Fo Huang has an enviable ability—the flexibility to take no matter he imagines and switch it right into a bodily object. Working as NamiXII Design from Kaohsiung Metropolis in southern Taiwan, he creates the whole lot from furnishings and sculptures to trophies. Extra importantly, he additionally builds radical 70s-style choppers.
The final time we checked in with Fo, he wowed us with a wildly chopped Yamaha SR400. This time he’s again with an equally bodacious chopper on a really completely different basis—a 2022-model Harley-Davidson Low Rider S.
Dyna cultists will need to have felt cheated when The Motor Co. re-released the Low Rider S on their newer Softail platform. However the reality is, the modern Low Rider S is a complete hoot to experience. Its 117 ci Milwaukee-Eight engine is a peach, and its chassis is vastly higher than that of its predecessor.
Fo’s newest construct takes all that goodness and repackages it as a Frisco-style chopper. “The design additionally incorporates the proprietor’s favourite component—lightning,” he provides.
The 1st step was to readjust the Low Rider’s stance. Fo stripped the bike’s upside-down forks, after which prolonged them by 4 inches. Then he stripped the paint off the yokes and fork uppers to provide them a sophisticated end as a substitute.
The inventory wheels had been swapped out for a set of trendy cast aluminum hoops from Lyndall, bumping the entrance wheel as much as 21” whereas retaining the 16” rear wheel dimension. The wheels sport new Lyndall Gemini brake rotors, plus a pair of Brembo-made entrance calipers from Harley’s unique CVO sequence. The tires are Bridgestone Battlecruise H50s.
There’s much more occurring with the Low Rider’s entrance finish than only a set of stretched forks. Fo took the OEM entrance fender, hacked the entrance half off, and fabricated a finned alternative piece that’s half ornament and half fork brace.
Additional up, he crafted a sublime aluminum headlight housing that sits flush with the yokes. The precise headlight is an LED unit from Moons MC in Japan, nevertheless it’s hidden behind a classic headlight lens.
Kraus Motor risers stand tall behind the headlight, supporting a set of handmade handlebars. The bars put on MX-style grips and Flo Motorsports levers, with discreet LED flip alerts mounted beneath the lever perches. The inventory Harley speedo has been relocated to atop the bars by way of a customized bracket.
The Low Rider’s speedo historically lives in a big housing on high of the gasoline tank, however Fo binned it—together with the tank itself. A slim 17-liter [4.5-gallon] unit was handcrafted to exchange it.
The brand new tank, and the generously scooped saddle that follows it, contribute to this chopper’s remarkably compact look. But it surely’s the main points that crank the general design as much as eleven. The lightning bolt motif on the tank isn’t simply ache—it’s a 3D impact that Fo created by welding steel ridges to the tank, earlier than refining them.
Layered over Fo’s sculpting work is a mind-bending blue and purple paint scheme that shifts as mild bounces off it. Finer pin-striping particulars on the fenders tie the design collectively. Aptly, Fo has nicknamed the bike ‘Purple Haze.’
The sample on the saddle is equally playful, traversing the upholstery with blue, purple, and white stitching. Out again you’ll discover the OEM fender, modified to incorporate a molded housing for a Moons MC taillight. Tiny LED flip alerts from Kodlin are mounted to the ends of the fender struts.
Different particulars embrace color-matched plug leads, and foot pegs and controls from Flo Motorsports. The Harley’s body continues to be intact, as is its unique belt drive and belt drive cowl (Taiwan’s modification legal guidelines are fairly strict).
Fo hasn’t messed with the Harley’s engine both—no less than, not an excessive amount of. It’s been handled to a manufacturing facility ‘Stage 1’ package, plus an ECU tune to optimize its efficiency. The delightfully chunky air cleaner is a one-off, as are the two-into-one exhaust headers, which terminate in a Supertrapp muffler.
There’s loads occurring with this Harley-Davidson Low Rider S chopper, but it nonetheless feels remarkably cohesive. Due to Fo’s obsessive consideration to element, his sharp eye, and his deft arms, this neo-retro efficiency chopper is in a category of its personal.
NamiXII Design Instagram | Photographs by Weeber Photography (studio) and Raku (particulars)
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