2008 OVERVIEW >> Barnett's, June/July 2008 Big Dog Motorcycles 2008 Pitbull

Take this bike to anyplace where people know what current American production custom bikes look like, and everyone that lays eyes on Big Dog’s '08 Pitbull will make the same comment, “It doesn’t look like a Big Dog.” The truth is they’re right. This year’s Pitbull isn’t based on any previous frame or design, a fact Big Dog Motorcycles is proud of. Nick Messer, Executive Vice President of Big Dog Motorcycles, spoke about the ’08 Pitbull and how it came into being, “We looked closely at what younger bike builders were building and noted how popular many European board track racer-style bikes had become. We tried to create a bike with retro nuances combined with a modern drivetrain.”

The most obvious difference between the Pitbull and other production customs is the tall wheel dimensions. According to Big Dog, this is the first wheel combination of this kind within the realm of high-volume custom bike manufacturers. “Instead of tall skinny tires like we’d seen on one-off-customs, we decided on tall fat tires. More and more customers showcase their wheels and the taller wheels allowed us to give them a size and design that would easily stick out in a crowd,” Nick said. The big wheels measure 20X10.5” in the rear and a 23X3.5” in the front and have two-piece floating rotors with carriers machined to match the wheel design. Performance Machine four-piston calipers clamp the stainless steel rotors, with extra stopping power gained from the differential-bore caliper mounted to the front end.

It’s easy for manufacturers to use new sheet metal on an existing frame to update a model, and that’s okay, but it takes a new frame to make a noticeable difference in overall design, “The frame was completely designed from scratch. We build a rigid but didn’t forget about riding comfort with high-tech, Works Performance gas shocks under the seat,” Nick said. The dual shocks, tucked under the seat and positioned in an inconspicuous manner, are mounted at an angle to provide excellent cushioning, yet maintaining a relatively low seat height and a decent amount of travel. Big Dog offers two different springs for the seat (a 200 and 250 lbs springs) and the shocks are ride adjustable. A telescopic 41mm front end is bolted to the 31-degree-rake steering neck to create an agile cruiser at low speeds and the gyroscopic effect of the big wheels helps keep the bike stable at high speeds. Big Dog specifically designed this frame using wheels this size, keeping the ground clearance high enough to get into a good lean through a turn, but low enough that it doesn’t look like a dirt bike.

The Pitbull’s sheet metal is also new. The flat-sided gas tank has a capacity of 4.6 useable gallons and stretches from the neck all the way to the front of the seat. The bike’s battery and electronics are stashed in the faux oil tank located under the seat while the actual oil tank is mounted underneath the transmission. While not an option on bikes with hidden, Softail-style rear suspension, mounting the oil under the trans is smart because it moves the oil closer to the engine so the oil lines can be hidden, plus it lowers the bike’s center of gravity, there fore improving the bike’s handling characteristics. The rigid frame permitted Big Dog’s designers to mount the real fender super close to the tire with a pair of curvy polished aluminum struts. The front tire is also mounted close to the tire and mounted to the front end while a set of well designed, polished aluminum fender brackets.

A beautifully polished S&S 117” motor provides plenty of torque to move the big-wheeled machine. An S&S G carburetor was mounted to this particular bike, but there’s optional electronic fuel injection available, too. The motor also features electronic compression releases to extend the life of the starter and single-fire electronic ignition that Big Dog claims will eliminate pinging when the engine gets really hot. Baker’s six-speed right-side-drive transmission is installed behind every S&S motor and the two are connected with Big Dog’s Balance Drive primary.

This Big Dog measures in with a wheelbase of 73” and a total length of eight-and-a-half-feet long. The bike is large in proportion, but the parts fit together well because they were properly designed. Expect Big Dog to thrive if it consistently creates bikes of this caliber and cutting edge design. Even bike dealers across the nation have taken another look at Big Dog since the release of this Pitbull, including Mark Barnett, of Barnett Harley-Davidson. He had been considering Big Dog for his dealership for a year or two. When he saw this model, it pushed him over the edge and he finally sent in his dealer application (a little late it turned out). “This year’s Pitbull is one of those bikes that can’t help but get all kinds of attention. It’s not a chopper or a pro-street bike: people don’t know what to think of it right away. It’s a curiosity to many people,” Nick said.

For more information about Big Dog’s 2008 Pitbull stop by your local dealer or visit www.bigdogmotorcycles.com.

Riding Impression

At first glance the bike appears to be a good-looking, normal-sized custom bike. It’s not until the Pitbull is seen next to a standard-sized bike that a person realizes its large size. Excellent design properties create an illusion; the frame was built with the physical size of the wheels in mind along with how much the taller wheels raise the bike’s overall height. When I hopped on the bike there was no mistaking it for anything but large. On the road I found the Pitbull to be surprisingly agile due to the quick steering attributed to the 31-degree-rake steering neck. Riding the rigid around town is an absolute dream and it’s easy to forget that the bike isn’t suspended in the rear—that is until you hit a really large pothole or bump and the seat’s shocks bottom out on their stops. The exhaust note is extremely quiet, it doesn’t sound like an American V-twin, but that’s due to government sound regulations, and not Big Dog’s fault. The bike has more than enough power, and has gobs of low-end torque, but the corked exhaust is so quiet that I’d have to check the speedometer all the time because more than once I caught myself exceeding the posted limits before I even tried.

It’s hard to find many faults with a machine designed this well in the way that it looks and performs in the real world. Bottom line, would I buy the bike if I were in the market for a new production custom cruiser? Hell yes.