Old Number 10

American FLYERS

YOU COULD ARGUE THAT in building this bike, Roland Sands had all the advantages. You’d be right. As the son of Performance Machine founder Perry Sands, Roland had everything he needed right in front of him.

But just because you’ve got a building full of parts and tools doesn’t mean you can build a bike, much less a gorgeous piece like Sands’ personal ride pictured here. He calls it “Whiskey Tango,” code for “white trash,” an inside joke.

“It started out as a full rat project,” says Sands. “We had this frame and it just sat around, nobody wanted to do anything with it. I started looking at it, and just started building. It went from a flatblack beater to this.”

“This” is a full red metalflake (laid on by Damons), mega-motored custom, built with a racebike ethic and a notable lack of chrome or billet. For Sands, a former AMA 250cc Grand Prix roadrace champion who still hits a couple of nationals each year, the racing state of mind is natural, and it’s bound to imbue any personal project. He even included his race number, 10.

“It’s like a racebike,” he explains. “You get it from the factory, take it apart, fix all the things that were wrong with it and put it back together perfectly, replace all the hardware, look at everything.'1''

Sands says he spent hundreds of hours on the lathe, bending tubing (to mount the V-Rod headlight, for example), building all the special parts that make this bike what it is.

“The cool thing about this bike was that I had some free time on my hands to do exactly what I wanted to do,” he says. “Rather than panicking to get it finished because I was racing all the time or other stuff getting in the way, I was able to make a lot of it by hand, which is cool.”

OLD NUMBER 10

When roadracers go cruising

The chassis and tank started as Kosman pieces, while the rear tender came from Jesse James at West Coast Choppers.

“Jesse gave it to me, and my homey Tom Foster fitted it to the bike,” says Sands. “Tom did the exhaust and air cleaner, too.”

What’s the funky front fender?

“It’s from a TZ250,” says Sands. “I’ve got to pay homage. I built the whole thing without a front fender, and told myself, ‘I’m not going to put a front fender on this bike.’ But damn it, it looked stupid without one. 1 had a TZ fender lying around, threw it on and it looked cool.”

As you would expect from a racer, the 121-cubic-inch TP powerplant is not mildly tuned.

“It’s an absolute honking steaming bastard of a motor!” Sands exclaims. “Seriously, the thing has issues, like that it’s really not supposed to be on the street.”

What do you mean?

“It’s been breathed on by the right people, which seems to make all the difference with motors,” he says. “Wink Eller tuned it. He’s an old-time Bonneville guy. It runs so strong. It’s the fastest Harley I’ve ever ridden. And it sounds badass-if s really, really loud, but it sounds so good. Car alarms are going off, women are picking up their kids...it’s loud, it’s too fast, impossible to hang on to.”

The chassis, with its anodized Ceriani fork and WP shock, is “totally solid,” Sands says.

“It’s really fun to ride,” claims the 28-year-old. “I actually want to try it in the dirt, on a lake bed, slide it around.”

I laving all the advantages is one thing. Knowing how to use them is quite another.

-Mark Hover