Tough Gold-Rush Pro-Street Custom Motorcycle
“This tough custom is pretty damn striking with its black and gold theme,” said Waz at Queens Street Customs.
GOLD RUSH started with a pro-street frame that’s been cut a lot; stretched a bit. It was set up for mid-mounts which we changed to forward controls. The back support in the frame down to the gearbox has been cut and shaved. There are lots of points and sharp bits that have been carried right through from start to finish.
It has a S&S 124-cube motor. We got Pete from P&L at Toongabbie to do all the internals for us.
Chip Foose does all the custom cars in America; he’s on Foxtel. He designed the rims and the brakes for us. It features 360 hub brakes and they’re the first in Australia. The brakes are actually in the hub.
I like the skulls. There are plenty on there and it gives it that tough look. If you’ve got a Harley-Davidson, you want something tough-looking. I think skulls go really well with tough bikes.
The paint is a carbon-fibre look but it isn’t carbon fibre; it’s painted carbon. It’s a little trick the shop does. A lot of people would like to know how we do it but it’s something we keep to ourselves.
Richard from Villawood Modern Metals did all the plating; and then pretty much everything else was done in the shop, like the tank and guards and that.
It’s 23-carrot gold-plated. For the gold-plating, all the tanks have to be cleaned first. They go through a process of polishing the actual material, then nickel-plating it, then polishing it up again before it finally gets dipped into the gold. Once it has been gold-plated, it goes into the baking oven to make sure it’s nice and hard and so you don’t get any cracks or sink-backs.
The gold on the motor handles the heat; we’re pretty lucky that they’re all billet aluminium and that holds the heat a lot more than steel. The only trouble we have had is with the pipes, besides that everything is quite good and we can ride it.
We take the gold chain off though; it’s too expensive to run around with that gold chain on. We’ve got another chain we run on it and another set of pipes we run on it too.
It was built more than 12 months ago and it’s still getting looks. People still can’t comprehend the work that’s gone into it. It’s pretty striking with the black and gold theme.
It’s a 330 arse-end; all the arse-end has been cut and shaped. The oil tank is internal under the seat in the frame. The custom Mean Street front-end was sent over from the States.
Photos by Wall 2 Wall; words by Waz at Queens Street Customs
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