For many riders, picking out their bike, the colour and accessories is a long drawn-out experience some only dream about. That dream, however, can quickly be squashed as you stop at a traffic light and right beside you is the exact same bike. After spending piles of hard earned cash on your sweet ride, you come to the realization you need to spend more to set your bike apart from the masses.
Personalizing your motorcycle is nothing new.
Many buy a motorcycle and add some store-bought bling before even picking it up, on the hopes that this will set yours apart from the rest. After all, the possibility of someone purchasing the same trinkets would be slim to none, right?
Many times, depending on the brand, buying a few bolt-on goodies is enough to satisfy a portion of the riding population, but others have had the customizing bug burrow deep under their skin, and it just won’t let go. The undisputed king of bling is Harley-Davidson with the next OEM in line for the claim of having the most bolt-on custom trinkets being either Yamaha or Victory, but sometimes a rider needs more than the dealership’s parts book can provide. Next you start looking into the world of the aftermarket for those special personalization ideas, providing those parts even exist for your brand.
If the bug bites hard enough, the next stage is finding a skilled tradesman to design and make one–off parts for your bike. Then there is no way you will ever pull up to that stop light again and see the same bike you’re riding.
If it happens to be a Victory you’re riding and wanting to customize, there are a few skilled tradesmen around the country who have made their mark customizing and building parts for the ‘other American brand’ that range from mild to wild.
Spoiled Sports
One such company is Spoiled Sports, a Victory dealership in the Bowmanville, Ontario, area. They have been doing some serious Victory customizing for a number of years now. Spoiled Sports owner Dave Todd has been in business and wielding a wrench for some 25–odd–years. Prior to taking on Victory, Dave sold and maintained Polaris snowmobiles and ATVs and then took on the Victory brand almost a decade ago. A machinist and welder-fitter by trade, there isn’t anything that Dave and his crew at the shop won’t tackle.
Just one km from Highway 401 and Courtice Road, Spoiled Sports is not the usual kind of dealership and if it wasn’t for the sign on the side of the barn, I would still be looking for it. The dealership is unique in that it’s in the country and there really isn’t any reason not to think it isn’t a working farm. It soon becomes apparent as you drive past the house to the large parking lot filled with bikes and ATVs that this isn’t a normal barn. In 1993, Dave, with plenty of help from his friends, gutted the barn and with a purpose in mind, rebuilt the inside of it, leaving the charm on the outside that only a well-maintained farm exudes.
The showroom, parts department and the shop are of course in place as in any other dealership, but also within the ancient patina of barn board resides a paint shop, machine shop and a welding and manufacturing room.
The first radically designed bike to exit the doors of Spoiled Sports was Dave Todd’s own 2003 touring cruiser. The build began in 2004 with the help of Dave’s technician, Dave (Doo) Archer.
Doo, who has been at Spoiled Sports for seven years, grew up on a farm where nothing went out for repair and he therefore learned at an early age how to handle a wrench and a welder, rebuilding his first motorcycle transmission at the tender age of 12. Like Dave Todd, Doo will dive right into any task and admits no job is too big to tackle. That’s a good way to look at the first complete build the pair attempted and both will admit it was a huge six-month learning curve that resulted in many disassemblies and repeated steps. “The first thing we realized is they can do it a lot faster on TV,” Doo laughingly said, mocking the outrageous motorcycle based TV shows. “We were waiting for a commercial break, but it never came.”
Todd’s custom build back in 2004 was a stepping-stone in their learning curve. Doo is self-taught at shaping sheet metal, but the work the guys did on modifying this bike’s gas tank and tire hugging rear fender would surely be a rewarding challenge.
The swingarm is also one of the many items made in–house to hold the 300 mm rear tire, which in 2004, a 300 mm boot was as big as they came. Also produced in-house was the radical intake manifold that so predominantly extends the air filter out from under the tank on the left side.
Subsequent bikes built at Spoiled Sports have progressed a little easier each time, partly due to the purchase of more equipment as it was needed and also due to the knowledge gained from each previous build. Some of that knowledge includes modifying aftermarket Harley-Davidson parts, mainly because of the sheer quantity of those parts and the lack of availability of radical Victory parts.
One of the most common modifications that customers ask for is a fat rear tire and the resulting conversion to chain final drive from the stock belt. The chain is needed for a few reasons; sometimes the tire is too wide to allow room for the belt, but quite often it is because of the extra weight of the big tire and heavier wheel, and there is almost always increased horsepower since many customers will also request an increase in engine size, which of course is also done in-house.
Sunset Motorsports
Customization is also a key word at Victory dealer Sunset Motorsports in Lower Sackville, just outside of Halifax, Nova Scotia. A Victory dealer since 2000, owner Rob Ellis and his crew decided to offer their customers a little more than the stock Victory offering by designing and manufacturing a wide array of parts for the Victory line.
One of the most unique items that Sunset designed and provides, is a ram–air system which activates at approximately half throttle at which time a fan powers up, forcing air into the EFI throttle bodies. The ram-air continues to operate until the throttle is once again turned back below half throttle. Doug Nicholson, one of Rob Ellis’ associates, claims an estimated 8-10% increase in horsepower with this ram-air system.
Since the internal combustion engine is a glorified air pump, the increased volume of air going in means having to pump more air out so Sunset also provides a wide variety of custom exhaust systems to get the job done.
Adding to the parts bin, they also have a broad array of custom-made handlebars, tanks, fenders, custom paint, and of course, raked front-ends. While many of the custom parts are made in-house, Nicholson, like the guys at Spoiled Sports, admits they modify a variety of aftermarket American V-twin parts to fit any application due to the lack of custom Victory parts.
Kuhl’s Custom choppers
Not to be outdone by Eastern and Central Canada, Victorys have also been heavily modified in the west. Kuhl’s Custom Choppers Inc. in Red Deer, Alberta has done some extensive re-work on Victory motorcycles.
This fine example shows the work that Mike Kuhl has done. Mike cut off the frame’s rear section and remounted a newly designed fender to the swingarm giving the impression of a rigid frame, but still providing the stock rear suspension. In addition to the shape of the rear fender, matching lines continue in the fender support and the rear of the solo seat.
At first owner Murray Strandberg had the rear done but returned his Victory to Kuhl for a second wave of work to be done on the front-end, this time in order to visually tie both ends together. Mike added a Kewlmetal triple tree assembly to kick out the front-end a few extra inches, and degrees, giving the bike a whole new look.
Mike is proud of the work he’s done to Murray’s bike and states, “This bike is a daily rider and Murray beats it up pretty good, he rides it really hard, but the Victory keeps on going without any problems. Murray says it handles better now than when it was stock.”
While all three of these companies will sometimes modify aftermarket American V-twin parts to complete their customs, there are many more Victory parts being introduced on a regular basis from Victory itself. Maybe some of these newly introduced parts are the result of builders like these guys who go out on a limb to design and create new parts on their own to satisfy their customers.
So, if showing some bling is your thing, don’t be afraid to ask what’s available for your Victory. If it doesn’t yet exist for your bike in a catalogue, one of these companies will be sure to help you out in order to take your bike to the next level.
Spoiled Sports
www.spoiledsports.com
905-436-6487
Sunset Motorsports
www.sunsetmotorsports.com
902-865-5950
Kuhl’s Custom Choppers
www.kuhls.ca
403-343-7501
