The Harlot

The '97 Harley-Davidson XL 1200 Sportster project is pretty well completed, thanks in main part to Garage Project Motorcycles (GPM).

She's a fierce beast, lots of torque and pace. She definitely turns heads and has received many a comment from onlookers and passersby.

A Dakota Digital MCV-7400 interface has been installed and stirrup pegs/rests provide a nice cruising comfort. Premium shock absorption grips help a lot with the dreaded 'Harley rattle'; in fact, I've noticed no soreness in the figures since installing these grips.

The bike sits at a great height with the Hagon shocks installed. Even though I chose shocks of the same length as the stock shocks, the bike dropped a good inch when the Hagons were introduced.
Brad at GPM compensated by lowering the front end slightly to even out the ride and the aesthetics. All-in-all, it provides a very comfortable ride. I'm more than happy with the choice of Hagans.

 

Brad at GPM and I discussed at length what we would do with the headlight. I wanted to cowl gone and he agreed. We looked at sourcing headlights from overseas and all manner of ways we could attach it.

Then Brad had a stroke of genius.

See, the original headlight had a big hole in the top where it mounted with the cowl.

So he turned the original light upside down, built it a bracket and mounted it to the bike.

A high output globe was installed and it's a thing of beauty, retaining a lot of its original charm due to the use of the original style of headlight casing.

So with the XL done it's time to move on to the next bike.

This time I have commissioned Hand Made Vintage Kustoms to custom build me a bike from start to finish. I provided them with a '75 Honda CB550 and they're in the process of turning it into an 'Industrial Brat' style bike.
Of course, there will be more to come on this in the very near future!

I'll end with some final images of The Harlot.

2013 and a new bike incoming

So it's no secret to the Perth Cafe Racer crew that I was completely invisible for the second half of 2012... Getting engaged, firing up a new band (rock on!), starting a guitar tech & mod business and a whole raft of life changes all contributed to very little time on the bike with the boys.

I have a new custom order coming my way end of January 2013. An Industrial Brat full custom from Hand Made Vintage Kustoms - the base bike being a '75 Honda CB550 - labled Ta'hun (workhorse).

Getting out on the new bike will mean I'll have more to write about. I don't see the need to write day to day posts on cool bikes found around the net. Others are doing that far too well already.

I started this blog mainly just to incriminate the Perth crew and will get to doing more of that once I find the time to get out on more rides.

So, here's to 2013, to remaining upright, to enjoying good company and winding roads. Here's to appreciating the small pleasures, a breeze in the face and the thrill of our open countryside.