Brisbane Blown Budget Bike Build
The rush was on to get the bike finished for the annual Brisbane Hot Rod & Custom Bike Show... with the deadline for the show looming, it was full steam ahead.
BUILDING a custom bike involves a lot of money, jumping through hoops to keep the ADR people happy, and time away from the family. Wal found this out during the build of his custom…
Wal’s custom started life as a Big Bear Choppers Devil’s Advocate kit. As you can see, it has since been highly personalised to reach its present state.
Geoff from Ultimate Choppers supplied a lot of the parts for the build, including that tough looking blower hanging off the left-hand side of the beast.
Andy from Fireballs Custom at Burpengary was instrumental in the first assembly and worked long and hard to work out which bit went where and what bit worked with the other.
After the initial assembly, the whole she-bang was stripped down and powdercoated in silver while the bugs were worked out to satisfy the dreaded ADR cun… er, people.
Earl Gilchrest at Autotechnica helped out as far as getting the bike up to the legal Queensland ADR specs and registered.
Once all the legalities were out of the way, the real fun started.
The supercharger was bolted onto the S&S motor by Rusty at Reds Sleds and any unnecessary shit removed.
After 2000 km were clocked up, the bike was stripped down at Wiggo’s place and the parts were sent out for their individual makeovers before the final assembly.
The wheels and alloy parts got the treatment at Nunawading Electroplating; all the nuts, bolts and steel bits were highly chromed at Pine Rivers Electroplating.
While these parts were getting blinged up, the frame and the tin work were stripped back, and all the welds tidied up by Bill at WB Refinishing who also laid on the silver base coat.
The motor went back to Rusty and a set of roller rockers were fitted and the compression was dropped to match the extra loading from the blower.
Next, the frame, guards, tank, etc, were handed over to Little Mick for the final paint scheme to be applied. The end result is mind blowing.
The rush was on to get the bike finished for the annual Brisbane Hot Rod & Custom Bike Show. Bill applied the final clear coat; the exhaust was made as were the handlebars and new controls; braided lines were fitted; the wiring was concealed—with the deadline for the show looming, it was full steam ahead.
At 7 pm the night before the show, the bike was ready to rock ’n’ roll at last.
On the initial start up, she unceremoniously started to pump out all her oil onto the garage floor. FARK!! The fitting to the oil pump was broken and after a frenzy of swearing, spanners and ezy-outs, the new fitting was in place and the bleeding was stopped.
It was now 8-30 pm.
Wal and Co made the midnight deadline and the bike was entered successfully. Very successfully actually! She won Top Wild Custom and Top Paint. Not too shabby, aye, and deservedly so.
Apart from the above mentioned people, Wal would also like to thank Dale, Bim, Cow, Dwayne, Jason at Feral Metal, Les and Timmy (Fat pipes), Cookie from Powdercoating Professionals, a special thanks to Wiggo for allowing Wal to live at his place during the build, and last but not least, a special thanks to his family for their patience.
Pic by Jo; words by Chuck U Farley
