Ron Mercurio, a 41-year-old former Navy SEAL turned small-business owner, sent in his entry that was selected from thousands of stories of why they should get the dream bike makeover of a lifetime. Mercurio was the winner of Bell Helmets and Roland Sands’ ‘Bell Star Treatment’ contest which gave the winner a trip to our headquarters in Los Angeles where he collaborated with us on a customization plan for his dads old FXLR. The bike is now complete and back in the hands of Ron. We would like to thank everyone who was involved to make this happen as well as congratulate Ron on his newly customized RSD bike.
The FXR is definitely an 80s bike so our job was to up update it and give it a new style. This build had it's ups and downs but we managed to give it a look we were stoked on all within two months! This definitely couldn't have been achieved without a lot of help. Check out the video above for an insiders look on the build process from start to finish.
Once the bike was finished we took the day off, met up with AMP PR and Bell Helmets and took a trip down to SD where Ron was waiting patiently for his new bike. Along with the bike, Ron would also receive a Star Carbon Bell helmet with custom paint work by Airtrix. Photos of the day taken by The Self-Centered Man.
This build was definitely a team effort and couldn't have been made possible if it weren't for the following help. Chopper Dave gave us some bitchin battery side covers that matched our Black Ops theme, Bennett's Performance rebuilt the engine from the top down and Baker DriveTrain stepped up and gave us a new 5 speed tranny with Delkron case, which allowed us to upgrade to late model HD starter and ditch the old Hitachi unit. Diamond Engineering supplied basically every bolt on the bike and 12 pt. stainless steel axles. Since we changed a lot out on the tranny and primary, Rivera Primo gave us a new clutch set up for the bike which really tied everything together. The brake lines are from Spiegler, Barnett
There is also a ton of RSD parts on this bike. We put a pair of RSD Diesel Black Ops Wheels (21X2.15" Front, 18X4.25" Rear"), 13" front and 11.5" rear Diesel Black Ops disc. 45º Tracker Pegs, Toe Peg, and grips. We ran 39mm Black Ops Clip-ons our Gauge & Headlight Relocator and our front fork accessories which include Preload Adjusters, Stem Bolt/Washer and our Riser Hole Plugs. We also threw on our Tracker Fork Brace and Vertical shock mount Tag Bracket. We converted the leaky, old, stock 3-piece rockerboxes to 2-piece Sportster units. Little-known fact is that 04+ stock Sportster rockers fit onto Evos. So we powdercoated a set black then topped them off with our new "Sportster" Nostalgia Rockerbox Covers.