Air from the Goodson air cleaner joins the flowing fuel en route to be obliterated by the 93-inch S&S powerplant, which is a serviceable if not super-high-performance mill. Taber and Trent blacked out the rockers and pushrod tubes with the same finish as is on the frame, downtubes, and oil bag to bring the motor into the overall design plan. They then added a couple of very cool touches to make it unique. The top of that list has to be the starter. Instead of using a standard button on the bar that sends a signal to an electric solenoid to fire the starter, you turn the key on so there are 12 volts flowing to the ignition, then shove in a stubby black plunger and engage the starter manually. As the motor spins, spring pressure pushes the bendix back out, disengaging the teeth from the flywheel. There's also a kicker on the five-speed gearbox in case you left your lights on at the bar. Stopping power is provided by a standard disc brake up front and an Exile sprotor in the back.
Spent gasses exit through a hand-formed two-into-two setup that is simultaneously eye- and ear-catching. "We do all of our own pipe bending and welding," Taber explained. "We decided we wanted a little bit more of a jagged look, so we made these out of sharp stainless sections. We knew we were going to do an open primary without the backing plate, so that gave us a place to route the pipe on the left side. This also makes the bike sound real funky, because we've got the exhaust shooting out both sides. With the single-fire ignition, it almost sounds like it's running on one cylinder sometimes."
The last step in the build was the seat. This is another area where the Nash brothers break with builder tradition-they do all their own seat and leatherwork by hand right there in the shop. "This one has a 1/4-inch aluminum seat pan that we shaped by hand, and then we use a closed-cell neoprene waterproof padding that's easy to shape. And the leather we kind of cut out and form so that it looks right with each individual bike. I guess we paid attention as Boy Scouts growing up. We never thought that those key chains we made for Mom would pay off in the future." We didn't get a chance to check with Mama Nash to see if she still had those keychains, but no doubt she's got every right to be proud of what her boys are up to now.
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Nash Motorcycle Company
www.nashmotorcycle.com
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