2010 Harley-Davidson Street Glide | Real Deal Steel

Having known Jim Nasi of Jim Nasi Customs (JNC) for nearly 10 years, there are a few things I’ve come to learn about him. He’s very laid back, respectful, and while he might seem kind of quiet, he’s very personable. I’ve also come to learn that from the craftsmanship and styling to the minor details and overall quality, Jim and his shop consistently produce immaculate builds that exude class and refinement. Lastly, I’ve come to learn that Jim never wears pants, every time I’ve seen the dude he’s in shorts. Normally I wouldn’t put a riding shot with a guy in shorts on the cover, but if you know Jim, then you know pants just don’t seem to be in his vocabulary, so I made an exception. Plus have you seen this bike? It’s incredible!

The owner, Stuart Zeh, had previously purchased a JNC Afterlife a few years back. Like many of Jim’s customers, one JNC bike just wasn’t enough and when the bagger craze started warming up, Stuart decided he wanted a JNC bagger as well. Stuart picked up a brand new 2010 Street Glide and simply wanted one of JNC’s rear bagger kits installed. But then after seeing some of the latest custom baggers to roll out of the shop, Stuart asked Jim, “What would you do to the Street Glide?” Well, at that point the project was basically left in Jim’s hands to do as he pleased.

Jim immediately started determining the overall style for the bike. He wanted it to have a completely custom look that was sleek and long with features inspired by a Rolls Royce Phantom: clean with larger body elements and elegant style. One of the beginning steps was selecting a 24-inch front wheel wrapped by the Metzeler tire with a taller sidewall than most. After determining the front wheel size, the bike was completely stripped down and major modifications were made to the frame. The neck was raked to accommodate the large front wheel, then a drop seat section was added along with stretching the rear of the frame to help even out the overall lines of the bike. Jim then focused on the one-off steel and aluminum body that would give the bike the best design. The fairing was conceived as a completely unique design built to give the bike a truly custom look with the inside of the fairing housing three analog gauges. The one-off handlebars were designed to complement the fairing and offer a comfortable riding position. After installing an Arnott Air ride system in the rear the bike was painted with Porsche Carrera GT Metallic Silver to enhance the beautiful metal work of the bike’s design.

There were a few things I had questions about, so I decided to give Jim a quick call.

The chrome accent piece around the intake is shaped just like the bottom of the fairing.

BAGGERS: Hey Jim. So first of all, why a 24-inch wheel instead of the more common 23, 26, or 30?
JN: This project started a couple years ago when with the bagger craze with the big wheels was just getting rolling. I wanted to do something a little different like I always do. The 26s were out but I didn’t want to jump on the 26 bandwagon. So I decided to put a 24 on there. With the profile of the tire the actual diameter of the wheel and tire is the same as a 26 except that you have more of a sidewall. I think it gave it a fatter, meaner look overall.

BAGGERS: The concept was to follow the idea of a big body Rolls Royce. Where did that idea come from?
JN: Yeah the Phantom. It’s a car I always wanted. I’ve had a lot of '60s, suicide door Lincolns, and that’s the ultimate suicide door car right there, the Phantom. I just don’t have 600-grand. And then the other thing, a lot of these bikes with the big wheels, the rearends aren’t proportionate with the front obviously. That’s why I took that bike and stretched it back about 10 inches to help proportion out that front wheel better. I put a drop seat in it and then I stretched it from the seat area back; the bags, the fender, all that.

BAGGERS: Did you create your own drop seat sub frame or did you use an FBI kit or something? How much did you drop it?
JN: No, the drop seat was all hand-made. We did all that. It’s dropped about 3 inches. It was to complete the flow more than anything.

BAGGERS: Why did you do all the bodywork in steel and aluminum?
JN: It was a statement I wanted to make.

BAGGERS: And what are you saying?
JN: I don’t know. I guess I don’t have to say it. [Chuckles] I’m not trying to say anything rude to anybody, I just wanted to make a statement with it. Does that make sense?

BAGGERS: Sure. It totally does. Because even though you have a line of ABS plastic side covers, saddlebags, and saddlebag lids that you could have used on this project, you opted to make everything out of metal from scratch. Of course that makes a statement. Is the fairing one piece or two?
JN: It’s one piece. It has a bunch of brackets on the inside, but the inner and outer were welded together then molded to make it one piece.

BAGGERS: How big is the gas tank? And you recessed the top of the tank and laid the dash in?
JN: Six gallons. Yeah the dash sits in there and I added that chrome trim piece to the dash as well. Then in the rear I have chrome trim pieces on the rear fender as well. They’re kind of like the big door handles on the Phantom.

BAGGERS: It’s got air ride in the front correct?
JN: Yeah, we do our own front air ride setup. We use the existing [fork] tubes, then hidden underneath the rear fender are two big air tanks. The kickstand is also air operated. With the air tanks we used it allows you to go up and down numerous times without the compressor having to kick on every time, and it allows you to raise the bike faster.

BAGGERS: How long did it take to build the bike, considering all the metal work and everything?
JN: I’d say about a year.

BAGGERS: And what was the hardest part?
JN: The fairing. That wasn’t the first one. [Chuckles] I think we built two or three. The hardest part of a fairing is the bottom of it when you’re trying to get something to flow. It’s just there; it just sticks out in the middle, you know? If you just round it off it looks odd. So that’s when you start doing 3-D and texturing and trying to break up the panels.

BAGGERS: Right, I see there’s like a bodyline down at the bottom. The thing that really stood out to me about this bike is you don’t see any hardware anywhere. You can’t see how anything is mounted.
JN: Right. Even around the neck I made some panels that hide the ugliness around that area. The frame doesn’t look like a stock frame because I took down all the little nubs and welds that the Harley frames have on them. You know how up above the starter the bagger frames have all those holes and wires sticking out? Well I built a steel shield that made it all smooth. Once you polish chrome its like a mirror, so I didn’t want to see all that ugliness under there. The ignition switch is incorporated into that panel as well. And underneath the bottom-left of the tank is all the air ride buttons.

BAGGERS: And lastly, what’s your favorite part about the bike?
JN: The fairing. And the rear fender is bitchin’. The bike flows well. I’m real happy with it. It rides nice too.

BAGGERS: I agree, I think the bike has great lines and the metal work is awesome. Excellent work. Thanks for your time, Jim.

The custom motor mount is recessed with a chrome N representing the Nasi logo in it. Under the left side of the tank are the controls for the air ride and just above the starter is the panel to hide the ugly under-frame area and house the ignition switch.

The custom motor mount is recessed with a chrome N representing the Nasi logo in it. Under the left side of the tank are the controls for the air ride and just above the starter is the panel to hide the ugly under-frame area and house the ignition switch.