hey’re brand-new, they’re the “Brouhard by BUB” Mufflers and it’s mighty unlikely you’ve ever seen anything quite like these sculpted-look FL Slip-Ons.      They’re about as custom-cool as it gets. They’re also the first parts Carl Brouhard has ever released to the public. Carl Brouhard, however, is hardly a newcomer to the wide world of custom Harleys. In fact, given his background it’s hardly surprising that it was Carl Brouhard who came up with these unbelievably detailed Slip-Ons in the first place. The only question is, what took him so long?
     Motorcycling’s “behind the scenes man,” Carl Brouhard is responsible for some of the most notable customs of the past two decades. “My involvement with all this,” he says, “began, I would guess, about 19 years ago.” That’s when he met Arlen Ness. A super-talented graphic artist and painter, Carl began doing design work for Arlen and Cory. He’s the guy who penned that groundbreaking ‘57 Chevrolet bike, and SmoothNess, and Curvaceous and plenty of others, each more breathtaking than the last. It was Brouhard who came up with the final look for some of the more notable Ness accessory parts, too. “And all that,” he says, “kind of sparked my interest in the custom motorcycle industry.” There’s an understatement, and that interest has only gotten stronger. FourGiven, that four-cylinder, 214-inch dual-turbocharged full-drop chassis bike just named “America’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle” at the prestigious 2008 Pomona Roadster Show is a Carl Brouhard creation. So are these brand-new sculpted Slip-Ons, now available exclusively through Drag Specialties.
     After that initial association with Arlen Ness, Carl went off on his own. He started building one-off customs under the “Brouhard Designs” banner opening his Grass Valley, California, shop 16 years ago. He did plenty of design work, custom painting, lots of full bike builds and modifications on stock Harley-Davidsons. Along with award winners like FourGiven, Carl has made it something of a specialty building custom bikes for big men. Really big men. Today his customer list reads like an NBA All-Star “Who’s Who” lineup. Vlade Devac of the Sacramento Kings has a Brouhard bike. So do Luc Longley, Tom Gugliotta, Toni Kukoc, Scot Pollard, Lorinzin Wright, Theo Ratlif, and Bill Winnington.
     As far as these new mufflers go, they’re actually a collaboration; Carl Brouhard designs manufactured by Denis Manning at BUB Enterprises. Living and working in Grass Valley, just minutes away from Manning’s home base, it was a natural that Carl’s new design would be built by BUB, to BUB quality. “I’ve known Denis just about all my life,” Carl says. In fact, it was Denis Manning who introduced him to Arlen Ness all those years ago. Denis Manning and his son Eric played key roles bringing these mufflers from an idea to reality.
     “I wanted to come up with a Slip-On that was completely out of the ordinary,” Carl explains. “I wanted to take accessory exhausts to the next level, do something beyond just slicing a piece of tubing to length and then seeing how many different end caps I could come up with.” Brouhard started playing around with some original designs and showed them to Manning, and then the pair had a meeting with the guys at Drag Specialties. “I showed them all the sketches we had worked up and out of all the styles we picked this one to start off the line.”
     These deeply sculpted muffler bodies are Hydro-formed. It’s a pretty complex technique involving some pretty expensive dies. The muffler body blanks are set in the dies and then hydraulic pressure is exerted outward through a bladder to form the complex shapes and curves. Finding just the right vendor to do this wasn’t easy. Not everyone can handle this process. It’s something straight out of the high-tech automotive world. “In fact,” Carl says, “that whole Hydro-forming process became so expensive we really had to sit down and think long and hard about going ahead with the project. We knew we had some pretty good designs here, and we thought the market is ready for them. So we went for it.” Just to be sure, though, Brouhard first took some plain tubing and using Bondo, files and sandpaper made up dummy mufflers to mount on a bike and have a look. The look erased all doubts. The Brouhard by BUB Mufflers, the real ones, have applications for any FL Harley dresser and they’re available either chrome plated or with a black finish. They can be mounted with the end-slash facing up or down, too; a cleverly designed mount allows them to be rotated into whichever position is desired. “And we’re really happy with the sound and performance of these mufflers, too,” Carl says. “They work as good as they look.”
Debuted at the Cincinnati Expo this year the response was overwhelmingly positive. Editors from V-Twin Magazine even said the new mufflers were the hottest new product they’d seen at the whole show. “Hearing that, and seeing how our exhausts were received at Cincinnati was overwhelming,” Carl says. The custom bike world, as it turns out, was indeed ready for “Brouhard by BUB.”
     And there’s more to come. Although these Brouhard by BUB mufflers are the first parts from Brouhard Design they won’t be alone for long. There are all those other muffler designs, for starters, and Carl Brouhard has come up with some other pieces to match the pipes, accessories to continue and complement the theme set by the exhaust.
     “We just couldn’t be more pleased with the way everything’s turned out,” he says. Plenty of riders will be just as pleased. The Brouhard by BUB Mufflers are available now, so check with your Drag Specialties rep for more information.