Click here for more photos

Because Curt was riding the bike to work each day, a hundred miles round trip, he did all the work on the weekends. “It took me about three years because I did it all in steps, because it’s a daily rider,” Curt said. “Everything I did had to be completed by Monday so I could ride to work. It wasn’t my only transportation, but when I got it I was so in love with it that’s all I wanted to ride.”

A custom car builder by trade, Curt had never customized a bike before but felt he was more than up to the task. “When I originally wanted to buy a bike I was really into sport bikes and figured Harleys weren’t fast enough for me,” he said. Then one day a friend of mine said, ’Take my bike for lunch and then come back and talk to me.’ So I took his bike for a nice hour ride and when I came back my own bike, a ’98 Kawasaki ZX-7, immediately went up for sale.”

Curt said he’d originally been thinking about buying a Big Dog or an Iron Horse but he didn’t want something that was already done because he loves to tinker. “I got a hold of Jay Gonzales (at Barnett Harley-Davidson) one day and told him I wanted just a bare-bones Night Train. He found me this one that met California rules. I got it home and got to work customizing it.” Curt began by changing out the bars and risers and then went right to the back fender and wheel. “I put a custom wheel on it, and custom spacers to fit that wheel,” he said. He chose the DNA 60-spoke wheels (21” on the front; 18” on the back) because he’d seen them used by his friend who was also the owner of California Performance Iron Inc, in Vallejo. “I went down to purchase it and he ended up giving it to me for my birthday,” Curt said. “I always liked spokes. I think it’s got a real clean look. And everybody was going with the billet wheels and I didn’t want to go that route.” He chose Metzeler tires because he’s always liked them. “In the sport bike world Metzeler makes a really good tire and they hold up well and they stick real good,” he explained. “When I first got the bike it had Dunlops on it, and coming from the sport bike world I like to go through corners, and I kept having the Dunlops kinda slide out when I went over a little too far in the corner. So I did some research and found out Metzeler made a really sticky tire, and they were right. That thing sticks to the ground like Super Glue.”

His favorite aspect of the build was getting that 180mm rear tire on the bike (stock standard was a 130mm) when everybody told him it couldn’t be done. “A lot of people said it couldn’t be done with the factory swingarm and a standard size belt,” he said. “I noticed that when I got it, Harley off-sets the wheel a little bit to accommodate the belt and get the brake caliper to line up. I noticed there was more room between the tire and fender on one side then there was on the other. I figured if I centered up the wheel, I could get a lot more tire in there. It worked out perfect.”

Curt lowered the bike two-inches using an Arlen Ness lowering kit aft and White Brothers springs forward. “I wanted something that lowered it but also handled real well,” he said. “It holds its line real well through the corners.” He also modified the Jesse James fenders. “I like the radius on one of his tail dragger fenders, it went almost to the ground, but I like the radius it had around the rim. So what I did was cut it, shortened it to where I wanted it, welded a lip on the back, and it came out real clean. I just love the way his fenders have a great curve to it going with the wheel and then if you look from the back on the tire it has a real nice curve that goes with the line of the tire too. That’s what made me decide on that.”

When it came to the tag mount, Curt built a license plate bracket by cutting a piece of eighth-inch steel and welded one end to an old acetylene bottle and heated it up and curved it around to get the radius. “Then I built the little bracket well on top to hold the license plate,” he said. “Most side-mount license plates curve in the opposite direction and I wanted mine to curve to kind of go with the wind. I bent it in the opposite direction. I haven’t seen one like it since.”

For the black paintjob, again Curt turned to D&F Autoshine in Vallejo, friends of his. “Their painter is just awesome. You can actually hold a book up to it and read it in the paint,” he said. “The way he paints is so deep and just beautiful.”

Curt really wanted a low seat, but since he rides a lot he also wanted comfort. He found that Bare Bones had the only low seat with a gel insert. “The pad on the back is for my wife, Marilyn. She wasn’t going to go for that narrow seat unless I added some gel back there too. She says it’s real comfortable, the more she sits on it the more comfortable it gets,” he said. “The Air Ride on the back suspension helps a lot, too. It’s like riding on a pillow.”

Currently, Curt’s got about 32,000 miles on the bike. “I’m keeping it,” he said. “This bike isn’t going anywhere without me.”