Nelson’s F-300 came about after seeing other Covington Cycle City (CCC) customs in Daytona and he liked what he saw. Heading out to Jerry’s huge custom complex inWoodward,Oklahoma, Nelson tried out a few different bikes until he found exactly the frame dimensions he was looking for and Jerry and he formulated the rest of the design. Viola! Five months later, the F-300 was ready to rip. Sounds simple, but as always there’s a lot more to it.
Starting with an OS Covington Softail frame built in a long, low configuration with a five-inch stretch and a 47 degree rake, Jerry had his foundation. There’s not a straight line anywhere in this design with the curved down tube and backbone complemented by the slender but strong, curved tubing swingarm. Legend Air supplied the rear suspension while a set of smooth looking Perse four-inch over forks with CCC’s trees gave a cool looking, but not too radical a ride. Remember, Nelson intended to ride this as well as show it. And ride it he does with 113” Patrick Racing engine angling a pair of Mikunis forward to suck sea level air through the simple, but effective CCC air cleaner. After that mixture of lovely New Jersey air and gasoline is tossed around inside the billet Patrick cylinders and heads and then blown up by the Crane ignition, it comes rushing back out the beautiful CCC swept back pipes which would appear to do little to muffle the explosion as the spent mixture rejoins the atmosphere once again. Repeat and do again thousands of times per minute. Oh what fun.
Covington’s way cool, peek-a-boo primary showcases the Barnett Scorpion locker clutch, which gives a light hand action to a clutch that can take all the abuse that powerhouse engine can dish out. The primary’s round cut-out lets you see the wild action going on as the Scorpion clutch goes through all its choreographed movements of weights moving in and out like dancers in a 30’s Busby Berkley musical. Baker’s six-speed RSD tranny is next up in the slap line as it transfers hellacious chain powered (sorry, no belts need apply here) torque to the 300mm Avon rear tire which is busy trying to get down to its wear markers as quickly as possible. Between the Ferrari and the F-300, Nelson must be on a first name basis with his local tire suppliers. Jason of CCC designed the intricate five spoke Soul Assassin wheels (21” front, 18” rear) which are made in-house and give a tough, mechanical look to the smooth design of the rest of the bike. Hefty Performance Machine brakes were installed front and rear with the rear disc being placed in-board on the drive side to fully show off the wide rear wheel. Shielding the rider from flying bits of burnt rubber from that rear tire spinning away is a wide-ass fender/seat unit by CCC, with internal fender struts, which effectively covers that airborne debris. A full, but attractive front fender by CCC shields both the bike and rider from frequent east coast precipitation and the road crap that gets washed out with them. Lying midway between these two is the stunning, curved stretched tank, again formed by CCC. It all blends in so nicely, flowing from stem to stern in a most comfortable manner. Speaking of comfort, Danny Gray’s seat sits invitingly comfortable in its own carved out section of bodywork providing a nice ass-back area when you suddenly whack the throttle open. You’re going nowhere while you’re going somewhere quickly.
Keeping your upper torso in check are the heavily chromedCovingtonswept back handlebars sans risers, pleasing to the eye and comfy all at the same time. Jerry turned to PM once again for the hand and foot controls that cause and rein in Nelson’s road histrionics. The continual battle of good and evil is all played out on I-95 at high speed while monitoring the Jersey State Troopers in mirrors shaped like the speeding gas tank between Nelson’s legs. Warm summer night assaults are abetted by the elegant Headwinds headlight and making it all fairly legal is the Paul Yaffe tail light/plate combo. “I’m sorry officer, I’ve got severe ADD and the plate numbers all look horizontal to me…”
The meanest, deepest customs involve lots of innovative thinking and attending to the tiniest of details, but any custom is still a make it or break it proposition if its paint job doesn’t cut it. Too many times, builders and painters try too hard when it comes to paint schemes. The first thing they teach you in art school is to keep it simple and to know when to stop. So many bikes fail on this point. CCC does most of its paint in-house, but this time called on John Stromberg at Lucky 7 Choppers in nattily namedRancho Cucamonga,Californiafor the subtle Candy Red paint with graphics you have to look deep into the paint for. No swatting you on the side of the head with a dragon fighting scheme straight off a 70’s van. Let the design of the bike speak for itself it seems to imply and so it does.
In what is getting to be tough times for many high end custom builders, Jerry Covington has a steady stream of customers and a back log of bikes to build. If you want to get your piece of the action that so many satisfied CCC owners can vouch for, contact Jerry at www.covingtonscyclecity.com or call at 580-256-2939 and get your own piece of rideable history. Oh by the way, Nelson is now having Jerry build him one crazy ass, high performance custom bagger for interstate cruising. Like I said, Nelson’s a lucky guy.
Jerry Covington, The Midwest daVinci
Thirty-two years ago, Jerry Covington and Mondo of Denver’s Choppers were friends building their first choppers with no idea of what lay ahead, they just liked bikes and wanted to customize their own. Today, both men have endured the tough travails of custom building and are after much hard work are both very successful at what they do. Jerry’s come a long way with 18 employees atCovingtonCycleCity, “building the cleanest, meanest cutting edge custom motorcycles available” since opening in 1993. In an industry that’s possibly taking a little step back, Jerry’s doing just fine with plans for more high end customs, an affordable line of production bikes that will double in numbers this year, and a wicked cool line of sub 20 grand bobbers that are all American and high quality. “Bobbers are in now, but we’ve been making them for a long time already and ours just look better-finished and they’re a proven design,” said Jerry, “We don’t use engines fromAsia.” Yup, a stock, reliable H-D Evo powers these pretty light bikes just fine, thank you. Jerry still enjoys doing wild one-offs and plans to do more in ’06, “we’ve got plenty of orders to fill already,” said Jerry, “We’re doing just fine and our production bikes are coming along great.” “We’re expanding our parts business with a nice line of wheels and personally, I’m feeling pretty good about business right now.”
SPECIFICATIONS | |
---|---|
Owner: | Nelson Lee |
Year / Make: | 2005 Covington’s Cycle City |
Fabrication: | Covington’s |
Assembly: | Covington’s |
Build time: | 5 months |
Engine: | 113” Patrick Racing |
Ignition: |
Crane |
Carb: |
Patrick Dual Mikunis |
Pipes: | Covington’s |
Air Cleaner: | Patrick |
Transmission: | Baker 6-speed |
Primary: | Covington’s |
Clutch: | Barnett Scorpion Locker Clutch |
Frame: | OS Covington Softail 300 |
Rake/Stretch: | 47 Degrees / 5” |
Forks: | Perse 4” over, Covington’s Trees |
Rear Suspension: | Legend Air |
Wheels: | Covington’s Soul Assassin |
Tires: | Avon |
Brake: | PM |
Fuel Tank: | Covington’s |
Oil Tank: | Covington’s |
Fenders/ Fender Struts: | Covington’s |
Headlight: | Headwinds |
Taillight: | Yaffe |
Hand and Foot Controls: | PM |
Electrical: | Covington’s |
Painter: | John Stromberg/ Lucky 7 Choppers |