  here was a time in motorcycling when one bike served many purposes–touring, commuting, racing–and did them all pretty well. But the age of specialization changed all that, and you needed a bike for each task. For example, if you wanted a custom bike, you built or bought one, and took it to shows and on runs with your buddies, but you rode to work on something else. Gradually riders began to realize they were spending lots of money on a bike they seldom used, and started looking for a way to combine customs with practical bikes. Thus the custom bagger trend was born.In the past half-dozen years, custom baggers have taken the market by storm. More and more riders are building bikes that not only look good, but are fun to ride, too, and are capable of carrying luggage and a passenger. One company at the leading edge of the custom bagger market is Covington’s Customs. Covington’s opened their store in 1993. “We were building full frame-up customs and that’s still a big part of our business,” Jerry Covington says. While he always made parts for customs, in the past few years Covington turned his attention to the Harley market, mostly baggers and Softails. But one thing didn’t change. “We took the quality and styling of our custom parts and put them into the Harley parts.” “We’ve been building custom baggers for our customers for probably five or six years, and some real radical stuff,” says Covington. “But in the last year and a half or so it’s gotten mainstream. What we’ve noticed is all these custom-bike guys with their customs or Softails or whatever also have a bagger sitting at home that they take their trips on. Now they’re saying if I can only have one, I want a custom and a bagger all in one bike.” Some people might look at a Harley bagger and wonder how anyone could make it look custom. Covington has lots of answers, like swapping the stock wheels for an 18-incher in the back and a 21-incher in the front. “We’re switching from the 150/90-16 on the back to a 150/70-18, which gets your circumference about the same, and a lower-profile tire with more wheel showing.” Up front, a 21-inch wheel adds looks and stability. “They’re just a wee bit heavier at super-low speeds, but as you’re going down the highway it rides a lot better. I like lowering the front an inch at the same time to make up for the larger wheel diameter.” Covington accepted the challenge of the Biker Build-Off show in 2005, which resulted in a first-place finish. Competing took him and his crew above and beyond the normal routine of custom-bike building. “What they’d done in previous years was give you 30 days,” he recalls. “They would come and film for five days on your fabrication, then they’d leave for a week. Then they’d come back and film maybe three days on your paint, and then they’d come back a week later and film your assembly. They’d be there about 10 or 11 days altogether but they’d spread it out over a month’s time.” But the year Covington was invited to compete was also the year the TV folks changed the format slightly. “They called me up and said, ‘We decided this year we’re going to do it a little different. Instead of us going back and forth we’re just going to come there and let you build the whole bike in 10 days.’” Covington had no success explaining that 10 days wasn’t enough time, or convincing them that under the old system, which had the film crews going away for a week, work continued on the bike even in their absence. Ten days it had to be, so ten days it would be. “We fabricated for three days, then one of my sons and his two helpers did the bodywork in 48 hours straight with two hours of sleep in the middle of it to get it done that quick,” Covington says. “We did the paint in two-and-a-half days, and I was afraid it wouldn’t be dry in time. We built that bike in nine-and-a-half days.” After that, the 750-mile ride in two-and-a-half days to the site of the Build-Off final was a piece of cake. With the addition of Covington’s Customs products to the Drag Specialties FatBook, selling dress-up parts to your bagger customers won’t be hard. Covington’s best-selling bagger parts include gas tank dash inserts and doors, master-cylinder lids, bag latches, derby covers, points covers, footpegs and brake pedals, as well as bells for the front forks, axles covers, belt-guard covers, bar risers, and more. And Covington’s already has parts for 2008 Harley models. Watch Covington’s Customs in the future, too, for more new products. “We’re designing new stuff all the time,” Covington says. “We’re going to try to keep it fresh. You can’t coast, because the only way you can coast is downhill.”
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