The Orange Warlock
Gazza is always building custom bikes—has a passion for them. Luckily, he has a couple of good mates, some of the best bike builders in the business, to help him out.
THIS BIKE did the custom motorbike circuit in the USA for a couple of years before it came over here. It was imported in 2001 by Warwick Stevenson; he was the World BMX Champion, a mate of mine. He had the bike half built over there; it only had 6000 miles on the clock when it arrived here.
Hearing the Warlock was up for sale, I grabbed it. It was a quick purchase due to the fact it was a personal import with current NSW registration.
I had it stripped down to polish the motor, gearbox, starter motor, fork legs; everything is either chromed or polished.
I did a lot of the work myself, but most of the work was done by either Choco on the North Coast or Uncle Neil’s Customs on the Central Coast.
Choco made a lot of the handmade custom bits in stainless steel; for example, the horn cover, coil cover, front spoiler, blinker bars and brackets. The frame insert covers, engine mount covers and quick-release fuel line are also custom.
It’s got J&B brakes, four-spot calipers, floating front and rear discs; and J&B forward controls. The timing cover is machined out of billet alloy.
The oil tank filter is under the seat.
It’s an American Maverick frame. It’s fitted with Progressive rear shocks and a lowering kit.
The polished billet wheels are 18 and 21 inch.
The handlebar-mounted speedo is calibrated in mph.
The motor is a 96 cube S&S, fully worked; 585 cams, flowed heads, H4 ignition, super-G S&S carbs fitted with a Thunderslide kit.
To be different, we made a twin side-by-side exhaust instead of up-and-down.
The name Warlock came from the painter who is a famous airbrusher in the States. It’s got a marbleised paint underneath.
The bike first hit the road when I went to the Vietnam Vets Bike Show in Pearlbrook. I lost my mirrors on the way and ran out of fuel. Got a load of defects—mirrors, pipes, etc—by a nice Constable just out of Singleton but soldiered on regardless. Rode it up five km of dirt road going into the show but it still won Best Custom.
Forever the showman, I also won the burn-out comp. If I go to any more shows I’ll need a sponsor for the back tyres.
Many thanks to Choco, Uncle Neil, and Dan from Brushfire—three of the best custom bike builders I know—and Jonesy from the Skull Riders Club, for helping me turn the Warlock into one very special custom bike.
Also thanks to Steve and the boys at Wildwest Customs for their great work on getting the beast purring like a pussy cat.
pics by Walter Wall; words by Gazza
