Thomas Russell of T-n-A Custom Motorcycles in Sanford, North Carolina, is one of those guys and if you’ve even taken just a quick peek at his bike he calls Leaves In The Wind, you know he fits the description to a tee. There’s not much going on here that isn’t truly one-off in a world that refers to anything with just the tiniest possible difference to something exceedingly similar as “one-off.” You know, the old “I got a 396 Chevelle SS that’s just like everyone else’s, but it’s a one-of-one because it was ordered with a tissue dispenser (or a compass or whatever). It may be a one-of-one technically, but remove the tissue dispenser or the compass (or both is my suggestion) and you’ve got a nice 396 just like everyone else. For a lot of people, though, a technical one-of-one, even if it’s a tissue dispenser that makes it special, is not really different than the rest of the thundering herd.

 

  That definitely can’t be said about Thomas’ bike as his leaf spring suspension front and rear is a hell of a lot more than something to pass out Kleenex. The engineering involved to make leaf spring suspension work at both ends and the fabricating and imagination to pull it off successfully takes a project to a whole different level. Yeah, we’ve seen leaf spring front ends before even going back to the famous old ones that Indian Springfield installed on their production bikes, but this one is its own take, not a copy. Brawny straight tubing combined with almost conventional triple trees and the right combo of springing and linkage keeps things on the up and up. You might have seen something like it before, but definitely not this one.

 

   Same goes for the rear suspension that incorporates twin leaves as suspension and swingarm in one. Now that’s a bit unusual and probably an engineering nightmare to get right. Adding, subtracting or trimming a leaf spring can radically change things in less than the proverbial heartbeat comparison. From my own playing around with car leaf springs, I found out I didn’t have a real clue to what I was doing, but then that’s just one of my many problems. Thomas does and did on the aptly named Leaves In The Wind.” I have to admit I thought the name was a little sappy at first until I looked at Jack Cofano’s photos and had my Aha! moment. There’s leaves scattered all  over this bike including the seat which looks like it’s just hanging in the wind by itself until I saw it was leaf-sprung too. Leaves In The Wind makes perfect sense to me now.

 

   Thomas’ (truly) one-off 5-out and 4-up frame features a snappy-looking 45-degree rake that allows him to easily fit a modern 23-inch front wheel under the leaves up front. Out back, the dual-twin leaf swingarm is spread pretty damn far apart as he’s chosen to run a fat ass 300mm tire back there which might not be the current, current trend, but you know the guy just doesn’t give a sh*t. He’s his own guy and he obviously does what he does because he likes it that way. The true custom builder spirit doesn’t get any stronger than that and he backs it up with a working, nicely finished one-off frame and suspension. And, not a silly tissue dispenser in sight.

 

   Without getting too deep about the drive train, there’s a more than adequate 113-inch Ultima mill powering this leaf craft. An always bad boy open belt drive transfers Ultima power to an RSD 6-spped tranny before dispensing said power to the traction enhancing fat tire via a surprising for a custom, but very practical belt drive. Curvaceously-entwined white header-wrapped dual exhausts add a hint of whimsy to an otherwise serious power package. Same goes for the one-off air cleaner that has a look I can’t quite put my finger on and that’s probably exactly what Thomas’ intent was – playing with my tiny mind. Yeah, I know, dream on fella.

 

   A hell of a lot of time was spent at Thomas’ milling machine making pieces like foot pegs, shifter and brake pegs, risers, grips, shift linkages and even the oil tank cap appear like they came from a collection. Actually they did, but the collection wasn’t any aftermarket pieces, but a collection of ideas directly from the mind of Thomas Russell. It all ties together without any herky-jerky combo of aftermarket parts which could have been the easy way out. Obviously this guy doesn’t know any easy way out and that’s perfectly fine by me. The end result works without being a copy of something else. Hell, he even did his own leatherwork on the seat. How’s that for being versatile?

 

  Probably the only thing I’m not too crazy about is the actual finish or rather the colors. It’s all matte powder coating and that’s okay, it’s tough and simple. But the slight off-white with brown color choice just doesn’t do this bike the justice I feel it deserves. Maybe it’s just a personal thing on my part, but it comes off as needlessly dull on an otherwise mechanically-sparkly canvas. I’m not being critical, just voicing a personal opinion that doesn’t change my feelings towards an exciting build. It’s just lacking the color pop this build deserves. Oh man, do I know how to win friends or what?

 

 For more information on Thomas Russell and T-n-A Custom Motorcycles, please visit http://www.t-n-acustoms.com/ or visit T-n-A’s Facebook page.