Fo Huang has an enviable skill—the ability to take whatever he imagines and turn it into a physical object. Working as NamiXII Design from Kaohsiung City in southern Taiwan, he creates everything from furniture and sculptures to trophies. More importantly, he also builds radical 70s-style choppers.
The last time we checked in with Fo, he wowed us with a wildly chopped Yamaha SR400. This time he’s back with an equally bodacious chopper on a very different foundation—a 2022-model Harley-Davidson Low Rider S.
Dyna cultists must have felt cheated when The Motor Co. re-released the Low Rider S on their newer Softail platform. But the truth is, the contemporary Low Rider S is a total hoot to ride. Its 117 ci Milwaukee-Eight engine is a peach, and its chassis is vastly better than that of its predecessor.
Fo’s latest build takes all that goodness and repackages it as a Frisco-style chopper. “The design also incorporates the owner’s favorite element—lightning,” he adds.
Step one was to readjust the Low Rider’s stance. Fo stripped the bike’s upside-down forks, and then extended them by four inches. Then he stripped the paint off the yokes and fork uppers to give them a polished finish instead.
The stock wheels were swapped out for a set of stylish forged aluminum hoops from Lyndall, bumping the front wheel up to 21” while retaining the 16” rear wheel size. The wheels sport new Lyndall Gemini brake rotors, plus a pair of Brembo-made front calipers from Harley’s exclusive CVO series. The tires are Bridgestone Battlecruise H50s.
There’s a lot more going on with the Low Rider’s front end than just a set of stretched forks. Fo took the OEM front fender, hacked the front half off, and fabricated a finned replacement piece that’s part decoration and part fork brace.
Further up, he crafted an elegant aluminum headlight housing that sits flush with the yokes. The actual headlight is an LED unit from Moons MC in Japan, but it’s hidden behind a vintage headlight lens.
Kraus Motor risers stand tall behind the headlight, supporting a set of handmade handlebars. The bars wear MX-style grips and Flo Motorsports levers, with discreet LED turn signals mounted below the lever perches. The stock Harley speedo has been relocated to atop the bars via a custom bracket.
The Low Rider’s speedo traditionally lives in a large housing on top of the fuel tank, but Fo binned it—along with the tank itself. A slim 17-liter [4.5-gallon] unit was handcrafted to replace it.
The new tank, and the generously scooped saddle that follows it, contribute to this chopper’s remarkably compact appearance. But it’s the details that crank the overall design up to eleven. The lightning bolt motif on the tank isn’t just pain—it’s a 3D effect that Fo created by welding metal ridges to the tank, before refining them.
Layered over Fo’s sculpting work is a mind-bending blue and purple paint scheme that shifts as light bounces off it. Finer pin-striping details on the fenders tie the design together. Aptly, Fo has nicknamed the bike ‘Purple Haze.’
The pattern on the saddle is equally playful, traversing the upholstery with blue, purple, and white stitching. Out back you’ll find the OEM fender, modified to include a molded housing for a Moons MC taillight. Tiny LED turn signals from Kodlin are mounted to the ends of the fender struts.
Other details include color-matched plug leads, and foot pegs and controls from Flo Motorsports. The Harley’s frame is still intact, as is its original belt drive and belt drive cover (Taiwan’s modification laws are rather strict).
Fo hasn’t messed with the Harley’s engine either—at least, not too much. It’s been treated to a factory ‘Stage 1’ kit, plus an ECU tune to optimize its performance. The delightfully chunky air cleaner is a one-off, as are the two-into-one exhaust headers, which terminate in a Supertrapp muffler.
There’s a lot going on with this Harley-Davidson Low Rider S chopper, yet it still feels remarkably cohesive. Thanks to Fo’s obsessive attention to detail, his sharp eye, and his deft hands, this neo-retro performance chopper is in a class of its own.
NamiXII Design Instagram | Images by Weeber Photography (studio) and Raku (details)
