ProCharger Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
Tony’s done a few customising touches to his Fat Boy to make it truly his own bike, and like most Harley-Davidson owners, he’s got a few more ideas for further down the track. But, as he says, the main thing’s always been horsepower…
IT STARTED off as a stock Fat Boy. Over the last few years I’ve put on a new front-end and controls, raked it three degrees, and put a ProCharger on it.
The ProCharger kit cost $10,000 and I had to change a bit more as well. When I originally set out to do it, Andy at Hyperformance Cycles told me, “You’ll need more than that. You’re going to need a new carburettor, a new ignition, a new clutch.” So I had to put a new ignition unit in, a new carburettor to take forced induction, and a slipper clutch, like a racing one, as Andy maintained the current one wouldn’t take it. He just knew what was needed straight up.
Andy’s done all the modifications on it. I haven’t had an ounce of trouble with anything Andy’s done on the bike and that’s because he knows what he’s doing. There’s no ifs or buts, he knows exactly what needs to be done and executes it to perfection. When I picked it up he said, “There won’t be any teething troubles; just get on it and ride it like you stole it.”
I’ve done that, and it just goes and goes and goes. If anything, I might stroke the engine a bit more, but I’m pretty happy with it the way it is now.
It’s a 12:1 high comp motor and everyone else said I was going to have to decomp the motor to put the supercharger on. I spoke to Andy about that and he said it would be fine.
You look at bikes on the internet for inspiration. I never thought I’d get the bike to this point, although I did want to supercharge it for quite a while. Basically, I had to do it and I think it was the best $14,000 I ever spent. It’s absolutely marvellous and it’s been bullet proof; not a damn thing’s gone wrong with it; it’s been brilliant.
You can’t get your feet on the pegs properly on the charger side, so it’s a little bit uncomfortable to ride, and if you’re fisting it around it is a bit of a handful. The first decent ride I took it on, I ended up getting massive arm pump by the end of the day, but I must admit I was really smashing it about.
Bonez did all the detailing for me. Troy at Nightmare Designs did all the paint a few years back and it’s stood the test of time.
You can’t wear anything loose: I tuck my boot laces under a strap otherwise the charger just sucks them into its mouth; there’s a fair bit of pull on it. Even if you’ve just got the bike idling and hit the throttle you can have your hand six inches away but still feel it get drawn to the mouth of it. At 200 kays it’s really pulling something bad.
It’s brilliant to ride and never seems to run out of horsepower or run out of go; even at 200 it’s still got throttle; it’s just great. I reckon I could probably get to about 240, 250, although I don’t know I’d ever want to; it was pretty scary at 200 just because of the way you sit. You’re not in a crouched position like you are on a sports bike so it can be really scary.
The suspension is due to be replaced just because of its age, and rather than put a decent set of shockers in, I think airbags will complete the overall picture. So I’m going to airbag the rear-end, do a little bit of braid on some of the charger hoses, a new set of forward controls just so I can keep my feet on them properly, and I think I might do the seat in two-tone stingray skin.
Overall, it’s what I would consider nearly finished. I’m starting to show it now and have won about five trophies and a shitload of other stuff —ribbons, certificates, bottles of wine, boots, all sorts of gear.’
photos by Chris Randells; words by Tony
