Fast Life Roadglide
Article & Photos By: Jace Hudson
Jace Hudson’s Rolling Calling Card
Original Published In Torque Magazine Vol 1 Issue 1 – Fall 2021
I picked up this 2019 Road Glide in September of 2018. My previous Road Glide was a 2017 that I sold just 2-months prior. At that time, I was on the fence between getting a BMW adventure bike or purchasing another Harley. That changed once I saw the 2019 CVO models equipped with the lower fairing spoiler. The fairing lowers instantly made me fall in love with the Road Glide all over again. Since 2012 I have had a Road Glide in the garage consistently, and while I have fallen in love with many FXR’s and Dyna’s over the last few years, the Road Glide has always been my “must-have.”
As my urge to travel on motorcycles grows each year, the need for a capable machine is the most essential piece. The “Performance Bagger” style brings me all the comforts and aggressive riding necessities that I like to have on my bikes while still allowing me to ride hard in many different situations. I am big on having the best suspension. For my money, I chose to go with the Ohlins. This is for two reasons, one practical and one not so much. The practical reason I chose Ohlins Suspension is its top-tier adjustability and quality. The second is that the reservoirs hanging off the rear struts wave a flag to other guys in this performance scene, saying, “Hey, I’m into this too.”
Over many years working in the industry and through my podcast “The Fast Life Podcast,” I’ve built relationships with brands I like to use exclusively. Brands including Lucky Dave’s (seats) and Klock Werks (windshields) have ridden on every bike I have owned since 2016. Some of us are lucky because we get to know the men and women behind the logos and products you’ll see on our machines personally. I consider both Dave and Brian friends.
I went with Jade Affiliated 21” / 18” (front & rear) set up and paired them with Lyndall rotors and brake pads for wheels and brakes. Letric Lighting Co supplied the lighting from front to back and keeps the road in front of me well-lit while the lights on the back of the bike ward off would-be tail gaiters. Due to the riding style I like, the mid control setup you see keeps my feet planted firmly under me for carving all the types of roads you will find when you ride across America as I often do.
It is fair to say that I’m definitely most known for my paintwork. An emerging style that has found its way back from the early days of custom paint is panel paint jobs. Being the paint nerd I am, I can tell you about the differences in style and where or how the styles have emerged onto the scene over time, just like a wine connoisseur. When I explain my paint style to potential clients, I describe it as a blending of the traditional lowrider style mixed with the race helmet graphics you often see in NASCAR and other forms of Automotive racing. Sharp lines and points laid over a bed of Paint Huffer metal flake.
The goal with the paint job on this Road Glide was to find colors that were not as popular or more on the unknown side of the paint spectrum. My goal was to blend these colors with touches of gold leaf and sharp lines to give it a racy feel. On my personal bikes, I will almost always have purple in my paint job in one way or another. Perhaps it’s my way of signing my work?
After I ripped coast to coast several times and racked up 40K miles on this bike in a short time, I reached out to my friends over at House Of Harley just outside of Milwaukee about an engine upgrade. I wanted to get the Factory’s new 131” crate motor installed. At that time, there wasn’t any info on its reliability or peak horsepower and torque output. With plenty of other brands of big bore kits, I finally decided that the crate engine was my best move. Once the engine was installed and heat cycled on the Dyno, I did the break-in miles on the way to the Indian Larry Block Party in Brooklyn, New York. Using Thundermax and tuning it on the Dyno, J-Rock (lead tech for house of Harley) was able to squeeze 136 horsepower and 146 lbs feet of torque out of the new engine. This engine makes more than enough “out of the box” power for my needs on a travel bike! Since the motor install, I’ve laid down another 20K with numerous iron butts, a few accidental wheelies, and most importantly, a win in a Harley vs. Indian drag race against another TORQUE magazine featured bike!
