Bull Ant Trike Build

WALKING ONE day, not walking the next. That was how quickly my life took a major turn. I was diagnosed with full progressive Multiple Sclerosis (MS) but I kept riding my bike until it became too dangerous. The decision to stop riding was the right but hard thing to do. Due to the nature of the disease I could have a seizure at any given moment and I didn’t want to bring down one of my brothers on a run.

The experience was made easier by my brothers’ support and one of them, Danny 666, carried me pillion on all the runs for quite a few years; thanks bro.

When I was diagnosed I had two choices. I could either let the disease get the better of me (I wouldn’t be alive today) or learn to adapt to life and overcome any obstacles that came my way.

I’ve had MS for 18 years now and if it weren’t for the disease I wouldn’t have this awesome trike! My wife Judy realised that I lived and breathed riding so together we decided that I should buy a bike and use it as the basis for a trike to suit me and my disabilities. Thanks to “equity mate” it began!

I bought a standard Softail Twin Cam as a basis for the trike. Kurtzo (from Burleigh Bars) organised the trike rear-end from Sydney. I had all my basic bits to get rolling again.

While I waited and waited for the arse-end I prepared the front part, I made my own hand shifter and running board brackets to keep my foot on the bloody thing.

Next came a set of 1.5 inch Burleigh Bars and eventually I got the rear-end. One day later I was riding down the highway; no rear brakes or taillight. I didn’t give a fuck; it was good!

Since then everything has been completed properly and it’s been clocking up the kays for three years now. I ride it all the time. Like I say—I didn’t build it to sit in a shed.

It took a while to fine tune the trike so it handled well. The triple trees were recently upgraded to a five-degree front-end with two-inch-over tubes. One major problem was it turned into a parachute at about 120 km/h because of the back tyres that stick out. Gary (from Revolution Motorcycles) and I had a bit of a talk to see what I needed to do. That’s when we decided that it needed more power so I had the motor beefed up. Thanks to Gary for supplying the parts, his workshop and some good advice.

We also put in 570G S&S Gear Drive cams, and used Screamin’ Eagle valve springs. Next it needed more fuel so a 45 mm Mikuni was fitted and a bigger main jet. I tried various ignition systems and found the S&S IST ignition was the most compatible for the engine, weight of trike and my style of riding.

Having the nature of a bower bird I can’t go past the shiny stuff and I am constantly adding another chrome part to the trike. As soon as they came out I updated to the wild and chunky 1.75 inch Burleigh Bars.

Nearly all of the accessories were supplied by Gary (i.e. skulls on rear struts, taillights, air cleaner, BDL belt drive, etc).

What you see is the end result (for now) of eating potatoes and carrots for weeks on end. It was worth it and my missus is glad to see a smile on my face!

A massive thank to my wife Judy for her support and patience; John’s Customs; Kurtzo for his help in the beginning and his fucking great bars; all my bros for their support; and Gary at Revolution Motorcycles for all the accessories, bits and pieces and parts from clearance lights to the full top end build—thanks mate!

words by Bull Ant & Jess; pics by Jules & Walter