Dirtbag Bagger








With every bike I build, I learn more and more and try to take my ideas to the next level. This bike has had a huge impact on me both during and after the build. This year in Daytona I got to meet photographers and the biggest names in the industry to see how they work in person. I learn by watching and taking it all in. It’s how I improve myself on each new bike.
The entire time I was building the bike I knew exactly what I wanted. It is my idea of cool. I build and paint everything I can in-house. It’s a good feeling knowing you built it with your own two hands and didn’t buy it.
It would be cool to see the industry go in this direction of more raw and hardcore baggers that can be ridden hard. That feeling to me is what I’m out here for and what I’m trying to do. I’ve always been a fan of Roland Sands and Jesse Rooke. Racing inspired the two of them, and that’s where I wanted to go with this bike. I’ve been around dirt bikes my entire life and wanted a bike that had as much look and feel. I tried to touch base with that on a lot of things like the bars and hand controls. The headlight is flat-track enduro style and made small enough so I could have the front look more like a number plate. For the foot controls I went with FLO pegs and built my own mid-controls. Even the seat is wrapped with gripper material, and I used a vented gas cap. I took every bit of wiring off keeping the bike plain and simple. That’s key for me on every bike I do.
I kept the paint very simple and coated it with Tungsten Cerakote, an extremely durable coating that’s easy to clean. I met with my painter Kyle Morley before I started this build. I told him my ideas and where I wanted it to go. He was on board until I told him I wanted the front and rear wheel to be fluorescent orange. The king of black on black wasn’t too sure on this one. He said, “Whoa. Easy, man. I don’t think that’s a good idea!” Kyle sprayed the wheel insane orange like I asked but refused to leave it plain, so he put some gnarly graphics on it. It turned out to be one of the biggest features.
One important thing I try to keep in mind is to build a bike you can ride and run the hell out of. You soon forget you have bags behind you when you sit on the bike and the whistle of the turbo. It’s a gnarly bike to ride and beat the streets.
After arriving at Daytona Bike Week and winning top prize at the Masters Motorcycle show and Baddest Bagger in Daytona, it made it all worth the blood, sweat, and tears. There is no way I could have done it without a few people, who I want to thank: Dan at Flypaper Customs, Pete and Chuck at DA Performance, Justin Fairchild for being a perfectionist and making the bike look as good behind all the side covers and saddlebags, and my bro RJ Heffner. This dude was in the shop with me nonstop. Thanks, man. Building this bike made memories with friends and family that will be with us for life, and that is one of the coolest parts of any build.