Road Kill & Street Bob Harley-Davidsons

I FIRST started riding in the old police paddocks in Westall, Victoria, with anything we could get our hands on: old scooters, BSA Bantams, etc. I purchased a 1955 Triumph Tiger 100 in 1970 from a hippie over the other side of town then rode it home. That’s when I realised it had no clutch or brakes. Lucky, it was a quiet Saturday afternoon. After arriving home my father, a mechanic, locked it away in the garage as I was only 15-years-old. However, this is when I learned to pick a lock.

I rode that bike for the next year until I sold it after I found a 1953 BSA with a plunger frame. I spent 12 months changing parts and scavenging bits from other bikes until it looked like nothing I had ever seen before — low at the back, two-inches-over at the front, stripped and chromed with apes.

I have owned many bikes over the 44 years I have been riding: Triumphs, Nortons and Harleys with a spattering of trail bikes. I have worked in many different jobs: builder’s labourer, pool builder, high rise construction glazier, and as a union organiser for the CFMEU. I have lived in Grafton, NSW, for more than 15 years, and I must say, I love this area with its perfect all-year-round riding conditions and with some of the best bike roads in Oz — and only two hours ride from the madness of the Gold Coast.

No custom parts were available in Australia when I first took delivery of my brand new 2003 100^th Anniversary Road King (Road Kill). I had to buy most of the accessories from the USA. I wanted to customise the bike to look like an old Mercury lead sled. I achieved this by lowering and shaving the front fender and that got me the tyre sitting in the guard where I wanted it. I fitted the ‘Road Kill’ decal to finish the front fender.

The paint on the front fender was done by Skin by Finn at Coffs Harbour.

Then the rear end got the lowering treatment. I added the Legend Air Ride shocks with an on-board pump to the rear end. I also added a set of 1.5-inch lowering blocks.

I added a Headwinds billet headlight nacelle and spotlights, indicator lights and light-bar to complete the look I was after.

I also added Performance Machine brakes front and rear, extended gear-shift levers for easier shifting when drag racing, a set of Wild One handlebars, and the wheels are a set of Tourer, nine-spoke cast-wheels which I had chromed.

The motor is a 95 ci with high comp pistons, Screamin’ Eagle heads, roller rockers, 257 cam, Feuling billet cam-support-plate, high volume oil pump, Speeds Performance 50 mm throttle body and breathers.

It also has a Johnson Engineering twist gear installed in the gearbox. This gives me low ratios 1st through to 4th then a high ratio 5th. This works really well at the drag strip. The bike runs consistent 12-second passes at around 117 mph.

Also the bike has the Russell braided brake and clutch lines, Harley hydraulic clutch, Harley heavy-duty clutch-kit, and Harley oil cooler.

I have ridden this bike to many parts of Australia and have 97,600 km on it now. My best trip so far has been to the Lions Den Hotel in far north Queensland. As I used to live not far from the Lions Den, I decided to do this ride the minute I heard the road had been tarred. This bike has never left me stranded on the side of the road. It is just as happy to be on the drag strip as it is running hard 3000 km from home.

I purchased the bike from Ashley at North Coast V-Twins and have been looked after by Garth, who has done a great job servicing and adding all my go-fast bits to make this one bulletproof Road King. This bike has won many trophies at bike shows up and down the East Coast. It also took out Best Tourer at the last Bike Week held on the Gold Coast.

With my ’09 Street Bob, I wanted it to look like it was built in a shed 40 years ago. I had a 1953 BSA with a plunger frame in the early ’70s that looked like the old school bikes that people are getting back into now. Basically, I wanted the Bob to hark back to this era.

First off, we stripped the wheels and replaced the genuine spokes with stainless spokes then painted the hubs black. We then painted the front forks black and installed a set of black Flanders, 13-inch mini apes, then added a Harley chromed tacho with a shift-light included.

 As this model came out with the silver motor, I added a black primary cover, black gearbox covers and a black, Roland Sands, old school, cam cover. Then we installed black barrels with billet Panhead rocker covers.

The bike’s first outing was to a classic bike show in Coffs Harbour and it caused quite a bit of confusion amongst the old timers. Some swore it was a Panhead motor in a modern Harley frame.

The paint job is not flat, more a satin finish which I like as it is a bit easier to look after. Skin by Finn took care of painting duties.

I needed some better stopping power and got that with Brembo brakes front and rear.

The motor has a 103 kit, high comp pistons, 260 cams, top of the range Screamin’ Eagle ported and polished heads, billet cam-support-plate, extra stud kit, 58 mm throttle body and auto decompression units to take care of all that compression on start up.

Exhaust is a Vance & Hines race-pipe 2-into-1.

The bike was purchased new from Ashley at North Coast V-Twins. Garth and Stewart are responsible for all the servicing and work carried out on this bike; and I must thank all the crew from V-Twins for their efforts.

Photos by Rod Cole; story by Clemo