Builder/Owner: Jason Mook Deadwood Custom Cycles Paint: Eric Malotke Open Throttle Customs Pictured: Jason Mook and the team from Deadwood Custom Cycles A classic model Harley Davidson FXR found in a small South Dakota town was the starting point for the 2026-27 Drag Specialties OldBook cover bike. But the builder of this stunning FXR custom, Jason Mook, owner of Deadwood Custom Cycles in Deadwood, South Dakota, did not start this project with the intention of building a cover bike. He bought the bike for himself. “I love FXRs,” Mook said.“I think they are the greatest bike model that Harley Davidson has built. Just my opinion, you can argue it with me, but that’s what I think.” “I have eight of them, each one a bit different” Mook said with a laugh.“I’m always on the lookout for FXRs.” Mook found the bike for sale in the town of Nemo, South Dakota.“One of the shop guys was in contact with the seller about buying a car, and he mentioned that the seller also had an FXR,” Mook said.“It was available at a great price, so I went down to look at it, did a short test ride.” It was rough but running, so he purchased it and took it back to the shop. “I put it up on the bench,” Mook said. It had performed OK during his brief test ride, but once he started to tear it down, he found some things that needed to be repaired or replaced to make the bike a solid runner.“A few things I found, I kind of was surprised my little test ride had gone OK,” he laughed. The entire bike was stripped down, and the frame and engine cases were sent out for powder coating.Then Mook turned to the Drag Specialties OldBook to start sourcing parts for the rebuild – not because this build was going to be the next OldBook cover bike.The OldBook is his usual go-to resource for parts for these kinds of builds. “This started out as a build just for me,” Mook said.“And there are so many great parts in the OldBook for FXRs. Drag has been offering parts for FXRs almost since the day the model came out in 1982.And I like to keep things ‘pure,’ in a sense,” he said.“I don’t put M-Eight motors in FXR frames, for example.We CAN do stuff like that, but I like to keep the FXR in its purest form. I still love carburetors!” The engine/transmission setup got ‘all the goodies’, Mook said. Parts from S&S Cycle and Feuling were ordered to ensure strong, reliable engine performance. Mook went with an Andrews kit for a rebuild of the 5-speed transmission. “The FXR late 1989 to 1990 is the first 5-speed transmissions that had a splined main shaft.They are not without a few known issues,” Mook said.“I wanted to make sure it was set up right.” As the parts started arriving, the bike was up on the bench partially assembled, when a visit from Drag Specialties’ Tom Motzko sparked the idea of using the in-progress build as the catalog cover bike. ON THE COVER
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODQ0NDEw