Spotlight: Burke's V-twin Magenta Glide | 95” Twin Cam FXR Inspired Road King

This week we’re staying local in Massachusetts to spotlight a builder who does things his own way. Meet Junior Burke, 35, of Burke’s V-Twin in Westport, MA, and his FXR inspired 1999 Road King. Junior jokingly calls it the “FLHRSTXRLMNOP,” but most people know it as the Magenta Glide.

How It Started

Junior built his first chopper back in 2014, but the obsession started long before that. Like a lot of us, it began in middle school during the Fast and Furious era. Nobody likes the tuna here.

By the time he was 20, he was working 9 to 5 at an auto repair shop and going to school for mechanical engineering at night. After a few years busting knuckles on roached New England rot boxes, he burned out on cars and shifted gears into a friend’s small welding company.

He had owned a few motorcycles during his car days, so once welding entered the picture, building a chopper was inevitable. He traded his Jetta for an Ironhead, and his boss let him cut it in half with a Sawzall right there at work. That hands-on, cut-it-apart-and-make-it-better mindset still defines how he builds today.

The Base Bike

The Magenta Glide started life as a completely stock 1999 Harley-Davidson Road King. Junior traded an FXR he had just built with one of his apprentices at the shop. The Road King already had chopped and bodyworked bags and air covers, which gave it a strong starting point.

Initially, he converted it into a billiard blue Road Glide setup. Pull back T-bars, Tokico front calipers, a fairing, and a Thunderheader exhaust made it a clean, presentable rider. He stacked about 3,000 miles on it that season before the real ideas started forming.

Reworking the Proportions

As fall rolled in, Junior started looking at the bike differently. His chopper background is rooted in repurposing OEM Harley parts and using them in ways they were never intended. That philosophy had to carry over into this “performance touring” build.

One night the conversation turned to FXR center fill gas tanks, arguably some of the best shaped tanks Harley ever made. That was the spark. Chris Johnsen of Legend Metal Co came up and they cut the center tunnel out of a clean FXR tank.

After careful measurements, the tank was re-tunneled to clear the touring chassis backbone. Suddenly the bike’s proportions changed completely.

Low Rider ST Fairing Swap

With the new tank in place, the large dual headlight Road Glide fairing threw everything off. The solution? A 2024 Low Rider ST fairing.

There are no off-the-shelf mounting brackets for running an ST fairing on an early touring chassis, and for good reason. The tolerances are extremely tight when swinging inverted wide glide triple trees between the inner fairing and lower support. But when it’s done right, it clears.

Motor, Exhaust, and Fabrication

The motor is a 95 inch Zippers top end with OEM 96 inch heads and beehive springs, paired with gear driven 585 cams and a Mikuni carburetor, a Thunderheader exhaust is the only answer.

He sourced an older Evo Softail Thunderheader that works perfectly as a mid length pipe on a touring chassis. To mount it correctly, he welded an FXR style channel block onto the touring frame to use the classic three hole rubber isolator. A custom bracket ties it into the Evo muffler mount location, with slight pipe clearancing for cam cover clearance.

OEM Wheels, Done Differently

Sticking with the OEM theme, Junior wanted something you don’t normally see on a touring bike. When a set of early chrome 9 spoke mag wheels walked in the door, the direction was clear.

The 1999 Road King is the last year for a 3/4 inch rear axle. Up front, the bike was already set up with 2008 and newer lowers to run four piston Tokico calipers. He turned a 2008 axle down to 3/4 inch to match and fabricated spacers to make everything work. Fresh Timken bearings sealed the deal.

The FXR Illusion

At this point, the Road King looked more like an FXR than anything else. Junior even installed an FXR upper motor mount to relocate the ignition coil and choke, mimicking the classic FXR layout. He joked about how many people he could convince that this touring bike actually was an FXR.

Then came the paint. Bright Wineberry Sunglo, an OEM FXR color from 1993. Andrew Northup of Andrews Autobody in Tiverton, RI handled the paintwork, and Junior sourced the correct 1993 decal. He even pinstriped the orange accents himself.

The Result

Chrome Lyndall front rotors and a low geared chain conversion finish it off. Between the Mikuni HSR42 and the gear driven cams, Junior calls this one of the snappiest Twin Cams he’s ever felt.

He’s built performance baggers for customers for years, but this one was for himself. Built differently. Built with chopper logic. Built on a serious budget.

There’s roughly nine grand into the entire motorcycle. Park it next to sixty five thousand dollar builds and it holds its own.

Junior, we appreciate you sharing the Magenta Glide with us. If you want your custom motorcycle featured on Deadbeat Customs, send us your story and photos.