If Cadillac offered the Escalade in Harley’s famous tri-tone orange, black and silver, it would be the perfect four-wheeled match to this lovely 2009 Harley-Davidson CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide custom trike. They’re both flashy, purposeful, powerful, and big-sized machines that’ll be sure to make you noticed even when you’re not looking for attention. Just like almost every Escalade and Harley you see, owners can’t leave it alone. Customizing a factory custom especially converting it into a trike while you’re at it sure shows that trike freaks are a dedicated bunch and the owners of this trike, Gary and Nancy Johnson of Mooresville, North Carolina, definitely qualify as trike freaks. I don’t know if it was that last big trip they took together on a Harley two-wheeler covering over 6,000 miles through 17 states in only 19 days in all kinds of weather that brought about the need for a trike, but it’s a damn good excuse. Actually, anything’s a good excuse to customize a Harley.

   Conveniently located in Denver, North Carolina, less than 20 miles from the Johnson’s home base, is Uwe Wittkamp’s shop, UNB Customs, which specializes in trike conversions and has been doing it since 1998. In the modern trike conversion world, that’s like doing it forever. No surprise then that the Johnson kids decided to have Uwe kick out a kick-ass trike from a kick-ass bike for them. From what I can tell, the only requirements was that is was rideable, comfortable, and totally distinctive. From the looks of it, I’d have to say that UNB Customs delivered on all promises.

   The trike conversion began around a Hannigan Motorsports Transformer kit replaces all the bodywork except the fairing, fuel tank and spoiler with custom pieces especially designed to work with all the mechanical changes that also took place. The Transformer innards is a neat piece of kit comprised of an independent rear end with a sway bar for good ride and handling qualities and disc brakes on both 17-inch American Racing wheels. Hannigan says their twin trailing arm rear suspension is superior to an A-arm setup as it allows not just up and down , but some front to back deflection for a smoother ride. The chromed wheels are a bit brassy, but not too sassy for street use and they’ll still look good on a show floor too. Progressive Suspension’s IAS gas shocks control whatever the independent rear end dishes out in a totally controlled manner. The 60-inch-wide track trike conversion appears to be a high quality unit and Hannigan sells a lot of them so something must be right.

  Up front, there’s a whole different take on trike front ends. Hannigan uses specially raked billet trees in conjunction with their 180mm front tire kit that definitely puts a whole lot more rubber on the road than the stock 130. Oh, that’s also a custom wheel behind those rotors in case you were wondering how they got a tire that fat on a stock wheel. Even these triple trees get in on the wide track bit as the larger cross section made them have to splay the trees out a bit more than usual to fit the fatter tire. Hannigan refers to this setup as their Steer-Lite kit which ads about a 4.5-degree rake and “decreases steering effort by 60- to 70-percent.” Sounds good to me as you don’t lean like a bike, but steer a trike. On a twisty road without Steer-Lite or something like it, that could become a deal breaker for potential trikers.

  Obviously the trike bodywork isn’t metal or it’d weigh a ton. The fiberglass bodywork (when’s the first custom carbon trike coming out?) is stylish in a flamboyantly conservative way. Yeah, I know that’s an oxymoron if there ever was one, but it’s true if you think about it. There’s definite flair to the Transformer body kit, but it’s not too over the top and totally rideable. Nancy Johnson certainly didn’t have to give up riding in passenger first-class with the top box throne seat that sits high enough for a waving pope. The nice part about this is that it all can be removed and replaced with Hannigan’s sleek Ground Effects cover when looking cool is more important than carrying stuff. Supposedly the trunk’s good for nine-cubic feet of space which I’ll assume is pretty good as my spatial equivalent of room has left the building. It’s almost too bad that two more seats couldn’t have been mounted over the wide rear fenders as there’s enough acreage available, but forgive me for I digress. 

  What I do like and it surprises me is the all encompassing new front fender that looks like it was inspired by the fender on an early and rare Buell RR1200 Battletwin. Well, not exactly, but for some reason I find the fender design charming just because it’s so different and probably totally practical. Nice, nice job on that front fender, it looks ready for anything.

  One thing that didn’t need much work is Harley’s torquey 110-inch Twin Cam. Even with the additional weight of the trike conversion, it’s got all the pep it needs to move smartly down the road. But there is one thing that stands out as a smart move is installing one of BAKER Drivetrain’s F6R kit that adds a reverse gear to the stock 6-speed tranny. Backing your trike into a parking space is so much cooler and dignified than having to get off and push. I’m gonna bet that Nancy had something to do with that as it’s so unladylike to push your man backwards while he’s sitting on his butt on the trike.

   UNB Customs out did themselves on the all important custom paint that ended up being like a CVO of CVO paintjobs. The H-D orange, black and silver colors took a slight turn from what you normally expect with eye-catching hues of Harley colors that scream in the sunlight. The paint design itself is striking the way it flows over the body tastefully accenting its lines. The orange base with gold undertones provides a perfect platform for the graphics to do their thing while not dominating the lovely basecoat. It’s a tasteful study in show paint that won’t date itself in the future.

    All in all, UNB Customs knocked out a great looking and riding trike for its two owners. With this beast between their legs, there’s not much that’s gonna stop Gary and Nancy Johnson from doing their long mileage tours and I wouldn’t be surprised if they ride it to shows too. That nine-cubic-foot trunk can easily hold all the cleaning supplies they’ll need even though I’m still not sure how big that is.

  For more info on UBN Customs, visit http://www.unbcustoms.com/ or visit them on Facebook.