The Exile Fat Bloke Street Custom Motorcycle
The rumble that echoes through the laneways of Melbourne isn’t just the sound of a high-performance machine — it’s the sound of a Fat Bloke — a low, mean, blacked-out custom that looks like it crawled out of a gritty graphic novel.
THE story of this street custom began thousands of miles away, in the humid, chaotic heat of Indonesia. Jurgen was no stranger to the Harley-Davidson life. He’s owned stock bikes, minor customs and polished cruisers. But he craved something raw. He wanted the Exile look — the minimalist, brutalist style pioneered by Russell Mitchell in the States. While living in Semarang, a bustling Indonesian city of millions, Jurgen decided it was time to build the Fat Bloke.
In Indonesia, the rules of the road are more like suggestions. “Big motorcycles are mostly owned by high-ranking police officers,” Jurgen explains with a wry smile. “As long as you have a few dollars in your pocket to pay off an officer, you’re safe.”
He partnered with Mr. Islander at Leduwi, a man with four decades of grease under his fingernails and a legendary reputation for taming Harleys. Together, they hatched a plan: order two complete Exile bike-kits from California — one for Jurgen, one for a friend — and air-freight them to Singapore. From there, they would be smuggled into Indonesia to bypass the eye-watering 200 percent import duty.
The frames and parts arrived on four massive pallets. They were whisked away to a local Honda dealership, where the factory-grade booths were used to apply the high-gloss black finish and primary coatings. The forks were fitted, the silhouette began to form, and the dream of riding to the Yogyakarta Bike Week seemed within reach.
Then the engines vanished.
The two Total Performance, 121-cubic-inch power plants were sitting in a customs office, waiting for a signature, when the Anti-Corruption Squad raided the building. In the blink of an eye, the engines dropped off the radar. They weren’t seized; they simply ceased to exist in the official record.
Months passed. The engines didn’t resurface.
Life changed and Jurgen found himself packing his bags for Melbourne, Australia. He managed to get the rolling chassis out of Indonesia and across the ocean, but as he was about to trade the lawless freedom of the islands for the iron-clad regulations of the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, the officials told him: “No! It’s a rigid frame. It can’t be registered. Sell it.”
But Jurgen hadn’t come this far to walk away. Through a mix of creativity and sheer persistence, the bike cleared customs and found its way to Luke, a gifted builder in Melbourne who specialised in making the impossible street-legal.
Since the original engines were still ‘lost’ in the Indonesian ether, Jurgen bought a new heart: a Patrick Racing, 120-cubic-inch monster, partially finished in satin. Luke began the surgical work of aligning the drivetrain, fitting the massive Jims six-speed gearbox, and ensuring the open primary would transfer the grunt without tearing the bike apart.
When Luke had taken the project as far as he could, he handed the torch to Mick, another master builder, to get the Fat Bloke across the finish-line of registration.
Then, the phone rang. It was an Indonesian freight forwarder. The original engine had resurfaced in Jakarta and was being held for a ‘ransom’ of 10 million rupiah (roughly $1100) likely to fund a customs officer’s holiday. Jurgen paid the fee, sold the original engine at cost in Jakarta, and focused every ounce of energy on the Melbourne build.
The result is a masterpiece of dark engineering.
The Daytec rigid-frame cradles the new engine which breathes through a 45 mm Mikuni carburettor. The power hits the pavement through a monster rear wheel — a 15-inch rim shod in a massive 230 Metzeler tyre. The front-end is just as aggressive, featuring an SPJ, extra-wide, fat glide 300 and a 200-series tyre that makes most rear tyres look skinny.
Every detail is a nod to the Exile philosophy: the tan-leather spring-mounted seat by Le Pera, the Grip Ace hidden switches, and the six-gallon Fat Bob tanks split by a classic H-D speedo. There is no chrome here, only the deep, bottomless void of high-gloss black paint and black anodised aluminium.
Today, the Fat Bloke is more than just a custom ride. It is a fully registered, legal, and lethal addition to the Melbourne streets. It’s a bike that shouldn’t exist — a machine that survived corruption in Semarang and red tape in Australia.
Jurgen doesn’t talk much about the struggle anymore. When he thumb-starts the Techcycle starter-motor and the 120-cube engine roars to life, the only thing that matters is the road ahead. He’s done with the logistics. He’s done with the bribes. Now, Jurgen just intends to make some miles.
Words by Knackers
- GENERAL
- Make: Street Custom
- Owner: Jurgen
- Builders: Owner/G Works & Mick
- FRAME
- Make: Daytec custom-rigid
- Rake: 38 degrees
- ENGINE
- Make: Patricks Racing
- Capacity: 121 cubes
- Ignition: Dual Fire electronic
- Carb: Mikuni 45 mm
- Starter motor: Techcycle 2.0 KW
- Air cleaner: fat chrome velocity stack
- Exhaust: custom
- TRANSMISSION
- Type: Jims six-speed
- Clutch: Barnett
- Open primary: Rivera Primo three-inch belt
- Rear drive: chain & sprocket
- WHEELS & TYRES
- F rim: Monster-spoked 15 x 7-inch
- R rim: Monster-spoked 15 x 7-inch
- F tyre: 200 Metzler
- R tyre: 230 Metzler
- F brake: Exile Cycles 4 spotter
- R brake: Exile Cycles Sprotor
- Front disc: Exile Cycles
- SUSPENSION
- Front-end: SPJ extra wide Fat Glide 300
- Triple Trees: SPJ
- Seat: LePera seat, Exile Cycles-spring mounted
- CONTROLS
- Bars: SPJ-Fat Wide
- Forward controls: Exile Cycles
- Levers: Grip Ace
- Grips: Grip Ace
- Speedo: H-D
- Headlight: SPJ 3.5-inch
- Tail light: Sparto
- Indicators: LED
- GUARDS & TINWORK
- F guard: Exile Cycles
- R guard: Exile Cycles
- Fuel tank: H-D 6 gallon Fat Bob
- Oil tank: H-D
- PAINT & FINISH
- Colour: High gloss and anodised black
More amazing Ozbike features to check out:
