From the Mouth of Myke…
The RydeCulture / Kraus Denali Project
Last year at the 85th Anniversary Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, I was introduced to Satya Kraus by our mutual friend, Angelo Durso from TNA Customs. Satya owns Kraus Moto, a prominent high-end aftermarket brand predominantly concentrates in Harley Davidson parts. Kraus is also the North American dealer for Denali Electronics and Lighting. Recently, Kraus has been making a run at the Indian Motorcycle Market. They’ve constructed some pretty awesome custom Indian Motorcycles for brands like Smith and Wesson and a custom Chieftain for Cody Garbrandt featured in the Forged series.
Satya indicated that they had been having some problems with getting consistent results with the Denali D14 Destroyer light on the Indian Platforms. There had also been other builders get some less than favorable results with the system. With RydeCulture’s solid reputation in the Indian Motorcycle community, Satya asked us if we’d take on the project of making the D14 Destroyer work on various models of the Indian Motorcycle Platform. I gladly accepted the challenge, and I had a pretty good idea on what I needed to do based on the symptoms that he had described.
When I got back to my work bench at the RydeCulture Compound, Satya, Angelo, and Indian Motorcycle were able to send over several bikes for me to develop on. I immediately got to testing circuits, causing faults, and messing with the light. I sent bikes and lights out for load testing. When the results came back, I made some theories and started testing them. Fortunately, theory #2 worked out and I didn’t have to mess around very much. I started building circuits on an empty breadboard and really got to work. I sent my results to a board manufacturer, and it was time to prototype.
Once I knew the first prototype boards were being produced, I got to ordering parts harness parts to adapt and plug and play application various Indian Motorcycle Models. When all the parts came in and the first prototype harnesses were available, I immediately went to work making everything work.
Once I had some prototype harnesses made for a plug and play application, we headed to Indian Motorcycle of Lakeville at the Motoprimo complex to test them out on real bikes. I was able to install the lights and test different harness configurations on a test bike to ensure functionality and test working temperatures of the circuit board.
When I got things dialed in, I implemented the fix on Angelo’s Daytona build because it was available on display at Indian Motorcycle of Lakeville. It was done on the sales from where I couldn’t fake anything and interact with people and talk them through the process of that I was going. The entire thing was documented and placed on social media.
The testing of the prototype materials boards and harness was successful and I went ahead to do some longevity and road testing on my personal bike.
It went awesome. Everything works. No codes or electrical faults whatsoever.
Watch this space. Phase 2 is coming
