Over the last couple of years, the 30-inch wheel has made the transition from concept to reality. No longer do you need top-secret clearance to obtain the parts necessary to build a big-wheel bike of your own. With various rake kits and wheels to choose from, what started as a game of hit or miss has developed into carefully researched and tested selection of parts that can be installed by the garage builder. Kevin Siepker is one of those home-built builders who has also been bit by the dirty 30 bug.

<div class="st-block quote text-
Notice: Undefined index: st_text_align in C:laragonwwwhotbike-importblocksquote.php on line 1
“>

“Now all my friends who hated on the 30-inch wheel are moving up from their 26-inch wheels after seeing mine!”

Kevin has always been a rider at heart. When it came time to build himself a new bike to hit the streets of Southern California, he knew exactly what type of bike he wanted. “I built this 2013 Road Glide because I love to ride,” Kevin explains. “All my friends have really nice Harleys, and I was always on a chopper. After riding and seeing my buddies with these big-wheeled baggers and seeing how comfortable they looked riding, I decided to build one. I didn’t want to just build the same as everyone else had, so I stepped up and put on a 30-inch front wheel.” Anytime you mention rolling on such a large piece of metal, you’re going to get a bunch of uninformed opinions of how it’s going to ride despite lack of personal firsthand knowledge. But that didn’t sway Kevin from pursuing his dreams of the bike that was already built in his head. “A lot of people were saying the 30-inch wheel is going to be too big and ride like crap, but I didn’t care,” he says. “I wanted to prove them wrong and build it anyway. Now that I did, the ride is smooth as can be!”

Kevin didn’t build the bike in a vacuum and enlisted the help of a few friends and local shops to help create his vision. “My friends at Madigan Motorsports did the neck rake and fitment of some of the body parts for me,” Kevin says. “I had Mark at Straight Edge in Canyon Lake paint the bike BMW Space Gray after I’d seen it on a buddy’s car. I think it transitioned nice onto the bike. Then I had my buddy, Manuel Cisneros, pinstripe my bike and do the murals on the tank and the front of the fairing to set the paint off. I didn’t want to go with a stock Harley stereo, so my buddy Joe at Pacific Stereo in Riverside custom-molded an iPad mini into the dash with JL amp and Rockford Fosgate speakers for the stereo. Finally, Junior at Junior’s MX helped me with all the bolt-on parts like floorboards and motor covers.”
They say imitation is the biggest form of flattery, and now that Kevin’s bike has become a reality instead of a bunch of talk, all the naysayers are singing a different tune. “I love how the bike came out!” he tells us. “Now all my friends who hated on the 30-inch wheel are moving up from their 26-inch wheels after seeing mine!” Hate on, haters. Hate on.