Absolutely not so with Kenji’s bike as everything has been fabricated with reason and then taken to a different place altogether with a slightly beyond superb detailing that frankly goes beyond my comprehension, but not my attention. Kenji’s Harley Softail is an attention getter if there ever was one and to capture my ADD riddled brain after a first peek says a lot. Actually, it’s quite easy in Kenji’s case as the bling is there for fun while the parts that are blingy are intricately complicated underneath all that pack rat bait.

 

  Hard to believe there’s a 2012 Harley-Davidson Softail of some sort hiding under there, but it is sort-of. After being stretched out close to a half-foot I’ll assume to get the look Kenji had in his head, he fabricated up the twin-tube straight-to-curved swingarm to replace the plain vanilla OEM bit. This little piece of work completely erases the hardtail look that The Motor Company was going for with a wild, but somewhat conventional swingarm. But, Kenji had a trick or two up his sleeve on that one with a completely revised suspension system comprised of a single Ohlins monoshock mounted directly under the seat. Don’t be confused with the plethora of springs and shock bodies under the seat, two of the three are for the seat. By the way, is that seat shock system unbelievably gorgeous or what? I vote for unbelievably gorgeous.

 

   When it came to ramping up the suspension, Kenji didn’t stop there and designed and fabricated a billet girder fork unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s sleek, sexy and sagacious all in one package that’s beyond my design comprehension. I mean, who just whips out something like this without spending decades making it come to fruition? Not me even if I was given decades. Kenji’s just got his own way of clearly seeing what he wants and making it a real proposition that doesn’t look like it has any drawbacks.

 

   Unlike a typical builder, Kenji fabbed up all the bodywork in aluminum instead of the usual heavy gauge steel. I doubt that weight was a concern, probably just a preferred material on his part, but it sure looks nice sitting there. The chin spoiler is something else, though. There’s more going on there than just design flair, although there’s damn plenty of that going on. That baby’s a wicked piece of work incorporating the oil tank up front for cooling with three highly-polished blades and giving a place for the shock trio to do their thing. Even the trio of oil lines coming out of the right side adds to the design complexity in an smooth, interesting way while doing what they’re supposed to – transport oil. Obviously nothing’s taken for granted even something like oil lines.

 

  Rolling stock always grabs your attention after the mandatory custom paint job observation on any bike. Kenji doesn’t drop the ball on this either with his own Cycle Kraft El Mirage wheels that appear to be old-style drum brakes dipped in a bling bath. Fortunately there’s a single Brembo radial caliper mounted up front to bring the Avon-shod 23-inch wheel to a stop and it’s aided and abetted by a sprocket pulley brake aft. There’s good reason why Kenji made sure there were brakes anywhere there were wheels on this bike he calls Klassy 9. If you’ve checked out Jack’s photos, I bet you can guess why.

 

  A Twin Cam’s a Twin Cam and usually nobody bothers to do much to one on a show bike other than increase the noise levels by way of intake and exhaust mods. Kenji’s sorta done the same thing, but in a much, much more intense way. Sitting on the right side of the 96-inch H-D engine and reaching from the crank to the head is a Thomson supercharger. Feeding that supercharger is left to a Thomson dual throttle body EFI unit sitting way out in the airstream so it doesn’t miss a passing molecule. That’s my idea of ram air especially when that rammed air is again rammed into the diamond-cut cylinders via the diamond-cut heads. Bling to the bling going on here.

  The supercharger’s instant hit definitely will make the 220mm 20-inch Avon scream for mercy as it turns into liquid rubber. There is no waiting on this bus, no turbo lag, just whack it and hold on. If this bike is anything like its Japanese-built Harley brothers we’ve all lusted for over the years, it will spend serious street time in Tokyo. Apparently the Japanese Harley freaks never got the memo about how show bikes are not meant to be ridden, just looked at, so they just ride the hell out of ‘em and look at ‘em when they’re having a smoke and a coffee.

    The view down from the rider’s perspective is something else. I think I’d be in trouble riding this bike as I’d be so mesmerized by all the goings on. You got a shiny supercharger and all its shiny ancillaries sticking out on your right along with all the various billet jewelry pieces perched in front of you masquerading as bars, gas caps, fork tops, and hydraulic reservoirs. That’s a lot to take in and still watch the road while the supercharger’s waiting to change the game plan in a nano-second. Somehow I’d find the courage to give it a whirl anyway if I ever got a chance. This blingtastic bike looks like incredibly beautiful and dangerous fun and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  To find out more about what Kenji Nagai is up to, check out his website http://kens-factory.com/ or find him on Facebook.