Roadtest Bagger Blues - Zodiac

PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS FOR HARLEY-DAVIDSON ®
Road Test
ZODIAC’S ‘BAGGER BLUES’
with a wider rear fender, an offset for the primary,
saddlebag support kits and much more. They had
already put a technically better front fork on the
market with the same length as the front end of
a Softail: a beautiful state-of-the-art Öhlins
upside-down. To mount this front end it was
necessary to change the weird stock neck of the
Electra. Their solution to this problem was to rake
the chassis themselves. Rather radical for the
company from The Netherlands, especially if you
realize that most other parts of this company are
bolt-on parts. And because not all of their
customers are frame builders they quickly added
the ‘Get Raked’ kit in their product range. With
this kit you get a template that shows you how to
cut the stock neck. When you have done that, the
new neck with more rake can be welded onto the
frame. It is possible to do all this without a framejig
and without having to dismount the motor. It
is not much work and the result is stunning.
Vincent shows me that they came up with the idea
of a bolt-on forward control set that replaces the
stock floorboards which normally scrape the
tarmac every time one turns a tide corner. He also
tells me what other parts were used to make this
Bagger a real Custom. Vincent knows what he is
talking about and the list of parts is long and
impressive! I let it all sink in, hop on the Bagger
and start with the actual test-ride. The first thing
I notice when I hit the road is how light it handles
in the corners. We are talking about a neck with
34 degrees rake now and zero degrees in the
trees. Steering appears to be effortless, they
turned this bagger into a real sports bike. Stability
on a straight road has even improved. What I do
notice is the fact that the Bob Dron custom fairing
catches wind from the sides, It makes the bikes
wobble a little bit when behind a truck for
instance. It is not unsafe to ride with that fairing,
the bike feels like it is glued to the road, but it
just feels strange and awkward. So I would throw
that one in a corner or mount it differently. I take
the small roads home to have some lunch with the
wife. After finishing my scrambled eggs I ask my
PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS FOR HARLEY-DAVIDSON ®