Custom Valley’s Softail conversion kits are available in two styles: one that keeps the transmission in the stock location and one that offsets the transmission. Both are available in a hidden-axle or open-axle design. This kit is for a ’90-’99 Softail with an offset transmission and a hidden axle design.

here’s probably nothing more popular right now than the big-tire look. There’s probably no easier way to get it than with a Custom Valley conversion kit, too, a bolt-on transformation for just about every Softail, Dyna and soon even FLHs.
     Ten years ago Denis Desrosiers was a master Harley-Davidson mechanic heavily involved in Harley-Davidson drag racing and custom-bike building. Both of those passions led Denis to the idea that he might somehow combine the two and create a bolt-on fat tire kit he’d be able to sell through his new company, Custom Valley, in Quebec, Canada. The first kit made was for a Softail. It neatly fit a 200-series tire to an otherwise stock Harley frame. And it did indeed sell.
     Fast forward a decade. Today, Custom Valley offers 12 different kits available just for the Softails alone, with seven more kits for the Dyna. All those wide-tire conversions are offered in both 200- and 240-series tire versions now, too, each one including everything needed to do the job. The kits do require the purchase of a new fender, available separately (a 9-inch fender for the 200 kit, a 10 1/2-inch fender for the 240), and of course a new wheel and tire. But everything to get that big tire on the bike’s tail is here, the swingarm, a new axle, new fender struts, a transmission-offset mount for pre-Twin Cam bikes or an extended transmission main shaft and gear for the Twin Cams, and all the spacers and hardware to complete the work. Custom Valley’s been awarded both U.S. and Canadian patents for all of this, and for the past three years it’s all been in the FatBook. Take a look at page 750 in the 2004 edition.
     And “bolt-on” here means just that. Any shop can easily handle the fat-tire conversion, as can a savvy and mechanically inclined rider. The job is a straightforward parts switch. The guys at Custom Valley do caution that if someone has never changed a main shaft and gear in his transmission, that part of the conversion (required on the Twin Cam bikes and optional on the earlier-year bikes if you want to leave the transmission in the stock location) is best left to a pro. But anyone who has ever changed a drive belt on his Harley can handle the rest of the work with no problem.
     Getting that fat-tire/full-custom look on a Harley is the hot ticket and Custom Valley’s got it, without the expense of a full-blown custom bike. All it takes is a call to your Drag Specialties rep and then a little time spent turning wrenches.

Custom Valley offers seven different kits for Dynas, in both 200- and 240-series tire versions.

Use one of Custom Valley’s Wide Drive Kits for Dyna Glides to install a 240mm or 200mm tire using the stock belt and still keep everything in the center of the bike.