It’s great fun to park this bagger next to a stock­er and then compare. You won’t find two pieces that are similar, let alone identical. Every little part has been massaged, changed ever so slightly, to improve look, fit and function. Literally hundreds of machinist Henry Wehr’s hours went into making all the changes.

That coal-black finish on the pipes and other metal parts is a black nickel coating, a new process under development at Southwest Plating, which does a lot of work for Harley-Davidson. Will we see black nickel on The Motor Company’s bikes any time soon? Depends on how well the finish lasts on John’s bagger. At the moment, after a few months and a couple of thousand miles, the nickel still gleams. It’s better than the black chrome on his last bagger, the owner reports.

Henry Wehr operates out of his shop, called Autosport, in Santa Barbara, California. Rank, meanwhile, lives and works in Milwaukee, several bagger days away. But so high is the quality of Wehr’s hand-made parts that Rank was happy to have his bike built by remote control.

When it comes to riding, though, John Rank is quite pleased to do that all by himself, thank you very much. And although he’d like you to notice his very special bike, he won’t get upset if you don’t.