Jet Black Harley-Davidson Sportster
For one bloke, once the gut-wrenching work on the farm is out of the way, nothing is more fun than throwing his leg over his Sportster and taking to the bitumen.
ROBERT has been knocking around motorbikes for 10 years and is passionate about his Harley-Davidson Sportster. Back in his hay day, Robert and his brothers would hoot about the back blocks of Virginia out in the northern districts of South Oz, having fun on their Yamaha trail bike, doing the unbelievable things that young blokes do when mucking about on two-wheeled motorised machines.
Years have cracked on by, bikes have come and gone.
A few moons ago, Robert came across the bargain of a lifetime, a H-D Sportster 1200, and after a figure was agreed on, both parties were as happy as a hooker on the beat.
Cruising home on his iron steed, Robert visions about how he wanted to transform his H-D. First up, the paint scheme needed a total change; the sappy blue was just not happening for Robert. He decided Jet Black was the right colour, so with everything dismantled, the spray-gun was out and swaying back and forth to rhythm of the music box blasting away in the background. After four coats, Robert was pleased as punch.
It was time to move onto the next project, the exhaust pipes. Robert looked at the drag pipes and said they needed some styling, so he drilled a swag of holes into some two-inch chrome pipe. And it certainly looks the deal. Bullet holes give the exhaust system a gangster style image. The standard Sportster belt-guard got a dosing of holes drilled into it as well.
The next project was to go for a trip down to the guys at Pro Street for some aftermarket accessories. Nick was a great wealth of information and gave great advice, so with shopping basket in hand, Robert grabbed new foot-pegs, mirrors, fuel cap, fuel tap, hand grips, a billet chrome headlight, and a set of these micro amber indictors that tuck up under the handlebars.
There was another job that needed plenty of attention—the cables for clutch and brakes were far too long and absolutely looked fucking off—adding more sedate shorter cables was in order.
Next mission was the LePera seat. It was imported through Pro Street and took two months to be delivered, but the final look does it justice to the overlook of the Harley-Davidson Sportster.
The wiring was a nightmare. So a phone call to Angelo Caravaggio from Heavy Lec who rocked on out and completely rewired the Sportster.
The rear number plate was tidied up as well with a new chrome frame mount. On the far side of the horsepower plant, the battery is in a fully enclosed chrome box.
The carby is decorated with a chrome Hypercharger air-ram, and by fuck, it looks the deal.
The rear shockers are Hagon, and Robert made up lowering-blocks to give the hog a lower look.
Up the front-end, the drag bars were fitted with Performance Machine grips. The aftermarket Wide Glide raked forks are finished in chrome and look tough.
Another finer point is the Harley-Davidson badges on the fuel tank from a 1965 Sportster.
For petrol-head Robert, the Sportster is a dream come true. The iron steed has come up looking hotter than Hell itself. It’s a gangster looking ride with style that holds its own in any crowd of two wheels.
Spill by Rags
