This Harley Davidson has ALL the Performance Machine parts!

All right, everybody, stay tuned! Today, I've got Ryan here from Performance Machine. We're going to talk about a bunch of the cool Vance & Hines, Progressive Suspension, and Burly Brand parts that are on his bike.

All right, Ryan, thanks so much for coming out today. I appreciate it. I want to go into some of the great parts on your bike, but more importantly, what's your role at the company over there?

Oh, so my role with Performance Machine is that I am the brand specialist. I handle a lot of the marketing functions—anything from going to shows, product development, new product releases, and photography. I wear a lot of different hats, but marketing is my main thing.

Very cool! So what kind of riding do you like to do? I noticed your bike has a ton of the parts that you guys sell on here. Let's go into it a little bit, but more importantly, how do you ride, and why did you set your bike up the way you did?

Oh, absolutely! I'm a very classic, understated kind of guy. I like to cruise the canyons. Ortega Highway is probably my favorite place to ride around here. This bike, I kind of just set up as a really classy, no-nonsense build.

The first thing I did was install the Nias wheels. The Nias wheels are brand new for Performance Machine—we just released that style this year. It comes in a 21x3 and a 2 for the front, and an 18x5.5 for the rear. It’s a really solid-looking wheel with three finishes. We have a really nice black contrast, which you see here. It’s very understated, so it's not as in-your-face as some of our other wheel styles.

Well, it looks anodized instead of powder-coated, which gives it a really nice finish and a unique look compared to what else is out there.

Yeah, the fact that it's all anodized makes it a really durable finish. It stands up to the road ions really well.

I see you paired it up with the brake calipers, you've got the front-end kit on here, and you've got the matching rotors. It really looks sharp.

Yeah, thank you! Getting everything to match was really the motivation behind this build. I wanted better braking performance with the brakes, and the front end just adds a touch that can’t be matched compared to the stock legs.

Very cool! Let’s move on down to the rest of the bike.

Yeah, so we also have the Burly crash bars. The Burly crash bars are a nice piece just in case you get into one of those situations where you run out of talent.

Yeah, I've got the same exact kit on my bike—they're great, and they look sharp!

For the touring models, it comes front and rear in a kit. You can buy them as a kit, or you can also buy them separately, which is a nice feature.

Moving on to controls, we have PM’s brand-new Drifter Series. We wanted a board that offers better ground clearance for those canyon rides. It’s a lot thinner and has a much simpler look. The levers are also new.

So if you sell a guy a set of boards, they’re going to need a set of levers.

Absolutely! The stock stuff is so plain.

Exactly! So if you have a nice board, you’ve got to have a nice set of levers. The beauty of the Drifter levers is that they are also adjustable in length.

Really?

Yeah! You can go from stock length all the way up to an inch over stock length.

Very cool! So for guys with big shoes like yourself—

We’re not going to talk about that today.

Let’s talk about this air cleaner. I saw it at the Milwaukee show a couple of months ago. It stood out—it looks great! I’m sure it packs a ton of performance. Talk about that a little bit.

Absolutely! The C4 Series intake is our brand-new intake, designed from the ground up. Our engineers, Jeff and June, did a really nice job on it. There’s nothing quite like it in the industry. On top of that, with its forward-facing design and reverse cone filter, it also provides significant performance gains.

We dyno-tested just the intake alone on a 117 motor, and we got 6.2 additional horsepower—without tuning, without exhaust, just the intake.

Nice! And I like the way you did a black braided line kit for your breather. That’s something you don’t see on any other intake.

Yeah, we did that as a race-inspired look. Since they’re exposed, we figured we might as well do something cool that matches that carbon race look.

Very cool! I also see you have all the PM side covers—the transmission trap door cover, cam cover, and other components. They look sharp, especially in the contrast cut.

Yeah, the Vision Series cover line was designed with an improvement to help prevent flexiglass from cracking, which is a common issue with other styles. We designed ours with a billet capture ring, which absorbs the pressure from the screws, making it less susceptible to cracking. It’s also a UV-resistant formula, so it's not prone to yellowing.

I just want to mention that right now, there’s some condensation on there because the bike was just started up to bring it inside. But once it fully warms up or cools down, that condensation will go away.

Absolutely! That’s pretty common. You get that white, milky oil because people fire up their bikes, ride a couple of miles, and shut them off. It doesn’t mean your head gasket is blown—it’s just condensation from the atmosphere.

Exactly! And if you ride for a couple hundred miles, by the end of the ride, it will be all clear.

I’ve had them in the past—it just takes a couple of minutes, and they clear up.

Yeah, exactly!

Let’s go into the rear suspension and exhaust on this bike.

For the exhaust, we have the Vance & Hines Power Dual system in a black finish, paired with a Blackbird 450 muffler, which gives the bike a nice, deep, rich tone. It’s a very aggressive grunt because M8 motors are quiet—we know that’s the case. This was our answer for that quiet motor.

Very cool! Now, tell me about the suspension—how did you dial it in on your bike?

Suspension has always been Progressive Suspension’s bread and butter. I installed a set of 944 Series shocks. The 944s are great because they have a patented FST system, which stands for Frequency Sensing Technology.

I’ve heard a lot about it! Can you explain how that came to be?

Sure! FST was initially designed for riders who don’t necessarily understand how to properly adjust suspension—compression, rebound settings, etc. The piston inside has a Delrin ring that floats, opening and closing ports depending on road conditions. It provides automatic adjustment for compression and rebound. The only thing a rider needs to worry about is setting the preload, which is easily adjustable by hand.

That’s awesome! The rear shocks take about an hour to install, but for the front end, if you don’t have the right tools, you should definitely see a technician.

Exactly! If you don’t have the proper tools, see a technician at Lifestyle Cycles or your usual mechanic.

Now, what about your hand controls and levers? They look a little unique.

Funny enough, it’s actually a stock bar! But we added the PM radial hand controls. If you haven’t felt them, you absolutely should. I was part of the testing and development for these lever shapes, and after we perfected them, I won’t ride anything else.

They look sharp! Growing up on dirt bikes, I always used two fingers for braking. These are nice and short—you don’t need that big old lever hanging out.

Exactly! And you don’t lose any leverage. When paired with our caliper and master cylinder, you can easily one-finger brake, even under heavy braking.

Very cool! I might have to take this bike for a ride!

Please do! She needs the miles.

All right, Ryan, thanks for coming out and going over this beautiful bike! I bet you really enjoy riding it.

All of these parts and more are available at the Lifestyle Cycles online megastore. Plus, you get 5% back in rewards toward future purchases, and orders over $50 get free shipping right to your door.

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See you guys next time!