Building a custom motorcycle takes a combination of artistic skill, talent, vision and mechanical know-how. Our latest build for the Iron Moto Challenge was no exception. While the custom paint from Blue Moon Customs is the first thing you’ll notice about our 2014 Triumph Speedmaster, just as much art and precision (and even a bit of science) went into the bike’s mechanical transformation. In particular, how do you get a brand new, fuel-injected motorcycle to spit fire out of both tailpipes?

Well our own Jonathan Castello laid out exactly how our team of mechanics pulled it off:

The fuel injection on this 2014 Speedmaster made this hotrod-style trick a bit more difficult. The basic idea behind shooting flames would be to pull the choke on a carbureted car to achieve an overly rich fuel mixture, then cut the spark to the engine, and divert it to spark plugs placed inline (we are told 10 inches from the tip is optimum) with the exhaust pipe. Jason trimmed some fat from the frame to allow room for the spark plugs to hide. Our Speedmaster was built to meet emissions standards, and this meant we needed a slightly more advanced way to create a fuel mixture that was anything but precise.

To achieve the fuel mixture needed to shoot fire we used a Powercommander V and a dual map switch. This allowed the bike to have 2 fuel maps, one map to make the bike run perfectly with the pod air filters and open mufflers. The second map was made to shoot FIRE!

For the mechanically-minded out there, Jon’s full post is a great read. Meanwhile, there’s still time to vote for our little road dragon in the Iron Moto Challenge. How? Head over to ICON1000’s Facebook page and vote Motoworks! Voting is open until July 1!