Covingtons Customs in Woodward, Oklahoma, is a family-owned and run shop that’s turned out a steady stream of knockout customs over decades of being in business. Need an exact date? How about, it was 1993 when Jerry and Kathleen Covington opened up for business. That’s close to three decades of customs and counting. That could be one good reason Barnett’s Magazine Online has featured at least ten of their builds, but those ten were fairly recent builds, not over the last 28 years. Somehow Jerry and his crew are able to go with the flow when trends change and they’re always able to stay at the forefront of wherever they chose to be.

   One thing that has always been a part of every build they’ve done is performance. No matter what type of build it was, Covingtons has always imbued it with more power. Jerry loves horsepower and torque and if you saw his personal collection of motorcycles and cars you’d know exactly what I mean. Kendall Johnson might be a bit crazier about power levels in his bikes, but Jerry’s not far behind. Take the Twin Cam 103B in this 2012 Harley-Davidson Heritage Classic, it’s a pretty decent power plant to start with and probably would be acceptable to 95% of potential riders with the universal intake/exhaust Stage I kit as is. Covingtons has nicely amped it up with a Stage IV setup that consists of ported SE heads, an SE cam, high compression pistons, a 58mm throttle body and all the sundry pieces needed to make it come together. With that kit, one can expect around 115hp at the rear wheel which is a substantial gain over stock or Stage I. Your butt dyno would notice it immediately regardless of numbers. Converting the OEM 6-speed tranny over to a BAKER Drivetrain 7-Speed unit gives you a gear for every occasion and possibly some you never thought about.

   Even though Covingtons has concentrated on the explosive custom bagger market ever since it became the new hip thing, they aren’t afraid to break out into any of the bikes they like or feel they have their own take on. This striking low rider-style FLSTC takes finish to a different level with what I consider the motorcycle equivalent of tattooing, a generous amount of tasteful engraving that almost borders on too much, but it doesn’t. There’s engraving on the fishtail exhaust tips, every engine cover, the Screamin’ Eagle heads, handlebar, crash bar, lower fork legs, swingarm and I’m sure some other bit I’m neglecting to mention. Even though that’s quite a lot, Covingtons kept their cool and didn’t engrave everything, but balanced it out with flashes of straight chrome here and there. Someone at Covingtons had their finger on the pulse of how much is too much and made sure not to reach that point ─ close, but not too close.

   Other than the chrome engraved swingarm, the stock frame sits as is as sold and that’s okay. This build was all about pumping up a Heritage in the low rider-style and stock frame dimensions are part and parcel of low rider heritage. It’s about what a Softail can look like with traditional customizing that doesn’t require frame hacking and welding. It’s about the look, but it’s also about the ride and, frankly, stock works best for that as I see it. Same goes for the rolling stock size-wise where a pair of Ride Wright Fat Daddy 50 Spoke wheels bring on the bling without any apologies or excuses. Just to make sure there was enough bling on board, Ride Wright laced ‘em up with their Twista spokes that make sure they gather every available ray of sunlight and shoot it back directly into your retinas. OEM brakes were retained and why not? They work just peachy and they get lost in the wheel dazzle anyway. Wide whites frame all this pizzazz and make sure you never miss out on the bling.

  As far as I can tell there is no air suspension on this build. What you see is what you get so the stance has to be perfect whether on the go or parked. That’s one non-issue to me as it’s one less thing that could and probably would go wrong at some point especially if it was mine. And, there’s no attempt at hiding some outrageous audio system onboard when a build like this is about as much fun riding as it is showing off. Yeah, I’m a roll-up window kind of guy so I have no personal interest in the utterly complex items that adorn a lot of customs today.

   A lot of people might think that all the bodywork is just stock stuff, but they’d be wrong, well at least partially wrong. The stock tank still sits as delivered and the same goes for the chrome horseshoe oil tank, but both fenders are custom bits Covingtons modded to fit the intentions of this build. They remind you of stock or what you think of as stock, but they’re definitely not. Like a lowrider 1964 Chevy Impala convertible, it’s all been touched and modified, but you still know it’s a ’64 Chevy. In other words, in spite of a lot of subtle changes, the identity is not lost. Personally, I even like the fact they kept the stock seat as is as shown.

   Where Covingtons went to town was with the paint work just like any four-wheel low rider. A wild and complicated paintjob, involving many layers of differing shades of heavy metal flake blue along with silver leafing, black striping and all the chromed bling, makes for a dazzler in the sunlight. Better have your shades on if you run into this bike at high noon. Even the reflection off the tall, engraved apes that are bigger in diameter than the crash bars make sure no errant sun light is lost and sent back to you. Regardless of whether the lowrider-style appeals to you, you have to appreciate the thought and hard work that went into making this stunning take on a dowdy, but lovable stock Heritage.

   As always, Covingtons Customs doesn’t disappoint me in any way and I look forward to the always expected slew of striking customs of all types coming out of the house of Covingtons. I’m sure they’re busy as we speak putting the finishing touches on one of the many we’ll probably be featuring sooner than you’d think. Maybe that’s where the Keebler Elves have disappeared to.

  For more info on Covingtons Customs, check ‘em out at www.covingtonscustoms.com/