Every project or bike needs a name, and the long term Victory has acquired one which will go a long way to dictating its shape and style.

The Vegas stripper will be a stripped Vegas, and that means minimal.

The oem switchgear will be replaced by an original system that we've developed with the help of Steve at SHD.

Much of the original wiring harness - everything that doesn't hook the engine to the EFI and engine management system - is being replaced by a motogadget m-unit by Thundercity.

The mudguards are being trimmed back to the practical minimum and will get a new original lighting rig at the back.

We've already got a set of short, empty headers and the stage 1 air filter but are looking further afield so we can lose the plastic airbox ... unless there's a way to seal it and turn it into a plenum for my currently unemployed Aerocharger: they're making conversions now to fit them to the 106-inch motors.

We're going to get some original bars made up for it, to fit on modified yokes, using weld-on lever perches from Exile, and using a remote master cylinder for the front brake, which is currently looking like being tucked behind a racing plate, but that's not a given at the moment.

The really clever trick will be working out how to fit the sprung seat that I really want, and fix or replace the side panels to they tie in better with the build.

And all because the sun cast a shadow of the bike in its stripped form.

... and it could be said to be from another planet, and not just for its other-worldly looks!

Try this for size: a 24.5-inch seat height, 4.1-inches of suspension travel and the damn thing just won't touch down in the corners, despite having the tightest frame on any tourer I've ever ridden and tipping into bends with relish!

See Part 1 of its story in AmV45.

Having spent considerable time and effort finding out how to make my FXDX go faster, I reckoned I ought to put some thought into making it stop better.

Whilst the front brake does work, it's not exactly impressive - especially for a twin disc, 4-piston set-up.

And because I'm tight, I thought I'd start with the brake pads. As with engine modifications, lack of choice is not really an issue, with brake pads offered by Brembo, SBS and EBC to name a few.

So here's my first question - who made the OEM pads back in 2002 and who makes them now? I don't want to buy a 'different' set of pads only to find out that they're exactly what I've already got - only this time wearing the original manufacturer's brand rather than Harley's.

What I desperately need is real life information about what works best.

I need your help here! What are your experiences?

Out of the frying pan

A couple of weeks ago I rode down to Leicester to consult my very old and irritable friend Tony, who runs Classic Approach a respected motorcycle paint shop and who is also extremely handy around bikes generally. In truth, I was after a quick fix tidy-up of the Road King which is, bless it, definitely looking its age. Furthermore I was hoping to get Tony to slap on a shiny Twin Cam chain-case I’d scored sometime back and a delicious pair of S&S silencers that I’d bought from Bill at the Trading Post just before he called it quits.

The consultation/piss-take started well but Tony soon spotted a potential problem, both gusset plates supporting the rear loop of the main frame, right by the swinging arm mount looked dodgy, and Tony, apologising as he did so, pushed his finger right through the flaky paint and then alarmingly right through the rusted plates. Damn you British winters and salted roads. A small job had just turned into a major re-build. I can’t say I was delighted, but hey, that’s why I’d ridden the bike over to Tony’s in the first place, he‘s got a practiced eye for just that kind of thing. Not knowing what other rot might be lurking elsewhere around the frame, it was soon agreed that the best thing was just to strip the Road King down completely, blast the frame clean, weld it up where needed and then either powder-coat it or paint it.

Geoff at Cycle Enterprises (Stoke Golding, Warwickshire Tel: 01455 213 007) was Tony’s suggestion for the strip and re-build, so while he sweet-talked Geoff, I rode back to Manchester considerably more carefully than I’d rode down.

Not normally all that flush with cash I however finished a new logo for local mate (Hairy) Pete who was launching a new parts business: Mr B’s Custom Cycles (mr-b-customcycles.co.uk) and then sold a load of my Road King cast-offs to another mate, ex-motorcycle cop Nick who had just recently scored a 1995 FLHR himself. But though he virtually cleaned me out of unwanted chrome kak, I had to let him have the S&S silencers too, which in fairness was all he’d really come over to see anyway.

Some folding now in pocket, last weekend I rode back down to Leicester. Picking up Tony I followed him over to see Geoff and we chatted about what happens next. He’s doing the strip down and rebuild, checking the top end of the motor while it’s out and rebuilding the forks with new seals. Meanwhile, Tony will ferret away parts liberated, clean them, polish them or paint them. So that was that, I tearfully left the Road King there with a down payment.

Here’s the rough check list (subject of course to change):

1. Frame: Bead-blasted clean, re-welded where required then painted or powder-coated depending on bank balance.

2. Engine: Top end looked at, probably de-coked, possibly ported and polished. Serious new and shiny Terry’s starter motor fitted (because I had one - thanks Reedie btw). Re-painted barrels and bottom end, new Twin Cam chain-case fitted (using a one-off adapter to take my old Evo 3 screw derby cover - thanks Reedie again) or strip chrome from old chain-case and polish, re-chrome or paint black. Generally fettle. Possibly new exhaust system, or fettle existing system, the saucily named Bubba Cross-Dressers.

3. Wheels: Re-paint black, leaving only polished rims, JMA front brake disc inners, paint black or at least strip awful old chrome off and polish.

4. Brightwork: Paint to be kept standard (I like it and it’s the absolutely original Road King colour scheme) but brought back to life by Tony and re-lacquered, while other parts looking iffy (like the subframe covers) to be stripped and painted black. Cool.

5. Odds & Sods: Like cables and switchgear. I’ve left them with Geoff, if they go on they go on.

The end result should be really very nice, most definitely a 1995 Evo Road King, but improved somewhat, cleaner and even a bit meaner.

Ignore the blog time/date stamp: this a retrospective update while I get things back up to date: the timings and workload weren't conducive to the real-time update that will follow from this point forwards.

Thursday 15th April 2010: 22.00am

With a hundred miles over the thosand showing, and a few hundred miles planned for the weekend, the plan to combine fte thousand mile service with the first upgrade was shelved: of the parts required, some were in Chester, but some were grounded with the no-fly zone over Europe and no-one really knew when that was going to change.

The motor was settling in nicely, and the only concerns were a rattle from the exhausts on fast tickover on choke - which was identified as one missing and one loose bolt on the upper exhaust mount that I'm now keeping an eye on - and play in the clutch and throttle cables, both of which form part of the assigned checks anyway.

The question relating to wheels was asked - as in do I treat them with something - to which the answer was 'yes, frequent cleaning'. Great. My favourite. Still, it's got to be done.

I'd been aware if some great dusts settling onto the bottom of the wheel rim when parked and immediately wondered whether it was caustic brake dust or Icelandic ash, and dusted it off anyway.

The trick with wheels is the same as any aspect of washing the bike: don't just wash the easy bits ... the visible bits. As it happens, Andy the Ad man had brought something from Quasar products for us to review - see main blog. Called the Strong Arm lift, it's beautifully simply and allows a single operator to lift the front or rear wheel off the deck, according to where it's placed, and Steve, Chester's tech, told me the blindingly obvious trick to avoid using the oil tank's sump as a levering point.  Introducing something between the frame rail and lift on the primary-drive side, about the same height as the timing side's protective skid, allows you to lift the bike 'square', and the stand located further forward that you would otherwise be able to do, by which time the frame gets narrower than I would prefer for the sake of stability. A lump of soft wood does that beautifully - and was what was lying around in the shed - without any chance of marking the frame's paint, but I'm emailing the guys at Quasar next to ask them whether a sliding collar might be even better: one that can be moved into position on bikes that need it, but moved out of the way if not.

Bike upright and stable, and with the front of the bike held off the desk by a block under the front engine mount, I can spin both wheels easily to clean them AND because the bike isn't leaning on the sidestand, the primary side of the engine's fins - so frequently forgotten and the first bit to start looking tatty on a black and chrome motor - are visible, accessible and easily to clean ... with a rag: they're machine finished and sharp as hell. It also makes it a lot easier to get to the front of the motor, which really cops for the road dirt thanks to the block tread pattern and the short front mudguard.

Other than all that, the bike gets a clean bill of health and we can start to use it increasingly harder.

The big problem about trying to make running modifications to a bike you sometimes need to use, is that you sometimes need to use it, and last weekend that's what happened.

It was set against a background of the rear tappets on  the Cyclone needing a dose of looking at and its back tyre that would be taking the piss on a 300 mile round trip, and combined with incorrectly diagnosing the re-emergence of the Shovel's slipping clutch as a blocked return from the primary, leaving me with an oil-line too damaged to refit as-was and too short when trimmed. It would have been easier to work on the Shovel if on the bike lift but the partially dismantled Victory was already there and logic dictated that having reassembled it to take it off the ramp, I'd be as well to tax that and take it to Talgarth, which is what I did.

Slightly more pragmatically, it also meant I'd have a bike that I could take to the people who've offered assistance with some fabrication work, 'cos I don't do vans ... 'cos I haven't got one. And because there's a 120/70x21 front end with my name on it sitting in an attic in Surrey: a wheel, tyre and a front mudguard that has the Vegas' rib beaten down it's centre which will bolt straight into the front and allow me to pick up the original; 90/90x21 next time I'm passing.