I first became aware of this bike’s existence one late afternoon in January of 2006. My good riding buddy, Jerry Gray, called on a Saturday morning asking if I would take a ride with him. I’ll ride anywhere, with almost anyone, at a drop of a hat; but when Jerry calls…I don’t even ask “where to?”.
We make arrangements to meet at our usual place, a bar on US 1 that is conveniently an equal distance between both our homes. A kind of midway concession we have found, where we can order up a soda, sandwich, listen to music; all outdoors on their deck overlooking the Indian River. The bar is known as the Red Fish Inn near Titusville, Florida.
As usual, I arrive early and Jerry arrives on time. We order up a couple of sodas, sandwiches…and a preamble of small talk. At some point Jerry tells me he wants to visit the new H-D dealership in Ormond.
You know the one: Daytona H-D.
Photo taken by our famed roving reporter, Rogue. I shamelessly stole this photo off another story here on Bikernet.
I hadn’t been there yet, and while I am not overly concerned with H-D dealerships, I did take notice of the grand opening and how large an area this place took up off the I-95 Interchange at the Ormond exit.
I was excited to take the plunge once again into what I fondly think of as “biker fantasy land.”
Jerry and I finished up our conversation, tipped our glasses to finish the libations, and strode out to our respective mounts waiting for us in the “bike only” portion of the parking lot. We straddled our mounts, fired up the engines, and turned our wheels out to the north bound lanes of US 1.
Classic David Mann painting which, I believe, gives a wonderful depiction of riding side by side in the Florida sunlight. Riding with someone you trust is an experience like no other.
Jerry and I had been riding together side by side for two years by that time, and had found we were very comfortable with each other’s riding habits. He watched my front wheel from the corner of his eye, and I watched his body language from the corner of mine. We knew instinctively what the other was up to…and our rides together were always stress free. Riding together was second nature and trusting the other’s safety and riding habits was something that never crossed our minds anymore.
The ride north to Daytona was uneventful, warm, and just plain joyous. I can’t stress how nice it is to ride abreast of someone you trust with your life…
Some pictures require no words.
We didn’t go directly to the H-D dealership, instead we took a few pit stops. Jerry loves to stop at the “No Name Bar” just south of Daytona. It’s a good place to swing your leg off the bike, stop in for a brew, strike up conversations with the other patrons and bar tenders, and just wash the road off for a few minutes…or hours. I do like that bar, it’s comfortable.
Another shot from Rogue. The man’s pictures are always good enough to be used over and over again.
By late afternoon, we arrive at the dealership and yes…I am impressed! Even though the other buildings such as JP Cycle, and Arlen Ness were still in construction, it‘s hard not to be awed by the three stories of motorcycles, parts, and accessories. Jerry leads me inside, heading directly for the stairs that would take us to the used motorcycles portion of the store. He hadn’t told me what he wanted, but knowing Jerry the way I do; I figured he was looking for his next project. You see, Jerry’s “hobby” (more like a passion,) is buying used stock H-D motorcycles, taking them home, and embellishing them with his own personal style. Once he has been working on it for around a year, he enters them into the assorted bike shows that go on in and around Daytona during spring and or October Bike Week. As a matter of fact, two years ago the stock bagger he bought and redressed in his own “image”, won first place at the NASA ride-in bike show for stock motorcycles.
His bikes consistently win when placed in the stock shows for their particular category.
Our trip to the dealership proved to be a bit of a surprise. It seems he had his eye on one particular bike for almost six months, as he had seen it on the show room floor down at the New Syrmerna Beach store. He knew it had been transferred up to Daytona after the showrooms were finished, and once the store opened, he wanted to visit the bike again. We found it on the floor, tucked away into the southeast corner of the second floor showroom. It had a new bump on it…on the gas tank. The salesman revealed it had happened during transit from the southern dealership to the Daytona sales floor. No problem, we would remember that when the haggling started.
Jerry asked me to sit on the bike, which I did, and it felt real good to me! Here on the showroom floor was a 1999 Dyna with only 32,000 miles on it. We searched around looking for the price tag that was ever present on every bike on the floor, only to discover it was not present on this one. Up to now, Jerry was content to just visit the bike; look at it, and dream of the things he would do to personalize this bike. But the question of the price intrigued us both. I needed to know what they were asking for this bike, and Jerry needed to know (since he already knew the asking price from the previous dealership) if they would “haggle” on the list price to something he wanted to invest in. The hunt was on for a salesman.
Now why is it, when you walk into a used car or motorcycle place and your not really shopping, just window shopping, you can always count on being accosted by at least four sales persons before you have convinced them not to waste their time?
Salesman can really suck! It is rare to find one who talks without having an ulterior motif.
How is it…when you are actually looking for some pertinent information that may help you to decide if you’re going to buy a vehicle, there is no one, absolutely no one around that you can grab and ask? I was becoming frustrated, Jerry on the other hand was calm and more absolute to the idea of finding a salesperson and getting the answers he wanted. It’s nice to have someone with you who is the exact opposite of your own nature…it seems to bring out the worst of the one, and the best of the other! In our case, I was ready to tear the building down while Jerry was ready to prove just how resilient he could be to my frustrations, and set an example of patience winning over a stubborn mule. (I was the damn mule in this case!)
Mule, Jack-Ass, I think you get the picture.
To make a long story short,(too late), Jerry did find a salesman who didn’t know the asking price on the bike. The salesman went down to the sales office, got the price and returned to us on the second floor. The price was as Jerry suspected it would be, but he made a counter offer. The salesman then informed us the bike was there on consignment and he had no authorization from the owner to haggle over the price. Jerry insisted the owner be called and his counter offer made known. The owner was contacted and he accepted Jerry’s counter offer. The bike was Jerry’s some 90 minutes later.
It wasn’t until Jerry received the title in the mail a few weeks later that he discovered this bike was no ordinary Dyna…but an FXWG.
A limited edition Dyna…designed by Willie G. Hence the WG designation. The bike was a real steal!
The famed Willie G. with El Bandito at The Motor Company’s 100th.
A few weeks after Jerry had gotten the bike home, I received another call from him. He wanted to go riding again. It was then I informed him my bike was not running…and wouldn’t be running for a few more weeks. The man, being the consummate friend and biker he is, offered to loan me his FXWG for the afternoon ride! I tried to resist. I don’t like riding other people’s bikes…but I think it was evident by the weak excuses that I really wanted to ride this bike…I gave up the excuses and was at his house in a heart beat. I couldn’t resist the offer to ride a nice bike like this one. We left the driveway of his house together, side by side…and jumped on I-95 North to meet up with some friends at the Cabbage Patch. There was a pig roast going on and many of the people we both knew from a national website were gonna be there. We met up with them, had a few drinks and something to eat then we traveled to another local bar for more fun with friends. It was a real gas to ride this bike around Daytona and her outer reaches. I am one lucky gal to have such friends as Jerry. The day ended and we headed back to his house. Once there he tried to tell me his vision for this bike. I couldn’t grasp it. I am one of those people who don’t get a design until it is drawn out for me. I couldn’t visualize the color he wanted, the bike with the tanks he wanted, the mirrors, the new lights…I was just lost. I couldn’t see it down the road like he could.
This is how I get around truly gifted people as well. I am mostly “dazed and confused” just as the Mistress describes here.
But I have seen the work he has done on his other “projects” and that was enough for me to know…he had a vision for this one that would make it special.
It was a few weeks later that I took a job in Dothan Al. with Accurate Engineering. I didn’t see Jerry again until June at the build off party Barry Wardlaw threw for Gypsy upon the completion of her bike build for the Discovery Channel. I invited Jerry to come up and it was there he told me about meeting a couple who own a leather shop in Oak Hill. The shops name: Wind Walkers, and Jerry told me about his plan to have the stock seat recovered in gator hide. He was excited…and I guess I should have been, would have been, if I could only envision what the seat could, and would look like when done! Jerry told me of the advances he had made on the transformation of the bike. It wasn’t as exciting to me as it was to him…it sucks to have no imagination at all. It really does. It was enough to share Jerry’s enthusiasm and happiness. I know we have all known people like him…people who have vision and know what they want without ever seeing it except in the eye of their mind.
They can be so infectious with their enthusiasm that no matter how clueless you really are, your grinning from ear to ear…and you find yourself wallowing in their happiness! I like being around people like him.
In the year that followed the purchase of the FXWG, many things have happened; to us and also to the bike. By March of 2007, I hadn’t seen the bike in almost four months and in that time Jerry had really developed her.He changed out the risers and handlebars. He replaced the mirrors with a pair from Arlen Ness. The turn signals, from Kuryakyn, are very small LED’s, inset into the fender struts in the rear ,and across the upper forks in the front. They are almost invisible until they are in use. I have always felt that just sticking some posts on the bike that happened to have big lights in them was like remembering at the last minute to put a freaking diaper on your kid, so you use a t-shirt instead. I love the clean look of these turn signals!
The bike with a trophy hard earned.
The paint is House of Color burgundy over a silver metal flake, which gives the burgundy a deep rich and warming glow. The paint was applied by Bad Lands Customs out of Oak Hill, Florida. This paint job is beautiful. The flake paint below the primary color allows the hue of the burgundy to subtly change as the light striking it changes. The colors are rich and deep, giving the appearance of one being able to fall a long time before striking a surface if you were to “fall into” the paint!
The man and his creation.
Jerry has added a velocity stack made by Arlen Ness, polished rotors by V-Twin, a nicely laced 21” chrome diamond cut spoke front wheel by Street Thunder Motorcycles, a rear inset tail light by Arlen Ness, a 4.5 gallon gas tank by V-twin, the gas filler insert is Kuryakyn, and he has added a spoiler which he also got from Arlen Ness. Now couple all these together with the artistry of a master leather worker like Julie Pope from Wind Walkers and you have… “Gray’s Gator!”
I took a picture of this painting at Sturgis. It was painted by the famed motorcycle artist David Uhl. He is famous for his artwork capturing the essence of motorcycling. This one is called “the Enthusiast”.
