The Warrior Voices Custom Harley sits at parade rest at the Dallas IMS | It’s truly amazing how many of the 2017 J&P Ultimate Builder Bike Show winners are projects that are infused with a higher purpose. At each stop of the Progressive International Motorcycle Show (IMS), we have seen custom builds that pay tribute to American heroes. The Dallas stop of the IMS was no exception. Warrior Voices, a 1979 Ironhead, built by Roy’s Toys Customs, won the Modified Retro Category of the J&P competition staged in the Lone Star State. K&N is a sponsor of the Mod Retro competition at each stop of the IMS. Roy’s Toys is truly a family business with all of the major players branching off that familial tree. Roy Martin has been the patriarch and bike builder of the operation since 1994 when he and his wife of over 3 decades started the company. The couple’s son is an apprentice builder, and Roy’s daughter, Nikki, now serves as the Chief Operations Officer of the company. 
The custom saddle was the starting point for the build | With Warrior Voices, Roy’s Toys is not simply paying tribute to American heroes, the company is lending a generous helping hand. We recently had a chat with Nikki about the Warrior Voices build.“Warrior Voices, a non-profit 5013c organization, came to Roy’s Toys Customs with an idea to build a custom motorcycle for the organization, to be auctioned off with all proceeds being put back into funding voice-over training for veterans who may not be able to work typical jobs, due to PTSD or physical disabilities, when they return home,” said Nikki. “One of the Warrior Voices board members donated his 1979 Ironhead Sportster for the build. We all agreed that if we at Roy’s Toys Customs were given free rein on the design concept, that we would build the bike, donating our time.” Warrior Voices is a unique organization that provides veterans who were given an honorable or medical discharge the chance to attend a voice-over academy. The selected veterans learn the skills to be voice-over artists and voice actors. 
The military theme is carried into all of the bike's details | The build’s significance truly hit home for the Roy’s team when they met one of the Warrior Voices veterans. “During this build, we were able to meet one of the voice-over students, Chad Ritter, a Purple Heart recipient,” Nikki said. “Hearing his story, and what he experienced while deployed and what he has to go through daily, truly validates the sacrifices that our veterans have made for our country.” Clearly the build is a labor of love, so let’s get down to the details of the amazing custom Harley. The starting point of the project was a departure from the normal Roy’s design strategy. “Typically we build the bike and then we have a hand tooled seat made to match our theme. With this build, we built the bike around the one-of-a-kind seat,” Nikki revealed. “Enoch Langston of Langston Leatherworks, came up with a grenade/microphone design.” The paint scheme was also an important consideration for the Warrior Voices build. “We didn’t want to build a standard olive drab green bike. Trying to stay with the military theme, John Pugh of Gunslinger Custom Paint, was able to incorporate an old school look that would have been in the military,” Nikki said. 
The microphone tail light speaks to the bike's important mission | As you’d expect, most of the bike’s design details are military-inspired. There are ammo cans that serve as the build’s very cool saddle bags. A grenade-themed gas cap and bomb-style oil tank are derivative of the tools of the military trade, as are the torpedo head light and grips.The copper springer front end is a unique and beautiful element of the bike’s suspension. The rear is appropriately rigid. The significance of the vintage microphone tail light should be completely clear at this point. The bike is actually still a work in progress. “We'll be adding a custom made Gatlin gun exhaust system that is performance-based, and will re-debut at the Chicago Championships,” Nikki said. K&N congratulates Roy's Toys and we are happy to help in the important cause behind the Warrior Voices build. | 
