain motorcycle clubs have adopted the FXR as the bike of choice. With its overall geometry and design, made for both long range riding and light to light competitions of whose got the biggest shoes..the FXR is right at home. From a stripped down FXR to an FXRT or Grand Touring edition the FXR is so versatile yet still sports the same bullet proof power plant, the Evolution motor (I know the FXR started out as a Shovelhead, but I can't testify to that motor because I have never owned one and I don't want to do that reputation any injustice.. so I'll leave that one for a seasoned FXR owner). I've owned two Evo motors and one Twin cam and in my personal opinion after owning both.. there's nothing like hearing and feeling a carburated Evo come to life after feeding it it's morning dose of high test with a couple yokes of the throttle versus a computer driven Twin Cam start after you turn the ignition key to start. Fuel injected motors to me seem to have no life.. the first example FXR Evolution.

Come on really?? What's not sexy about an '80's FXR?

Even a bare bone FXR slightly stripped or modified screams bad ass!

The FXR is a total utilitarian motorcycle, which is what makes it's following so cool and so unique. In this day of age of LED's and intercom systems to chrome 21 inch wheels and extended fenders.. its no wonder that the many variations of the FXR are what make it cool. Simply put, it's so damn cool because it's NOT COOL!! Second example of FXR Evolution.. Straight Mad Max sexy!!

Moving away from a utilitarian and no nonsense motorcycle, speeding up to todays interpretation of what an FXR is about, we come to this..
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmCnlXt_Hpc

 What can you say?  Hell'z Ya!!!   FXR Evolution.. get it?

Photo shoot ..

Here's the FXR in its virgin glory to me, when I first went to look at it. Notice in the background the old FLT that my old friend was preparing for the road. 

The transformation of this old, dusty classic will be coming soon..

The Spark

Before I decided to to dive into the FXR sickness.. I had to educate myself and here is where it started..

http://www.cvoharley.com/smf/index.php?topic=25417.0

Pretty damn good info! Again, if your a hater of Jap bikes, pay attention to the reason as to what the Evolution motor and FXR were a result of. The Pinehurst Meetings as they were referred to, were a result of Vaughn Beals gathering his upper management to come up with a plan to move Harley ahead. Ahead of what?? The proliferation of high tech motorcycles from other countries, and their wide acceptance by American motorcyclist. So if you have a distaste for Jap bikes, think about this.. if it were not for those Japanese pieces of 'junk' that so many Harley riders snub their noses at, there would be no Evolution motor and no FXR. This specific section of note, is mentioned only to broaden ones view of being a motorcyclist and what it means.. take it all in! Even the brown rice.. hell ya! 

In the beginning

I started my FXR 'sickness' as I like to call it, in February 2012. I knew nothing of the FXR or its insane following.. I was just an average motorcycle enthusiast with a passion for anything but the ordinary. I was so damn tired of all the popular Geezer Glides, flat black bobbers with red wheels and "Ride to live, live to ride" themed garage ornaments flooding the streets. Before my eyes were opened to the FXR scene, I was riding a 2001 Road King which I was attempting to go for the lowrider/gangster feel.. 16 inch apes, fishtails.. the normal. Still, my appetite for something original and cool was still there. The Road Toad was cool, but not really. My buddy, who rides a 1988 FXRP, told me I needed to GOOGLE the FXR and see what it was about. So I looked into it, with reservation.. after all it was just a DYNA or a big Sporty, right? HA! What a dumb ass! So I found a few detailed write ups and began to see that this 'DYNA' was pretty bad ass! I thought to myself "whats so big about this plain ass bike?" I read on an learned one of the reasons the FXR was not so popular was because of its triangulated frame that everyone thought looked too much like a Jap bike. I knew right then I loved it! I consider myself a true motorcycle enthusiast, if you love motorcycles then you love them all.. American and Rice. The fact that people hated the looks of the FXR because of that design, is what intrigued me. I know I may get a lot of shit because of my views of Harley's versus Jap, but you know what?? Fuck it.. if your too narrow minded to appreciate the history and contribution both have made to the motorcycle 'scene'.. it's your loss. That's another topic.. Moving on.. here is where it all began for me. A 1989 FXR Superglide I bought (or should I say stole) for a mere $4500 bucks! The bike had its typical feel for an '89 owned by a man in his 60's. Buckhorns, drag pipes, live to ride, ride to live themed covers, Mustang seat, chrome tail light visor and a blue dot in the tail light.. at the time I didn't like the look, but saw the potential. The bike looks a bit different now, but I have learned to really dig that true 80's feel that could only be accomplished by a man in his 60's. I learned that the original owner had gone to prison for a long time (reason not known, but it sounded cool as shit!)and that he sold it to his buddy. His buddy rode it a while and did nothing to it and then it came into the hands of the guy I bought it from. When I found this bike on Craigslist, the guy told me it was too fast for him and he just didn't ride it like it needed to be ridden. He said "the FXR is meant to be ridden hard and fast and I'm just not doing the bike justice" Thats when I knew I had to go see it, ride it and see what the hype was about this FXR thing! I drove up and road that bastard down his street in 45 degree weather.. as soon as grabbed a hand full of throttle and leaned into it, I was hooked!! Smile from ear to ear! Bad ASS!! Here's what it looked like when I got it.. check the old dude I bought it from sitting on his lift in the background, smoking his cigarette in the background thinking "this young fuck has no idea what he's buying, he's probably just buying it cuz it's cheap. He aint gonna appreciate it." Bullshit!! That's all I have to say about that!