The Brand Spanking New Slugger

Nash Motorcycles, based in Vancouver, Washington, is the home of 150 inches of rain annually and the highest suicide rate in the country, or was that Seattle? The Nash clan runs the show with a pile of brothers and Taber Nash’s wife Jenna. The older brother Trent also has his own business, Knucklehead Clothing, but he also helps out. Brother Marlin handles the marketing, Teddy and the little brothers helps build bikes with fab work and welding. Plus wife Jenna runs the office.

Just yesterday (11/13/07) they hired a new Nash Motorcycle intern in training, a new baby boy, Redgie, Marin Nash. He’s just 6 pounds, 14 ounces and 19.4 inches tall of pure machinist for the Nash Motorcycle group.

I’ve recently spoke to some shop owners about the down market, but Neil Ryan, the producer behind the Donnie Smith Custom Bike Show in Minneapolis, set me straight the other day. “Eighteen months and the market will sing again,” Neil said, “not long after the election.”

So Redgie has 18 months to get his shit together and lend a hand at the shop, rain or shine. “Business isn’t bad here,” Taber said. “We still build a bike a month, sell our products and develop new products, like John Grant’s Swift Kick, kick-pedal.”

Before I tell you more about their product line I need to finish up with Redgie. His name came from Taber’s Grandma’s brother, or his great uncle who fought in the battle of the Bulge. We discussed WWII some and he suggested I watch “The War” a new series about World War II and the Battle of the Bulge. “It covers that battle better than the ‘Band of Brothers’,” Taber said. “I’ve watched that HBO series a couple dozen times.”

With WWII, America and baseball in mind, the Nash brothers kicked off building the Slugger. They started with a junk FL frame and cut it to the cradle and built the single-loop chassis. All the brothers played baseball all their lives and Trent and Taber played High School ball. “We’ve always been Dodger fans,” Taber said. “We wanted the bike to have that old school edgy appearance, right down to the knobby, cleat-like tires.”

Since the Nash Product Line is the hottest aspect of their business, they incorporated several of their components and services into the Slugger. “We build frames,” Taber told me. “The forward controls are ours, but we had a local woodworking gentleman cut ash wood ball bat ends for the pegs. They still have steel inserts. I couldn’t bring myself to cut-up old baseball bats.”

The baseball bat, 6-inch, risers and the brass Creepster, gas fill cap are also Nash products, including the Midget Gimp 12-inch highbars and the Nash pogo seat system. The pogo system is made up of a wide glide front lower leg, tube and damping parts.

“I rode one of our bikes from North Carolina to Vancouver with this system on a rigid,” Taber added. The new-design kicker pedal came from a 60-year-old riding veteran, John Grant, who rides a kick-star Harley. “He pulled up to a light recently and his kicker-pedal smacked the back of his leg. He thought, ‘there must be a better way’.” John designed it and the Nash brothers are helping with manufacturing and distribution.

This ain’t a production scoot though. It’s as quirky as hell with the spare tire wrap rear fender off an old stinkin’ Lincoln. “That’s where our paint scheme came from,” Taber said. “We left it alone and painted our shit over the rust and chipped original paint.”

The oil bag compressor collected dust in Trent’s garage for decades, until Taber spotted it. “Hell, it already has fins,” Taber said. They gutted it, machined out the center and ran 1/8-inch pipe thread fittings to it with 3/8-inch lines.

The 10-buck swapmeet saddlebag became the electronic powerhouse with the battery and all the electric components housed inside. Finally, they added a strange twist, an old Panhead advance and retard internal twist grip to the right bar as the throttle housing. The peculiar aspect is the reversed throw on the grip. The rider turns it toward the front of the bike, or clockwise to speed up and counter-clockwise to slow down—Hang On.

Teddy Nash narrowed the stock Triumph tanks, changed the tunnel and left it raw. There you have it. It’s the slugger from Nash motorcycles, a Dodger fan and rusting as you read this. It’s a shop bike, built to be ridden to events and shows by the Nash clan, but for the right price, a brave rider could take it away.

Watch Bikernet, in the near future, for more Nash products, a tech on that pogo seat and more Nash Motorcycles. We like their stuff.

NASH SLUGGER BIKERNET EXTREME MOTORCYCLE CHART

Regular Stuff

Owner: Nash Motorcycle Company
Bike Name: Slugger
City/State: Vancouver, WA

Builder: NMC
Company Info: Nash Motorcycle Company
Locations: Vancouver, Washington USA
Address: 214 E. Mcloughlin Blvd. Vancouver, WA 98663
Phone: (360) 693-4225
Web site: www.nashmotorcycle.com
E-mail: info@nashmotorcycle.com
Fabrication: Taber & Teddy Nash
Manufacturing: NMC
Welding: Taber & Teddy Nash
Machining: Taber & Teddy Nash

Engine

Year: 1984
Make: HD
Model: Shovel
Displacement: 1340
Builder or Rebuilder: NMC
Cases: HD
Case finish: Wrinkled Black
Barrels: HD
Pistons: HD
Barrel finish: Wrinkled Black
Lower end: HD