Story by Peter LaFrance

Bling’s Cycles’ head honcho, Bill Dodge, has got a thing about mixing up a concoction of dirt bikes and V-twin customs that goes back to the first feature bike, Asbury Dirt, we did on him in Barnett’s Magazine about oh, ten or twenty years ago (or maybe it just seems that way). Back then, it seemed quite shocking for a big V-twin custom to have knobby tires on it when everything else was just pushing the boundaries of how wide a rear tire could or should go. Frankly, knobby tires on a hardtail custom actually made more sense to me than trying to maneuver a no-fun-to-ride 360mm rear tire around a huge parking lot. 

And even though it did seem a little shocking at the time, big off-road Harleys had been around a long time. Hey, who hasn’t seen one of those old film clips of the old cop Harleys being skillfully and seriously ridden off road? Those guys didn’t look like they needed long travel suspension to smoothly get around, but then they didn’t know better either I guess. Anyway, they made it look so easy on those big stock FLs that off-roading Bling’s Durty Knuckle feature bike would be a breeze for them. 

Whether or not this bike does see any off-road action is debatable and up to its owner, Joe Fratis who just happens to be the V-twin brand manager at cable and tool maker, Motion Pro (www.motionpro.com). Obviously this is a nice draw to any display Motion Pro does and also a good showcase for their products along with a laundry list of other companies like S&S, BAKER, Ride Wright, Duane Ballard, and Rivera Primo to name just a few.