Motorwitch Builds a Very Remarkable Road King Special

Impressive Results

Leading Edge is well-known for building high-horsepower engine kits and entire engines for Harleys and other applications, as it's done so for some time now. But the company's owner, Danny Wilson, also likes to create custom Harleys in his spare time. Wilson, better known at Motorwich, recently applied his talents to a 2019 Road King Special, and the results are undoubtedly impressive.

Least Resistence

Wilson chose the Road King Special as the basis for his build because it was "the path of least resistance," he says. "I didn't have to pull off a fairing, it didn't have a stereo. So starting out with a stock touring platform, obviously they're heavy and wide. They ride really well. But I wanted to shave weight and narrow the bike," Wilson said.

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Heavy Mods

He started that process by removing the stock saddlebags and everything that attaches to the rear frame sections. That way, everything could be mounted to the frame itself. He then cut off the tail section behind the strut and designed it so that the piece behind the saddlebags is just the tail section of the frame.

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Smooth Tank

Next, Wilson took the fuel tank from a 2009 Road King and cut the top where the fuel pump resides before cutting out the bottom and welding in a fuel pump mount from a Sportster. He finished off his smooth tank by narrowing it two inches in the front and an inch and three quarters in the rear for a more narrow and slick piece than the stock unit provides.

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Mixture of Components

Up front, the Road King is utilizing prototype triple trees, a Racetech G6 inverted front fork, and no fairing to keep things clean. The bike is also wearing a custom half piece nacelle, Baja Designs headlights, and a custom "Pope hat looking thing" designed to look like a windshield. The speedo and indicator lights remain and are still easy to read and access, however.

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Engine Mods

As one might imagine, this Road King features a full catalog of Leading Edge parts in the engine department, in the form of a 129-inch powerplant with a full Leading Edge kit with Wilson's own cylinders and pistons. Other goodies include an S&S 550 gear drive and plate, an S&S flywheel, and a balancing system delete to improve throttle response.

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Trouble-Free Cruising

Wrapping up the mods are an HPI 62mm throttle body, HPI fuel injectors, Fab28 two-in-one pipes, and Screamin' Eagle heads. The result is a powerful and comfortable bike that Wilson built specifically to be capable of riding a couple of thousand miles without giving him any trouble. And by all accounts, he's accomplished that in one seriously cool-looking package.

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