Harley-Davidson News and Events

SPRINGSTER

Back in April this year, the Sydney Harley-Davidson dealers got together and decided to put on an event at Sydney’s Eastern Creek Raceway called ‘Drag n Brag’. The idea was for the dealers and their customers to get together and drag race their bikes in a controlled and legal environment. But that wasn’t all. The dealers also decided to have a ‘bike build off’. The rules were pretty simple. All up cost of the bike could not exceed $50,000 and everything bar the paint and the exhausts had to be genuine Harley out of the accessories catalogue items.

Trivett wanted to build something different, as I felt the other guys would most likely base their builds on the ever popular Softail. But what platform could we use? And more importantly, when the show was over, we had to be able to sell this bike. Otherwise, what’s the point of building bike for a one day show that afterwards will sit around forever gathering dust? That’s when I hit on the idea of building a Bobber style Sportser. The Sportsters popularity has grown immensely over the past few years with the introduction of the Nightster, the 8830 Iron and the soon to be released 1200cc 48. And why not? It’s great bike with loads of street cred. And with Harley pursuing the ‘Old School’ look that is so much in vogue these days (it never went out of fashion for me) the Nightster would be perfect for what I had in mind.

So with the H-D catalogue in hand, and a mental picture of what I wanted to do. I set to work. The mission statement for me was to NOT go overboard with this build. I wanted it to come in under $30,000 on the road when completed. The tinware was removed and sent out to our good mate Mark at Sydney Custom paint at Guildford. The paint scheme I had in mind is very similar to a paint job I did on a Sporty I owned back in the mid 1970’s. Mark and I have worked together on many a project in the past, and he knows exactly what I am thinking. The final result is outstanding I think. Whilst the paint was being applied, we removed the front wheel, stripped and the 21 inch rim painted in 2 pack black enamel and had the wheel laced up. The stock bars were removed and we fitted a set of 10 inch baby ape hangers, with Black Diamond cables, black levers and Tribal Grips, pegs and shifter peg. The engine got a set of Dark Custom derby and ignition covers.The bike was lowered in the rear by 2 inches, and an American style side mount license plate fitted. The end result is a clean low uncluttered look. A Sprung seat (which is why we called this bike the Springster) was then fitted along with a Screamin’ Eagle black Heavy Breather, ignition leads, a Race Tuner, a set of forward controls (with black diamond shifter rod), and the piece de résistance, the RSD Tracker 2 into 1 exhaust system from Vance & Hines. It sounds very tough. Lots of other black goodies were fitted to this bike like axle covers, swing-arm pivot covers etc. When the paint came back we were all very happy with the end result. Over all the entire bike looks tough and it looks very different from what it did it in stock format. Which just goes to show you that with a little imagination, you can build a unique looking bike using genuine products without breaking the bank? Don’t take my word for it. Come into the dealership and have a look for yourself. This bike is currently on display at our dealership, and of course it is for sale. The bike will be featured in both Live to Ride and Ozbike magazines in the very near future. I would like to thank the crew in the workshop for all their efforts and input into making this build possible.

Tony Williams