1949 Nashville Slim

November 4, 2016

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Article And Photos By: Chris Callen

Originally Published In The May 2016 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

In the world of custom motorcycle builders there are several categories of people you will find. There are the old guard that have been doing it since the seventies and still blow peoples minds with their work. There are the flash in the pan guys that come out with a bike or two and that’s all you ever hear from them. Then there are the guys who have always done their thing, they come in and out of the limelight several times in their careers and it would seem, to them, that they could care less. The work is what they care about and the day to day battles they win in pushing the envelope. This is the man you’ll find when you get to know the builder of this month’s cover bike, Donny Loos. I’ve been lucky enough to know Donny longer than either of us care to remember and I have always been a fan of his work. With motors he is a mad scientist who builds the kind of mill that produces shit eating grins. When it comes to the custom builds he puts out Donny has an old soul. He builds the type of timeless classics that defy trend and span generations of moto-nuts. The last wildly popular build that he produced was for the S&S 50th anniversary celebration. It was an old school build that you would expect to see at the local drag strip back in the seventies. We were lucky enough to carry that bike in these pages and now we are equally honored to bring you his latest creation: Nashville Slim.

When he got the invitation for Nashville Ink & Iron, Donny knew that he had to bring it with this one. Now, he was far from out of the industry as his business Don’s Custom Cycle & Garage continued to build solid motors and great bikes, but this was gonna be a high profile contest and in Don’s own words, he wasn’t going for second place. So in late December, Loos had a conversation with Rick Bray about building a frame. Rick had been building absolutely over the top frames and that’s what Don wanted to have as his foundation. The plan was to build a skinny bike that was a hot rod from the ground up. The interesting part of the construction came out of necessity. About the time that Don had sent his third part off to be chromed, Brown’s Plating closed their doors. The rest of the chrome shops were on their way out and he didn’t have time to waste on this problem. Instead, he changed gears and went the way of stainless steel. Since he was already hip to welding stainless that wasn’t a big challenge but the material is way harder on the tooling. The end result, with polishing by Greg King of GKing Custom Metal Polishing, there was less turn around time and you end up with a stainless part that won’t fade, scratch or chip.

The motor for the Slim was a ‘49 Don had scored from Jim at Justified Defiance. It had a shovel top end but was pretty clapped out. No big deal, Don just stripped her down and filled it back up with S&S goodies. He updated the valve train with the whole S&S Evo system that eliminates external oil lines and if you notice the external finish of the components, they are as custom as the hand built power plant. Don actually took every part, cases, cylinders, heads, rocker boxes, even the nose cone and hand ground them to fit together as seamless as if they were made that way. These are the type of details I miss in how some of the custom bike world has turned. The commitment to make something completely different was not wasted on this bike. The old tank was another completely custom feature. If you look there is virtually no room between the oil tank and the space it is nestled in. That was a key aspect in its design and I personally believe to be a very important part of a bike like this, it must be tight, no wasted space.

The rest of what attracts your eye as you gander at the sleek lines presented here are the tiny details that only a man obsessed with creation can deliver. Simple yet elegant details like all the hardware matching, the speed hole theme carried over, even in the tiny bracketry. It is poetry in motion and looks as good sitting still as it does hauling ass down the street. All of this jaw dropping custom bike sits upon a pair of Rick Bray’s handmade wheels. Tiny spool front hub and a matching rear wheel that carries an old time mechanical brake set up. It finishes as strong as it starts. In other words and that’s what Donny wanted, a winner. Well, he got that and more by the end. After unveiling it at the Nashville event, he emerged as the top build. If that wasn’t good enough, soon after Donny Loos received his letter of invitation to Artistry In Iron for 2016. He had achieved his goal, he built the bike he believed would show his true abilities and the world paid attention. Great job man!