Some bikes take forever to make. The stunning bagger you’re gawking at began back in 1825 when a physicist guy from Copenhagen named Hans Christian Ørsted got off his butt and finally found the most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust. Without his discovery of what is called aluminium in most of the world before we Americans straightened out that spelling with a much easier to say ‘aluminum’, this bike as you see it would not exist. That is, of course, unless another guy put his Danish pipe down and went outside and discovered the most abundant metal on Earth. Maybe it’s harder than I think as Mr. Hans Christian Ørsted also discovered electromagnetism and all I know about that is that it involves electricity and magnets doing something. But it sounds very important.   

    Now, almost two hundred years later, Chris Eder and the crew at Misfit Industries in lovely Addison, Texas, finally finished this bad to the absolute bone of bones bagger with an unknowing nod to H.C. Ørsted possibly in more ways than one. There is at least an alternator on board so I guess he gets credit for that electromagnetism thing too. But enough of the Ørsted crap.

   Chris Eder leads a talented Misfit’s crew consisting of Chris Moos – chief imagineer, George Lowe – mechanic, and Shon Brammer – fabricator building a wide range of bikes over the years, but seems to have found its niche in custom baggers. And, they’re not just your typical big wheel bagger, but one with their own twist that’s actually a lot more than just a twist. They make their own stuff, real stuff not doo-dads, and make it from metal like an old time blacksmith who somehow smuggled things like a lathe, a mill, MIG and TIG welders, a plasma cutter, and an English Wheel back in time. Their machinery may be new, but their sensibilities are old and in reality they keep a steady eye on the future.

   I’m embarrassed to say that at first glance I didn’t recognize the big-inch mill Chris stuffed in the middle of the stunning array of hand-fabricated metalwork. One thing for sure, I knew it wasn’t a Harley-Davidson. S&S’s engine of the future, the X-Wedge, is not something you see everyday or seemingly ever, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a cool choice to build around. As far as I’m concerned, that’s what makes it an even cooler choice than just one more 45-degree twin. The 56-degree splayed-apart cylinders each displace 66-cubes for a grand total of 132-inches and 109rwhp with 143 lb-ft of torque in dead stock S&S form. I can only assume Misfit got even more with their mods.

   That’s all good, but what Misfit has done to fashionably accessorize it, so-to-speak, with a dual-plenum induction system with velocity stacks sticking out each side of the wider-than-a-Harley cylinder valley, machined diamond-cut cylinders and heads, an open belt primary with very cool mid-controls, and a timing chest of belt-driven gears you could spend hours looking at. All I can imagine is what the hell was there before and why didn’t we see it? This mod alone would’ve sold tons of the X to the custom crowd. Chris and the lads get big points on this mod. Another point-getter is that fabulous fabbed stainless exhaust. The reality of welding metal well enhances an already sexy design with just the right amount of engine heat to give them their delicious patina.

    With plans to use a 30-inch wheel up front, Misfit installed one of their short neck kits for 30-inch wheels with a final geometry figured-out number of 44-degrees of rake in their particular case. Big wheels require big numbers to try and get the rake and trail as close to stock as can be. I do love the fact that apparently big bagger wheels don’t require big bagger brakes. The cutest pair of wavy-style rotors that resemble metal dollies are barely visible compared to the wheel whose thinly-elegant spokes remind me of Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man illustration. I don’t know exactly why, but it does.

   A big part of the front end show is the big, really big, American Suspension inverted fork with hidden calipers. At least I assume the calipers are integrated into the legs, but they’re hidden so well I’ll have to take their word for it. Needles to say, Misfit fit air suspension front and rear so the bike could lie down on the grass for our talented lens-boy, Jack Cofano, to take its picture while it rested.

  Finally, it’s time for the bodywork that just doesn’t seem right just calling it bodywork. `That’s not some fancy plastic composite laid over or replacing steel, but Mr. Ørsted’s aluminium, er, aluminum lovingly hammered from sheets of the essence of bauxite ore. That’s especially including the bags that are their own work of metal art. There’s swoopy and then there’s swoopy and this baby’s swoopy. Jack’s three-quarter shot from the back shows the harmonious elegance of the lines of the bags and the rear fender. It gives the feeling of seeing the back end of a Cigarette boat at speed except in aluminum instead of carbon, Kevlar, fiberglass and resin.

   The straddlebag fuel tanks could have a life completely separate from this bike in a tawny art gallery. They’re just that uniquely cool even unto themselves. Each side has its own thing going on within the same hand-hammered and beautifully cosseted shape. The right side has that awesome asymmetrical Steampunk brass panel with either a useless sight glass or a speaker or whatever. Maybe it is what it just is, but somehow knowing Misfit’s mantra of keeping things real even if they’re unreal, I doubt it. Remember, I’m still trying to figure out the caliper situation. On the left, there’s a gas cap that looks like it was filched from the sub Nautilus, the original Jules Verne one. In between the two over the top tube there’re multiple tabs securing the tanks with safety-wired brass wing nuts. That puts the punk in Steampunk as far as I’m concerned.

   Other than possibly one of the most purple purples radiantly glowing through the satin aluminum, this is a metal-finish motorcycle. From the luxurious looking satin finish on the X-Wedge highlighted by the massive purple push rod tubes to the purple frame and fork tubes quietly fighting for attention from the metal-finish front fender to the tanks to the bags and fender, this Misfit creation wins on all counts. But the sheer number of fabulous aluminum pieces wins the battle on all counts as far as I’m concerned. Even the name of the bike, Element 13 (aluminum’s atomic number), seems to recognize this fact and who am I to fight facts? I’m just a guy in awe of what Misfit Industries is capable of turning out in less than 200 years.

  For more info on what Chris, Chris, George, and Shon are up to at Misfit, click on https://www.misfitmade.com/  or visit Misfit’s Facebook page.