Tribal Harley-Davidson Evo Fat Boy
A tale of Bop the biker & Ron the bike builder: a combination of two cultures, two warriors with a vision, and a bike that reflects both.
RONNY’S TALE:
HAVING being pretty crook with seven odd heart attacks, five strokes, and an open-heart operation that fucked up, and two pacemaker ops, the only way to have anything to do with bikes was to start spending more time in the shed. The docs took my bike licence, and being stuck at home with the ex, the shed was the nicest and safest place to be. So I started to build bikes again.
I built a few bikes and word got out that I was on the spanners again. I got a call from Bop asking if I could have a look at his Softy, the last of the Evo Fat Boys.
A mate of Bops bought it over and I had a look. The motor was tired and the gearbox was near rooted so I pulled them both out and ended up finding a few cracks in the frame.
Calls were made and Bop and I decided, “Fuck it… give the old girl a birthday!” So the build began.
He had wiring probs which shops in Brissy couldn’t sort out. There were buttons for the starter under the seat, horn buttons in wrong places, and heaps of fucked up spaghetti all over the bike.
Bop already had a 180 arse on the Softy and some sweet-looking gold spoked wheels. He asked if I could do something with the other bits to make them match. No one else said they could so I took up the challenge.
The motor was stripped and I had the flywheels lightened and balanced with new Timken bearings. The cases were blasted and repainted in ceramic, low-gloss black; 10-to-1 Keith Blacks were fitted to the 20-thou-over bore; and the heads were ported and polished with Black Diamond valves and new guides.
A Dyna ignition and 42-mm Mikuni carb were fitted along with a EV47 cam, new cam bearings, new lifters and pushrods; and the oil pump was overhauled.
The original rocker boxes were ditched and 1200 Sporty units (powder-coated black) were fitted to give a slimmer rounder look. Took a bit of modification but got them to fit and they look perfect as Bop says. It’s had a few Evo riders fucked as they couldn’t see what was different but they knew something wasn’t the same as theirs.
The gearbox was stripped and rebuilt with some Andrews gears and new bearings, seals, etc, and fitted to the newly welded and powder-coated frame.
Bop’s front-end was a shit-looking chrome, stainless and black (sorry Bop). I told him it needed to be changed.
I do all my own powder-coating these days so no waiting for four weeks to get things done so all the black bits on the bike were done in-house. All the porting and mechanical work I do in-house as well except the boring of barrels.
Now, with front-end attached, it was time to send the tins to one of Bop’s mates to get painted. Bop sent him pictures of the bike taking shape with the chrome, black and gold. Together, they agreed on the paint scheme the bike now sports. It don’t take all the glory from the bike — it makes it look as though it all flows — and the tanks, guards, etc, all tell a story about the Fijian warrior Bop is.
I also wired everything to a fusebox so every circuit has its own fuse, unlike Harley that runs four or five circuits off one circuit breaker (which ya can’t see if fucked on the side of the road). Also the buttons on the handlebars work all the switches you would find on a standard Softy but the lack of big controls makes the bars look fatter. Even the headlight dipper button is different as it runs a VW latching relay so all Bop has to do is touch the button and it’ll go from low to high. Touch again and it’ll drop back to low.
The chubby apes, covers, frame, oil tank, and all other bits are done in either satin or matt black with the headlight and fork covers in gloss.
Now the gold ya won’t believe! I looked for gold leaf but it wasn’t good enough for me; then I looked at gold powder-coat but it looked like canned baby-shit. I asked a few anodisers and they only do steel, not alloy. Then one day I was in Supercheap Autos and I spotted a can of gold. I took it home and tried it, but it looked like mustard. Then I tried it over chrome and what ya see now is the finished product. Many who I talk to on internet forums don’t believe me when I say it’s rattle-can paint but, hey, anything is do-able in my shed. The main thing is Bop’s happy. Also, the bits that are gold are easily repaired if the gold gets chipped.
Bop’s pipes were already there but looked tired so a fresh coat of matt-black ceramic got them looking great again.
The air-cleaner cover was an old one, sold years ago in a pack called Tribal Warrior, so going with the warrior theme are tribal forward controls.
I met Bop many years ago at some of the Odin’s Warriors MC parties. They were good days and nights back when I was healthy. Bop is one those blokes who knows what ‘mate’ really means. In the middle of the build, my house was broken into and I had more than $10,000 worth of parts stolen and heaps of other shit too including my medications. Bop and another mate, Issues, who’s bike I’m also building (a 117-cu Twin Cam) helped me with support, money and labour. I owe them both big time!
My sons helped me with the lifting and welding that had to be done (seeing as I’ve already fucked one pacemaker while welding). Thanks go to Matt and Josh, my sons; the mates in my club, Odin’s Warriors MC, for keeping the bike flame alive while I’ve been crook; and to my ex-wife for fucking off and letting me get back to the things I love most.
BOP’S TALE:
I AM Fijian/Samoan so hence the art-work design; it gives both aspects of the both islands’ art. The killer paint job was laid on by Chris from Kip Art Signs Graphics and Airbrushing in Ipswich, Queensland. The weapons on the tanks are Fijian war clubs: the one with the sharp angle is a WAU and is used for breaking limbs, and also driving the point into the sternum and lifting a human up onto like it, using it like a meat hanger, draining the body of blood before boiling up; the other with the ball-like shape is a ULA and is used for throwing the club, which can vary in size up to 6 foot in length, cracking the skull, and can also be thrown to take down a running away enemy.
The frame work was carried out by Diesel Morgan from D-Sel Motorcycles, Karratha, WA. Diesel chopped the front-end and cut the struts to add the new rear guard and wider arse-end.
Fat Bob stretched tanks were also added; and the headlight, low profile rims and gold spokes made and purchased from the USA.
The seat is a Corbin Gunfighter pulled apart and re-moulded to suit the tanks and my arse. This was done by Steve at MC Roadrunner, Helensvale, Gold Coast.
The number plate 8ATI is meant to be BATI which means Warrior in Fijian, and as you know, Ron is a warrior so I decided to add the plate out of respect.
Great club, always made me feel like family, and that has been since I was 16 when I first stepped foot in their old clubhouse many years ago.
Ron has put my bike together better then I could have imagined. I had a vision and he knew exactly what I wanted.
Lastly, that’s my young fella posing with his dad and the bike. At the time of the shoot, Tui-Paul was a ripe old 11-months-old and another warrior in the making. So don’t fuck with his dad’s bike!
Pics by Jo; words by Bop & Ronny
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