El Fuego’s owner, Chris Garrison of CG Customs in Buford, Georgia, had a couple of things in mind for his 2003 Night Train and none of them involved a 100-point restoration as you can easily tell by checking out Jack Cofano’s photo gallery (If you don’t, you’re missing out!). First off, a custom motorcycle painter like Chris needs a showcase for his work and one of the best ways to show off his showcase is at a show. You know, a big time custom motorcycle show like the recent Ultimate Builders Show in Atlanta where he won first place in the hotly contested modified Harley class. And, the most important part for a true H-D freak, Chris still needed a fun and friendly personal bike to dash around on and make a lot of noise and mayhem just because he still gets a hooligan thrill out of cracking the throttle and listening to adrenaline-pumping aural byproduct of a 45-degree V-twin’s internal combustion. Goodbye Night Train, hello El Fuego.

 

   Chris’ first love is painting and so is his second so it helps to have friends in the business when you need to get the hard parts of a motorcycle screwed around with in a good way. This where a couple of very talented metal-working brothers and all-around fun-loving bike guys, Zane and Sean Culleton of W.T. Customs and Fabrications in nearby Flowery Branch, Georgia, come into play. In case you’re having a déjà vu moment, Barnett’s Magazine Online has recently featured a couple of other CG Customs/W.T. Customs feature bike collaborations like Chris’ hot rod bobber/café Sportster and Zane and Sean’s bad ass Bandana bike. Don’t be afraid, click on those links and triple your Barnett’s Magazine Online fun!

 

   The Culletons got busy deconstructing the 10-year-old bike to be able to bring everything up to snuff in the engine bay where the smooth counterbalanced Twin Cam 88 received a total refurbishing and mild, but effective hop up. Bumping it up to a very respectable 95-incher and porting and polishing the heads for optimal flow from the on-the-endangered-list carburetor brings enough sass to please most people including me. Enough weighty stuff’s been removed during the build to further enhance the power to weight to fun ratio. Speaking of fun, the two less-than-two-foot header wrapped exhaust pipes make sure you never ever miss even the tiniest of a misfire and if loud pipes do save lives, Chris is going to ride far from harm in a safe-as-you-could-ever-get loud exhaust sound bubble.

 

   The quickest way to make a Night Train into something else entirely is to ditch the old boring, everyday, blah as hell Showa hydraulic fork in the nearest trash bin or eBay listing and replacing it with an always classically good looking springer. Binning the stock headlight and bars was a no-brainer while replacing the headlight with a cleaner design mounted with an in-your-face appearance also required little thought. What did require a bunch of thought were those strangely inviting drop-Z drag bars or whatever you call them. All I know is I really dig what they do for the overall style and they look comfortably usable. Is that even possible? Well I’m a believer after checking them out and imagining myself grabbing them in relation to the seat and foot controls. In reality if that didn’t turn as comfortable as I imagined, I’d learn to adapt they’re so good looking.

 

   Wheels and paint are two things that really make or break a custom bike. With Chris’ proven talents and taste, there was never a doubt about paint, but the Night Train’s solid rear wheel and the chromed spoked front wheel just weren’t cutting it as a somewhat serious dragster look anymore. They just looked dated so they were replaced with a pair of spoked wheels with black powder coated rims covered in more aggressively, but still reasonable Avon rubber. Where the boys took it to another level altogether for me was choosing the similarly-spoked drive pulley that doesn’t even look like it’s there, it just disappears into the wheel center. I appreciate all the engineering advances belt final drive gives you, but nobody ever mentions that it’s a really big, clunky-looking setup even if you paid a jillion dollars more for a custom billet pulley.

 

   Work around W.T.C. picked up a lot as a tank I’d never have recognized as a Sportster was transformed into something bigger, rounder, and wider at the front until it was its own animal. Mounted high at an angle on the top tube, it really transforms the bike’s attitude immediately and looks fast as hell just sitting there. W.T.C. also got rid of the ducktail fender which has been plaguing various Motor Company models ever since they got that wicked deal on ten million of them (or so my friend Van Romano says) replacing it with “just round” simple fender of a fender like it should have had in the first place.  

 

    They also changed the stock horseshoe oil tank with an always classic round cylindrical unit and that change really took the I’m-a-stock-Harley-Softail-look away for good. Directly above the oil tank, W.T.C. built a new platform for the solo sprung seat that is covered in light tan leather that I personally find a little bright, but maybe it will really patina nicely with some ass time and a bit of weather and some Neatsfoot or Mink oil or whatever the kids are using these days.    

 

  The last, but not least aspect of this build falls directly into the domain of Chris Garrison and CG Customs and there’s no disappointment here. What appears to be a somewhat simple red with red flame paintjob ( El Fuego means “fire”) from 20-feet away takes on a whole new look, so make that world, with every step you take closer. There’s a lot of depth and a whole lot of flakin’ going on. Chris knew he didn’t have to slam you in the face with every trick in the book, but it takes a good painter to know when you’ve made your point and leave it at that.  It’s gotta be tough for a painter to edit themselves and not overdo it without realizing it. I’m going to say right up front that end result is going to age well with time and not be a dated look, just a timely, classy look.

 

   The final result of another CG Customs/W.T. Customs and Fabrications custom collaboration produced a lovely looking, performance driven, reliable and comfortable daily rider. What’s great about this daily rider that proudly wears its license plate and all the required street equipment is that it won first place in the modified Harley class at the recent Ultimate Builder Show in Atlanta. This is certainly one totally revitalized Hog that’s not only fun to ride and look at, but it brings home the bacon too.

 

   See anything here you’d like to do to your Softail? If so, contact either W.T. Customs through Facebook or check out Chris’ work at http://cgcustoms.net/Home.html.