Heavy Duty issue 115- ProCharger

 project bike  it’s official: project stock Harley that we used as a base platform to begin procharger is on our build. Which, in a way, is a kind of tribute in the loose … itself. Awords doc Pics michael meston But let me set the record straight: I love over-the- t the recent Melbourne Motorcycle Expo top bikes. Choppers, bobbers, diggers – you name blokes kept walking up to me while I was it; the wilder and crazier the machine, the better. If I standing by my bike and making comments lived in Sweden I’d have a 27ft-long front end. If I lived like, “Sensational bike Doc, what did it start in California I’d have apehangers that would scrape out as?” By which they assumed Project ProCharger the bottoms of overpasses. If I lived in Texas I’d run had started life as a Fat Boy, Heritage or some other wide-open straight pipes on a fat-tyred, ape-hangered chopper powered by a 145-cube S&S motor. But I don’t. I live in a country where the powers that be place an ever-increasing focus on suppressing 56

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 project bike  above from top: Bling motorcycling in general, and custom bikes in partic- 58 central – Wire Plus ular. And while I have a philosophy that basically speedo, ProCharger, aligns with the pithy sentiment, ‘Fuck The World’, I and a trick clutch cover. do not enjoy riding around on a cop magnet – a bike that makes every oncoming cop car or bike a potential threat to my day. Uh, uh. I’ve been there, done that, way too many times … And I despise getting defects and having to go through the bullshit the Department for Transport and Other Bullcrap regularly pulls on bikers. Plus I hate giving the bloody government more money to waste on whatever it might need to get them re-elected. So my design brief was to build a bike that was cool, clean, fast and legal – but still great looking, and using only the best of the best in components. Living in South Australia as I do, I naturally called upon the services of Andy from Hyperformance Cycles/SA Choppers – SA’s premier custom bike fabricator, and as good a builder as you will find anywhere in the country. The bike you see on these pages began with the ProCharger supercharger. When it arrived from Kansas I unpacked it, sat it on the work- shop floor of SA Choppers, and Andy and I strolled around it, kicking ideas back and forth about what sort of bike to build. Of course what you see on these pages is what we came up with, but not without many detours along the way, a few trips up blind alleys, and more headaches than a migraine sufferer on cracker night. Despite what bike shows on TV might indicate, building a ground-up custom is neither easy nor straightforward by any means. Hundreds upon hundreds of hours go into a build such as this. Sure, you can bolt together a simple rigid-frame bike with relative ease compared to this one, but when you mix and match parts as we have, things begin to get mighty complex. We originally sourced the frame from a builder who assured us it was all set up in accordance with our requests: right-side gearbox, chain final drive and 250mm back tyre. Wrong! With the gearbox in place the chain couldn’t be fitted, as a section of the frame interfered with it. So back it went for modifications, but still it didn’t come back right. So back it went again and once again it was returned needing further mods. The swingarm also presented problems, but by now Andy was over sending things back and forth, and so he rolled out his oxy acetylene trolley and began cutting, bending and welding both frame and swin- garm into the required shape and dimensions. While on the subject of cutting and welding, as usual the aftermarket rear guard required a heap of modifying to get it just right – so much so that Andy might as well have started with a piece of flat steel and gone from there. And more cutting and welding was required to correctly position the intercooler, as we are

right: Is that a trick paint job, or what? The artwork was laid on by Troy of Nightmare Designs. not using a stock frame and our dimensions are therefore different. But bit by bit, problem by problem, the bike began to come together. Mounting the Pingel electric shift actuator presented a tough chal- lenge. Pingel provides top-shelf mounting brackets for a whole range of Harley-Davidsons, among other bikes. But we had the problem of fitting it in between the engine, the intercooler and the ProCharger extended primary case. However, Andy was able to design and machine a bracket that fits into this very tight space with less clearance than a bee’s dick – and it works exactly as it should. Then there are the very cool polished alloy brackets that support the blinkers on the handlebars, some- thing that Andy also designed and which are beauti- fully carved units that add to the style of the bike. 59

 project bike  GUTS&BOLTS Those drilled heat ENGINE shields sure look Type:......Twin Cam 88ci w/ Pro Charger Cases: ...............................................H-D trick, but man – what Bearings/conrods/barrels: ................H-D Pistons/bore/stroke: ...................... stock a headache! with Compression ratio: ........................ stock Ignition: ..................................... Twin Tec “we’veitaalnredawdye’vene tweornedstowmoe major shows Carburetion: ............................45 Mikuni trophies ...” Manifold: ...........................................H-D Cam cover:.............................Arlen Ness Other custom touches include the two switches more, grind again, inspect – that’s how it went, but the Air cleaner: ...........................Pro Charger on the handlebars, one on the left and one on the end result is perfection. Oil filter:.............. Micronic stainless steel right. The left one operates the Pingel electric shifter; Exhaust: ......D&D Performance 2-into-1 press the top one to change up and the bottom one to Now that’s not the end of the story, as we then TRANSMISSION change down. The one on the right side of the ’bars is decided that drilling the shields to expose the black Type: ......................2010 Baker 6-speed for the SAS (Simplified Air Suspension) unit and the ceramic coating underneath would look trick. And it Clutch: ........................Scorpion Lock-up same logic applies; press the top one to raise the bike does. But boy oh boy, measuring, eye-balling, marking Primary drive: .................................chain using the inbuilt compressor in the shocker unit and and drilling the holes accurately wasn’t a stroll through Rear drive: .............................. DID chain press the bottom one to slam it down. the park by any means. Measurements can only take Derby cover:...........SA Choppers (clear) one so far, and because of the compound curves of Mods:......................... Pingel Power Shift Having been there while it was being done, I can the shields we had to mix and match what the tape f rame tell you that it was no small effort on Andy’s part to measure told us was right, with what our eyes told us Frame: ................................SA Choppers squeeze all that wiring through the stylish Burleigh looked right. Rake:...................................................38° Bars. And speaking of these cool handlebars, the Seat: ............................................Skinner Performance Machine controls require modification Now this bike was built as a rider rather than a su sp ension to the standard ’bars; in order for Dave at Burleigh show bike, but we’ve entered two major shows with Front: ................... American Suspension Bars to set this up we needed to send him the PM it and won some trophies, so we’re pretty happy from Triple trees: ......... American Suspension controls to ensure a perfect fit. That’s just one more that point of view. Next issue we’ll take a look at the Rear: ..... Custom Cycles air suspension step along the path of this build requiring a certain movers and shakers of the aftermarket industry who WHEELS & TYRES amount of effort and time to get things just right. supplied many of the parts and we’ll give you some Rims: ......................................PM Factor feedback on how it performs with that blower. HD F tyres:.......Metzeler Marathon 120 x 21 The D&D two-into-one exhaust system was another R tyres:......Metzeler Marathon 240 x 18 marathon for us, as it’s designed and built for a stock F caliper: ............. American Suspension Softail, where it would bolt straight on. But our right- R caliper: ............................................PM side-drive gearbox sticks out too far, and this meant Rotors: ....................................PM Factor the front header had to be cut and shut in several Brakelines: .................................. braided places – ditto the heat shield. c ontrols Bars: ....................................PM Contour Something like 16 cuts were required for the heat Grips/levers: .......................................PM shield with small triangular pieces needing to be Throttle cables:.............................Barnett added to fill the gaps that resulted. Now to be able to Switchgear:.........................................PM re-chrome the shields the welding had to be perfect, Mirrors: ..............................................PM with no pin holes or spatter, which was another time- Gearchange/footpegs:........................PM consuming process. Weld, grind, inspect, weld some Headlight:...............................Headwinds Taillight: ...............................custom LED Indicators:.......................Micro Diamond Speedo/tacho: .........................Wire Plus Wiring:.......................................Wire Plus gu ards & f inish Guards: ..............................SA Choppers Tanks:.....H-D, modified by SA Choppers Painter:...................... Nightmare Designs Chrome: .......................Chrome Masters 60