When you have a clear vision for what you want to accomplish, it's immensely rewarding to watch it all come together. And that's true even if it's someone else's vision and you're observing it from the sidelines, because that clarity shines through.
Take, for example, this shiny new Indian Scout that Aaron Colton is currently busy transforming into exactly the bike he wants it to be. It's more than aesthetic, too, although of course how the end result looks is a large part of the program. Even bigger, though, will be how it handles.
Those stock 16-inch wheels come off, and have been swapped for a set of 17-inch wheels off an FTR. However, to accommodate the larger wheels, certain other modifications are necessary. Swingarm modification, rear axle modification, wheel spacers of yet-to-be-determined size; plenty of fabrication work to come at a later date to dial it in just right.
And of course, there's an upgraded suspension to consider. Unsurprisingly, Öhlins is the move here. But rather than simply stick with that all-too-familiar gold Öhlins look, both the forks and the rear shocks are getting blacked out and stealthy for this application.
Where some folks even take the step of painting a non-Öhlins suspension gold in the hopes of fooling onlookers from far away, Colton is going in the complete opposite direction here. Why? Because gold hardware (which looks sick) is one thing, but that Öhlins gold suspension would be much too much for the look he's going for.
This video contains a couple of other key points, as well. For one thing, it's nice to see that even someone experienced in customizing bikes can make a mistake, like thinking the handlebar is a different diameter unit than it actually is.
But probably my favorite part has to be when he takes the stock Scout tank, grinds all the paint off and takes it back to bare metal, and then clearcoats the beautifully sanded metal. This way, he gets that gorgeous texture, but the bare metal is still protected from corrosion so it can hopefully stay looking nice for years to come. He could have used a chemical stripper to get the paint off, but since he'd need to sand the metal down anyway, he figured why not do everything in one go. After a few hours, the results show it was totally worth it.
What kinds of customization projects are you itching to tackle this year? Tell us in the comments!
