Mr Night Rod Rides Again
Nick took his tough Night Rod and made it even tougher.
NICK JONES took his stock Harley-Davidson Night Rod to Metal Hogz for some modifications. Johnno, the owner of Metal Hogz, who has been in the industry for close to 20 years and is more an old school bike builder, was a little hesitant about customising a Night Rod. But Nick, who knew exactly what he wanted, managed to persuade him to get stuck into modifying his pride and joy!
Stage one was a set of billet triple trees, forward controls and handlebars which Nick had dumped on Johnno’s counter. The billet triple trees went straight to the painter for a coat of two-pac black. Nick then sat down with Johnno and the Drag Specialties Catalogue to order some Battistini foot pegs, toe shifter pegs, handgrips, and a very cool lookin’ headlight.
When all the parts were delivered, it was a quick bolt-up except for a little mod to the brake leaver where the ugly foot pad was cut off, the leaver end drilled and tapped to fit the Battistini toe peg and then coated in a two-pac black.
After installing the forward controls and some fork leg indicators, Johnno was starting to warm up to the Night Rod, and like an itch you just can’t scratch, he was wanting to do more. So back to the Drag Catalogue.
It was while Johnno and Nick were looking at pulleys and rotors that they came up with the bright idea of fitting a 21-inch front wheel. Now this Night Rod was gonna stand out the crowd.
When the new parts arrived, the team at Metal Hogz got stuck into machining the front hub to fit the front wheel, not an easy task when you have to deal with ABS, etc.
Meanwhile, Nick was showing his flair by discussing the idea of having the double orange stripe added to the front fender to draw the attention of the modified front wheel and guard while giving the paint work that finishing touch.
The rear wheel, pulley and rotor went in like a factory fit, and all was good in the arse-end except for the stock indicators and number plate backing plate (which was quickly replaced with a really cool LED rear guard kit that came with its own custom backing plate).
Other mods included cutting down and re-upholstering the double seat, and of course, the Legend air suspension that gives the bike its cool low look when parked and a fully adjustable ride height for all types of riding.
Nick has also had a Screamin’ Eagle ignition module fitted to give the Night Rod a little more performance.
Nick owns Gen-Tec Nutrition, a body building supplement and nutrition business. He has won, Mr World, Mr Australia and Mr Australasia in body building competitions. Johnno had a healthy respect for him and they have become good mates in the process of working together to produce this tough custom…
words & pics by Jules @ Top Gun
