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 Custom builder Jim Nasi is well known for creating some of the most innovative customs around. He has also created a great line of parts that are available to your customers through the FatBook, so that they can customize their own rides just the way they want them.    ustom” motorcycles have inspired a lot of descriptive terminology about the men who create them. “Artist, genius, motorcycle architect, visionary,” are just a few. No matter what you choose to call a custom builder, there wouldn’t be so many names for them if they didn’t somehow inspire us. Jim Nasi is one of those inspirational builders.Jim Nasi has his roots in mechanics, like many other great custom builders. The custom builder’s foundation is the same as many great bands…it begins in the garage. Nasi started with his own bikes, and then worked on buddy’s bikes. And when his talented eye couldn’t find the “right” part for a build, he created it himself. Torches, lathes and raw metals seemed to respond to his particular talents and no one complained about the results. In fact, everyone raved about the results and wanted more. Nasi, who hails from Phoenix, Arizona, has little patience for pious opinions about what is or is not a “correct” chopper. He knows what he likes and he simply builds motorcycles the way he wants to. He vacillates on the topic of choppers as art. “I’ve never considered myself an artist. But, I guess so, maybe.” And whether you consider a motorcycle art or not doesn’t matter, Nasi’s machines are special, clean and beautiful. His machines invite the eye to follow a path leading from one graceful line to another. He spends countless hours making each motorcycle as beautiful as possible by minimizing the visual intrusion of throttle cables, brake lines, and electrical wiring. The minimizing of cables, lines and electronics has always been a Nasi trademark. His parts fit together as neatly and tightly as the stones in an ancient Inca temple. His bikes huddle close to the ground, taking on a furtive stance. Crouching on two wheels rather than leaping off the pavement, they look more like cats stalking their prey than pouncing on it. Nasi believes that what sets a custom bike apart is the metal-work, its ultimate design and fitment. Therein lays the difference between an artist’s work and any run-of-the-mill, scratch-built bondo bucket. His skills with raw metal, lathe and a torch come into play in his unique designs. Nasi doesn’t apply so much sheet metal that he offends the minimalists, but it is always there, in your face and singularly distinctive, right down to his hallmark fat fender with a frenched taillight. He will often integrate such a taillight into a paint scheme, making it absolutely inconspicuous until, say, the eyes of a skull beam blood red as the brakes are applied. Another proprietary touch is Nasi’s hydraulically controlled, sliding-and-hiding license plate bracket. As part of the Drag Specialties family, Nasi wanted to make his JNC parts available to the garage builder, to the guys (and gals) who like to get their hands dirty. Back his roots, so to speak. JNC offers a wide selection of Nasi products that will enhance your custom in ways no one else can. Nasi himself explains, “I would like to use this first line to personally thank everybody who has been a part of this company’s growth and reputation over the years. In the beginning, building one or two custom bikes a year was relatively easy for me. As the demand increased, and the parts line started, I knew the only way I would accept building more bikes and designing new parts is if I had the right people to help. Each bike had to have the same quality and design work that I demanded. The crew we have at Jim Nasi Customs today are the most talented and dedicated individuals I have ever encountered. “The JNC parts line is growing stronger every year. Teaming up with Drag Specialties has helped spread the parts across the country and made more people aware of the type of quality products that are made at this facility. Each piece is made here in our facility and has been engineered to fit perfectly and installed with ease. We wouldn’t have it any other way. “Being different is what this company is all about. The bike industry is growing at a rapid rate. To me, it’s about doing what you love for a living. I have built life-long friendships with customers and vendors by being in this business. Although doing what you love for a living is not the easiest thing in the world, it has great rewards.” “We build bikes for leaders, not followers…”  |
