TECHNICAL

LET IT GLEAM CUSTOM BUILD: KÜRYAKYN SPORTSTER 72

Some people say that Küryakyn means a small, treasured object that might become a gift. Others tell us that it means “the flight of the eagle” in Navajo. There were a couple of other definitions there, too, I’m sure. But we don’t care, nossir. To us, the many classy custom bits made by Küryakyn in the US mean a wonderful way to personalise your Harley (and a number of other brands); in this case, the Bear’s much-loved Sportster 72.

Like a lot of other owners customising their bikes, the Bear would prefer to make parts himself (a somewhat scary idea), or have them made to order for his bike. That way you can get a consistent look that’s entirely yours.

But who has time to actually do that?

Earning a living has to be fitted in there somewhere, and so does making enough money to pay for absolute custom builds.

Fortunately we found an alternative which still provided a consistent look, at a reasonable price – and that could be ordered from a catalogue. The Küryakyn catalogue. This American parts and accessories company offers its products for Harleys and a small handful of other brands. They are designed in such a way that they go together, and improve the look of whichever bike you fit them to as well as, in many cases, improving the bike’s usefulness.

A detailed look through the catalogue showed us that we could achieve a lot of the results we were after just by ordering a range of products from Küryakyn. Below is a list,along with the recommended retail prices from Rollies Speed Shop, the Australian Küryakyn importer (www.rolliespeedshop.com). Rollies is at 10 Ross Street in Newstead, Brisbane (07 3252 5381) in case you feel like dropping in to take a look at all the goodies (take your credit card – you will want to use it) but your local bike shop can also order whatever you want in the Küryakyn range from them.

What we wanted to achieve was very simple. Firstly, it was a matter of making the bike look as light as possible. The easiest way to achieve that is to chrome the parts, but Küryakyn offers a more economical and no less attractive alternative with things like the Fork Skins. Secondly, we wanted to upgrade the overall look of the bike. Replacing the original and rather utilitarian handlebar grips and footpegs did a lot towards that, as did the very stylish Crusher exhausts.

Finally, we were after a safer ride.

The addition of spotlights certainly helped there.

The Küryakyn parts were fitted to the bike by the blokes at Iron Heads Custom Motorcycles, (03 9749 0379) at 3/180 Old Geelong Road, Hoppers Crossing in Victoria (motorcycles.melbourne.com.au) who did a terrific job. Our thanks go to them, to Rollies and of course to Küryakyn in the US who supplied the parts. Their catalogue is a treasure house of ideas!

K7202 FORK SKINS $272

Quick and easy to install, the Fork Skins give us a chrome front end without all the work and costs associated with actually chroming the fork legs. It also adds a substantial and effective fork brace to the front end of the 72. You can’t beat the combination of good looks and extra stiffness; we will be looking at upgrading the insides of the forks and we have already fitted the Ikon shocks to the rear.

K7280 FUEL CAP$64

We have always been suckers for Art Deco design, and this fuel cap is one of the nicest we’ve seen. It replaces the rather plain original item and livens up the top of the tank.

K5013 DRIVING LIGHT KIT (PAIR) $408

Watch out, night-time traffic! You will definitely be able to see the Sportster coming with this tidy pair of spots that snuggle up next to the headlight, and the rider can see a lot further as well.

The spots are elegant enough so that they don’t add any extra visual weight to the front end, while providing an amazing amount of extra light.

K2507 Torpedo brake/ indicator lights (pair) $127

If you thought the original H-D combined turn indicator/brake lights/ rear lights were a smart idea (which they were), wait until you see the same functionality in these much smaller and tidier, but just as bright, torpedo shapes.

K1499 Mirrors (pair) $259*

They look smart and do what all mirrors do – reflect – very well. But they also have scalloped turn indicators incorporated in their rims, an idea that you see a lot on cars – but hardly with this kind of style! The only thing to keep in mind here is that these indicators really need to be run in conjunction with other, more traditional, blinkers.

K6212 Handgrips (pair) $123

These ISO (vibration dampening) grips look terrific with their strips of rubber contrasting with the chrome grip.

They work, too, and the Throttle Boss on the accelerator grip is handy (sorry) to say the least.

K8004 Shiftpeg $22

Even the small touches have been considered by Küryakyn, so that the shift peg is also styled in the ISO look.

It works well, for exactly the same reason.

K8885 Peg adapter mounts (pair) $37

What can we say – if you’re going to mount pegs, you need peg adapters. Easy to use and smart looking.

K7965 Footpegs (pair) $51

Also in the ISO design, the footpegs add to the integrated look of the bike and also reduce vibration. As well as that, the rubber grips your boot soles and holds them in place.

K1432 Power Point $101

To keep your phone charged or feed the GPS, a power point is priceless on any bike – not just a tourer. So we are going to add one to the Sportster, but for some reason it missed the date of this build. Never mind, something for the future.

K1699 Tech ConnectDevice $82

Want to be able to see the screen of your Smartphone or GPS? Here’s the way to do it, with this universal attachment for your handlebars.

The Bear will not be getting lost any more, and maybe he’ll answer his phone, too!

K596 MAVERICK 2-INTO-2 PIPES $843*

The look of the pipes can often make or break a build. We looked at the headers-and-all Crushers with their black tips and we fell in love. They went straight on and they look absolutely terrific, especially since their slim shape makes the whole bike look slimmer and more integrated.

K482 EXHAUST GASKETS $14

Hmm, yes. What can we say about gaskets? They work, folks.

*There are two items which did not work out quite as we had expected.

Neither were shortcomings on the factory’s part. Both were our problem.

The blinkers incorporated in the mirrors are not really powerful enough by themselves, and we will be augmenting them – probably with some more bullet indicators, or with ring indicators on the forks. We would have known that they are only suggested as additional, not as main, blinkers if we’d read the catalogue more carefully… d’oh.

The other items that didn’t quite turn out the way we’d expected are the Crusher pipes. They suit the bike exceptionally well and look superb, just as we had hoped, and their sound is powerful and deep. The only problem is that, for a suburbanite like the Bear, the sound is a bit too powerful. He wants to keep his neighbours on side, so even with the baffles installed in the pipes they are too loud. Not for the city, probably, but for the ‘burbs. We’re not quite sure what the answer is here.

We are certainly not criticising the pipes! It’s more that the Bear is a little… conservative.

Say What?

Here’s an extract of what Küryakyn says about its products and attitudes: “Küryakyn has been in the business of improving and beautifying motorcycles since before many of today’s riders “ran ‘er through the gears” for the first time… [offering] well thought out parts that work, fit, and most of all, look great! Each Küryakyn accessory is intended to look fantastic by itself, but is usually a member of group of parts that combine to create a “look”.

This allows each rider to add accessories a couple at a time, or go for the full complement all at once, without the end result looking like an arbitrary hodgepodge of parts that can leave you wondering if they were all supposed to go on the same bike.

“At Küryakyn we believe innovation is manufactured at the intersection of Performance and Style.”

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