Chilli Resurrected Chopper
Chilli loved the bike at first sight, even though it needed some work to get it going. He asked Bomba at King Pin Choppers in Queensland to help him out.
BOMBA: Some years back, a guy brought in a set of Fat Boy wheels and a S&S engine and we proceeded to plan a bike for him. We got him a Softail frame, the tank and a front-end. Apparently the engine had been done up but we didn’t know it at the time. We kept building the bike and even had a photo shoot lined up with Ozbike, but then one day, the bike and customer disappeared and we never saw him again.
One day Chilli arrives with the bike and says he bought it off the previous owner which was about three to four years after we built it. Chilli wanted us to get it going. It needed a bit of fixing up because it had been sitting around for a long time. Chilli had his own ideas but was really keen to just get it going.
I got the front-end from Cassons in Sydney which is a one-off and two-inches-over. Chilli wanted the T-bars.
Brett from Brett’s Custom Paint did the paint job. Chilli wanted this colour and we got the ghost flames for a different effect.
We did the pipes ourselves. We call them the McDonald’s pipes because of the M through them.
We’re halfway through the rego process; there’s only the exhaust check to be done.
CHILLI: I’ve only ever had dirt bikes before this one. I had a mate who put me onto it, and when I looked at it, I fell straight in love with it. The hardest part was convincing the wife to say yes, but amazingly, she did.
It had been sitting in a garage; another bloke who is in gaol had it built but it was incomplete so I took it to Bomba who already knew everything about it.
I’ve only ridden it around the blocks three or four times. We’ve been fixing it up and going through the engineering process.
My wife Trisha is starting to fall in love with it just like she did with my snakes. There was a big risk in buying it because we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into, but now it’s starting to come together and show its potential, she just wants a back seat on it.
The dyna paperwork says it’s at 133 horsepower. Bomba and I discussed that we’re going to have to convert it to a chain-drive because of the power. He reckons it spins in first, second and third gear.
I’m really looking forward to getting on it. It’s the pride and joy I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid.
Photos by Wall 2 Wall
