There have been many successful motorcycle families born in Milwaukee at the hands of Harley-Davidson, but none has been as successful as the Softail. Proof of that is not only the continuing presence of the line on the market in stock form, but also the many incarnations of it in customized form.
The breed was born back in 1983 with the arrival of the FXST. It played a bold card, that of making new motorcycles look vintage, while at the same time replacing the rear axle steel tubes present until then with a triangular swingarm.
In the decades that have passed since, the Softail family grew to comprise a large number of motorcycles, including all-time favorites Heritage, Low Rider, and of course the Fat Boy. Many of them became the center of the customization business as well, who make a continuous living out of modifying Softails' instantly-recognizable lines.
Russian garage Gaz Custom is one of many to have ventured down this path, despite the fact their favorite dish is the V-Rod. And here we have a perfect example of what these guys can do once they put their minds to it.
Before us sits a Fat Boy Softail an unspecified model year, modified to such an extent it is almost unrecognizable.
Sadly for us, Gaz is not in the habit of sharing what exactly was done to its bikes, and the same happens here. So, we're only left with the choice of looking at the custom and seeing for ourselves what is different.
And that's... pretty much everything. The wheels, insanely large (unclear exactly how much so) support a body that's much closer to the ground than in stock form. The front fork is new and much shorter, the headlight held within it a lot more aggressive, and the handlebars so low they look like they're completely absent from the picture.
The engine on the bike was probably not modified in any way or form, but there is a new breathing apparatus slapped on it, most visible in the form of shorter, blacked-out exhaust pipes.
None of the above are however the defining traits of the build. If you're really looking for something that makes this machine special, that would be the single-piece fuel tank and rear fender, stretching high up on the frame and interrupted solely by the seat placed on top of it toward the back. And this is not a single piece made of some plain material, but in shiny grey carbon fiber.
It's unclear how much the bike cost to put together (or where it currently resides and travels down the road), but if you take the way it looks and the materials used into account, it certainly wasn't cheap.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
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