Natch, I was intrigued when I saw the cover for the new Baker Calendar. Any excuse to grab some shot of girls and motorcycles for Bikernet. It’s my job.
I reached out to Trish, the tattooed Baker marketing queen. “There’s just one shot of a girl on our calendar,” Trish said. “We devoted the entire calendar to our new replacement primary, the Bully. So what are you going to do about it?”
I scratched my old gray beard, and pondered my situation. Sin Wu leaned over my shoulder, and her soft bubbly, cleavage warmed my cheek. She slipped a Hamster orange post-it under my gaze. It read, “Don’t forget the Bikernet Mantra.”
I looked up at her soft features and knowing gaze. She sways through the headquarters like an oriental ivory chopper angel, always a couple of inches above the hardwood floors. She is the guardian of the castle, the seeker of truth, the calming elixir during conflicts, and she keeps the other broads in line. I knew immediately what she reminded me about. We look at Bikernet as the beacon of warmth and info sharing. In other words, if we can help, goddamnit, we will.
“Are there any other shots of the Calendar girl?” I asked. A man has his priorities. “And send me all you have on the new Bully Baker primary. We will have some fun with it.”
So that’s what Trish did. Then I met the designer in Cincinnati at the Easyriders V-Twin Dealer show. Andy Friar told me about more tech shots of his design effort, and I offered to interview him. Let’s kick this off with the basics on the Bully:
BE A BULLY…
BAKER understands that there are two main elements to making your stock bike stand out in the crowd:
form and function… We’ve been practicing this for years with our Function Formed styling on our
products, giving you style and top notch performance at the same time.
The Bully Primary Cover will add the style and cool factor to your 2007-Later touring model that the stock primary cover could not. With the introduction of the stock 6-speed on the 2007 Touring models also came a completely new primary assembly. This new primary design got smoother and more plain than the previous version. Being the biggest single piece of architecture on the left side of the motorcycle, it
is just begging to be upgraded and replaced.
Having cut our teeth on many designs using our Function Formed cues, we set out to make the primary cover assembly wrap the essential function components of the primary. We added a motor sprocket cover, inspection and what we call the bellhousing around the clutch to break up the large mushy surface area of the stock unit. Adding separate covers also opens up the possibilities when it comes to customizing the aesthetics to meet your demands.
– All parts machined from 6061-T6 billet
– Direct bolt-on in place of the stock outer primary cover
– Comes standard as a complete outer primary cover assembly, including derby cover
– Clears all stock dimensionally equivalent clutches, chain tensioners and compensating sprockets
– Polished stainless steel fasteners standard
– Inspection Cover design for use with Attitude Manual Chain Adjuster Kit
– Stock fitting derby covers will bolt right up to the bellhousing
– Bully Derby Cover available for stock, 1999-later 5-hole derby cover, Big Twin models.
– Motor sprocket and bellhousing bolt to outer primary plate with blind threaded holes, no leaks
– Includes outer primary gasket, inspection cover gasket and derby cover rubber o-ring
– Backed by a 2 yr limited warranty
For more information and ordering – check out www.bakerdrivetrain.com or call 1-877-640-2004
Attitude Chain Adjuster
One of the big differences in the function of the Bully Primary cover when compared to the stock unit, is the inclusion of an inspection cover. With the stock auto adjust chain tensioner assembly installed, this inspection cover will never need to be removed. We included an inspection cover because we also offer a conventional manual adjust chain tensioner. The Attitude Chain Adjuster solves the issues associated with the stock auto tensioner.
The first moment the chain has enough slack into it to ratchet the shoe up another notch, and thus tightening the chain, it will. One notch tighter might not be an issue, but you don’t have any control of when this mechanism stops tightening the chain. The end result in many cases is the primary chain is so tight that it will start wearing out left side motor case bearings, inner primary bearings, clutch hub bearings and transmission output gear bearings.
Our manual chain tensioner allows you to adjust the chain to the proper 5/8-7/8-inch (cold) freeplay, and never have to worry about the chain getting too tight. The 28% finer teeth spacing, as compared to the 2001-06 ‘L-Bracket’ style, allows more accurate adjustments. We offer this chain adjuster for fitment with stock outer primary covers, as well as a package deal with the Bully Primary Cover.
Bully Primary Cover Kit Part Numbers
600-BLY Primary Kit, Wrinkle Black w/ Highlights 2007-Later Touring
600-BLY-M Primary Kit w/ Attitude Adjuster, Wrinkle Black w/ Highlights 2007-Later Touring
601-BLY Primary Kit, Chrome 2007-Later Touring
601-BLY-M Primary Kit w/ Attitude Adjuster, Chrome 2007-Later Touring
[Photo 28108]
Bully Derby Cover Kit
The Bully Primary Cover kit comes with the derby cover you see pictured on this page. A good looking part that will set off any style that you rock. We decided early on when developing this primary cover to make sure that the stock bolt pattern and diameter of the Derby Cover was maintained. This allows anyone to put their own special derby cover on our primary cover, or such that someone can buy just our Bully Derby Cover Kit and bolt it on their stock outer primary. Part numbers and fitment are listed below.
602-BLY Derby Cover Kit, Stock Primary, Chrome 1999-Later, Big Twin
603-BLY Derby Cover Kit, Stock Primary, Wrinkle Black w/ Highlights 1999-Later, Big Twin
– Cruise Drive Sprockets
– Cruise Drive Hydraulic Side Cover
– +1 Quart Oil Pan (2007-2008 FLH/ FLT Models)
– Inner Primary High Torque Bearing Kit (2007 Big Twin)
Recommended Fluid / Level Picking the right primary fluid ensures the life and durability of your primary, that’s why BAKER recommends a 85W primary oil. BAKER does not recommend the use of Syn3 (20W-50).
BAKER Bully Primary Cover Fluid Capacity Dry: 30-32 fl-oz
There you have all the basics, and now for our interview with Andy Friar, the designer behind this project:
Why design a replacement primary?
The primary is the biggest piece of architecture on the drivetrain. As a result it has the biggest impact on the look of a bike as far as the drivetrain is concerned. As the factory has evolved their designs, they have steadily lost style. The outer primary cover on the new stock 6 speeds models are mushy looking and without any real character. Replacing the outer primary cover is an easy job to gain a lot visual impact, without having to swap out any other parts. An added reason is that we are now selling manual chain adjusters for the new 6 speed models. (We offer the Attitude Chain Adjuster at a discount when buying a Bully Primary Cover) The factory auto tensioner never stops tightening the chain. When the chain reaches banjo string tightness, it will start taking out the clutch hub bearings, transmission main drive gear bearing, inner primary bearing and/or the left side motor case bearing. Our new Bully Primary Cover has an inspection cover in the middle to manage the chain adjustment, just like the TC 88 models.
Tell me about your background
I have worked at BAKER for 8 years. I started part time in college putting together sub assemblies and have been designing full time for the last 7 years. I grew up in Michigan with a Drag Racing, General Motors Engineer, father. I thought that everybody’s Dad had a 8 second dragster in their garage and could fix anything, because my Dad did and so did all of his friends. My Mom is the artist in the family and I get my creative abilities from her. You could say that I am truly a blend of my parents talents. I went to Michigan State for Product Design Engineering with a couple of internship stints at Detroit Speed & Engineering (High End Hot Rods & Road Race Cars) and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics (F-22 Production & F-35 Pre-Production Manufacturing). My passion is all things with tires that haul ass.
Will you make other models of this configuration in the future?
Yes, outer primary covers for 1999-06 FL Touring Models are on the Bully Parts line agenda.
How about a vented model for belt drives?
That is an interesting one. Belt drive primaries on the 2007 & later Touring models do not seem to have the some popularity, yet, since the bikes are so new. So we probably won’t offer it as a regularly stocked part number to start with. That being said, we can and will modify parts for a customers individual tastes or needs. Most of the time for free too, unless it requires a lot of machining, and then we are still very reasonable. If we start getting lots of requests for them, we will of course make it a regularly stocked part number.
How does your design process take place.
We basically do a case study, including: What is the function of the part? What can we improve on? What are the accompanying parts both on the stock bike and available in the aftermarket that we want to make sure our parts works with? What is our target price based on what we think the market will accept? What do we think the annual sales will be? What finishes do we want to offer? Then we work backwards from there. The annual volume has the biggest factor on what way we will make the part. Either a forging, billet block machined, casting, or a machined billet extrusion. We will set the parameters of the part based on allowable footprint to its mated part, and height, then we start carving away all of the fat to leave the final part wrapped as much as possible to the mechanics underneath it.
We regularly will get one or all of the salesman involved when we are at a crossroads in the design process. To answer questions like, What do you think the customers would think about this look? Do you think that this design will be a pain in the ass for a seasoned tech to install? Our salesman hold a lot of the key facts about what our customers are asking for, or need tech help with, on a daily basis. We as designers here at BAKER, and being gearheads in general, are always on the hunt for cool aesthetics that we think we could incorporate into a design. Whether at a local swap meet, the drag races, on TV or in a magazine.
Did you do anything to the structure to make this unit stronger, longer lasting than stock?
We machine all of the Bully primary covers out of 6061-T6 billet, which is inherently stronger than die cast aluminum. We use Solidworks to double check the strength of the parts to ensure that we are always stronger than stock.
What’s next?
We are going to keep expanding the Bully Line of parts:
-Timing covers for TC88 bikes
-Horn covers
-Coil covers
-Primary covers for TC88 touring models
-Inspection covers and derby covers for stock primary TC88 models
-Derby covers that match BAKER transmission models
-DD6 Equipped,DD7 Equipped, OD6 equipped, etc.
-Transmission top covers
We will be able to offer a full Bully cover line before too long which will convert the look of a bike in a day by replacing all of the stock covers.
Feel free to throw in anything else, I may have missed.
We made the primary cover a 3-part assembly for multiples reasons, rather than machining it out of one 4” thick billet. First, is cost, both of the raw material and the machining time. Second we thought that having a ‘Bellhousing’ as we call it over the clutch, could be a benefit to the end user. You can change the clutch pack without having to take off the whole outer primary or footpegs/ floorboards. The same goes for the motor sprocket cover. We made it a separate bolt on piece to keep the mechanical fastener look of the bellhousing, but also so that someone could turn over the motor without having to take off the whole outer cover.
The Bully primary cover will work with all stock floorboards or pegs, or any aftermarket units that work on a stock bike. The outer cover also works with the stock auto chain tensioner unit, should someone not want to change it out.
To find out more about the Bully, click here:
http://bakerdrivetrain.com/bully-primary-cover
