Turbo Cycle

New Zealand native Nick Trask likes fast cars. Nine years ago he found success as a mechanic souping up cars. Motorcycles, however, were his passion, and Trask always wondered, "If I can enhance a car, why not a Harley?"

Today, Trask owns and operates Custom Performance, a Northeast Phoenix shop selling and installing his patented Trask Turbo System for Harley Davidson motorcycles.

"We are one of the only companies in the United States that can turbo a Harley," Trask says. "It gives a boost that can increase the machine's power up to 40 percent."

It was 1998 when Trask, then 23, first saw an opportunity to pursue his passion.

"I was reading Easy Rider magazine, when I saw an ad for the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute in Phoenix," he says.

Trask sent in the form, the recruiter called, and a few months later, Trask boarded a plane from New Zealand to Phoenix en route to meet his only contact in the United States, the school recruiter.

"I showed up with my little suitcase," he says. "And I found out that after flying halfway around the world, my recruiter bailed and took the day off."

Undeterred and anxious to begin the six-week course, Trask found an apartment. Trask went through the six weeks of training and completed a year-long prerequisite program before returning to New Zealand and starting a shop run out of his garage.

Trask says he struggled to get the needed parts in New Zealand, so he again packed up and headed back to Phoenix where he opened a 1,200-square-foot shop.

Kevin Kelly, a pilot for JetBlue airlines, recalls meeting Trask when he was just starting out. "I was riding around and stopped in to see who owned it," Kelly says. "He was doing quality high-performance work."

Trask has since enhanced two of Kelly's bikes and recently built a custom motor for him. "Trask's ride ability transition from regular to turbo is seamless - there's no surge or jump coming on or off the power," says Kelly. "Nick engineered a way around Harley's firing sequence."

Currently residing in Florida, Kelly so likes Trask's work, he ships his bikes to Trask's shop in Northeast Phoenix, which has now grown to 5,000 square feet.

Several custom bikes are showcased in the lobby, while Harleys waiting for a soup job line the walls. Trask says he installs about ten to fifteen turbo systems a month locally, shipping many of them to out-of-state customers.

Between engineering and installing turbo kits, Trask takes time off to enjoy his four Harleys. Every Thursday night, he and a group of friends go riding.

"We ride down Scottsdale Road, stopping at the biker bars," he says. "My friends all have turbo systems."

With an appointment-only customer base quickly growing via word-of-mouth, Trask says he plans to stay in Phoenix. He met his wife, Heather, shortly after moving to the United States. The couple is now raising two boys, who he hopes will share his passion. He proudly points to the miniature chopper he built for his three-year-old son.

"He's not old enough to ride it," Trask says, "but he can sit on it."