In the last feature I published about the Ken’s Factory I was mentioning that builder Ken Nagai, after years of globe-trotting, is probably one of the most well known/respected builder on 3 continents at the same time: Asia, Europe and North America. Since then, he didn’t slow down his traveling, crisscrossing the world to show his custom motorcycles, marketing his new parts and also expanding his California location now managed by Nelson Kanno.
Faithful to his philosophy “Details Create Style”, all of Ken Nagai’s creations mix old and new in world-class styling with an exceptional attention to awesome detailing. Olde Dogge, a fully rebuilt Harley Softail, is a new example showing his ability at redesigning a factory bike, at improving its anatomy, at grooming the unnecessary, at creating beautiful physical attributes for machines owning a new powerful stance
Photography will not do justice to all the work involved to achieve such results. New aluminum bodywork flows flawlessly from the high tech Ken’s Factory Billet Girder front end to the gas tank featuring a gorgeous dash to the rear fender adorned with contour rods and now attached to and moving in sync with a dual tube swingarm. Olde Dogge rolls on a 23” front and 20”/220 rear wheels, both wrapped in Avon rubber.
The stock 103” motor is already powerful enough for most riders. So Nagai worked on improving its cosmetics, bolting-on his own proprietary “Vanquish” Rockers and Covers. Engine is now breathing thanks to a Ken’s Factory Ribbed Velocity Stack mounted on an S&S Super G carburetor. For a more canid look, Olde Dogge’s primary drive is a narrow NH 2” open belt system working with a RK chain final drive.
Ribbed one-off exhaust system is a work of art as is the Ken’s Factory fabricated barrel oil tank. Mini ape-hangers add attitude while the full line of Nagai’s billet aluminum “jewelry” custom parts unite the bike from front to rear and from top to bottom. It includes the proprietary “Neo-Fusion” 4 1/2” headlight, taillight, markers, gas cap, cam cover, top and side transmission covers, foot pegs grips, etc. Mr Nakane at Center Roots gave the Old Dogge its dark brown color and was in charge of airbrushing what looks like an attacking snake. After Nagai built the aluminum solo seat pan, leather work was commissioned to Backdrop Custom Leather. This full custom Softail is like a beautiful animal evoking power even in stillness. Ken’s Factory USA (all photography courtesy and copyright Chopper Journal for Cyril Huze)
Ken Nagai is very good at mixing American & Japanese styles with a lot of beautiful details.
Rideable and beautiful are not incompatible. One more proof.
Like it very much
I guess nothing to criticize on this one. Great job.
Beautiful and stellar workmanship.
Some cool parts on his website. http://kensfactoryusa.com/pages/motorcycle-parts
Rear suspension is important to me. So, this beautiful one can go to my garage.
Masterpiece…
Sweet girder
Nice looking scooter. I especially like the looks of the girder as well as the engine side cover and rocker boxes.
The spoke wheels really help to downplay all the billet parts, imho.
Nice clean scooter, doesn’t have a bunch of junk hanging all over it!
Looks right, sits right, all in proportion!!
Elegant looking, well finished with lots of nice details to keep the eye occupied….
-nicker-
Neeto
très très belle moto,beaucoup de finesse dans les details,mais bien sur pas pour les longues chevauchées!mais en tous les cas superbe moto
Francois Ientile
Ken you did as usual the best job….
Details truly create his world class style. He’s very consistent. If he ever sell parts, I’m going to buy some to capture some of that.