Anchor Man Harley-Davidson Fat Boy

“I’VE BEEN dealing with Andy at Hyperformance for probably two or three years,” Mick told us. “When I had the Sportster I had him do a few things to it — forward controls and a bit of bling bling chrome and stuff. I just happened to go there one day for a service and I saw this sitting in the shop and said ‘Jeez, I like that’. Took about three weeks to talk him into a deal — as it does with Andy — and now it’s sitting in my shed.”

Hyperformance Cycles had done all the work on the Harley-Davidson Fat Boy for the previous owner, who’d designed the paintwork and explained what he had in mind before deciding that what he really wanted was something else altogether. Not too sure what that was, as he’s moved on, but it wasn’t a custom Harley.

Although this bike started life as a Fat Boy, you’d need a few guesses before you’d be able to come up with that as the right answer, with only the (modified) frame and engine remaining from the original factory offering.

The whole thing was gutted and the frame was raked and stretched with the swingarm widened to put in a wide-arse end.

The motor was rebuilt and hotted up with Wiseco pistons, cam, and head work — the focused and technical kind of specialty that Andy breezily dismisses with an artisan’s assurance as the normal stuff that we do.

The front-end was changed to an Ultima two-inch-over; and Andy stuck to the same company for the six-speed gearbox and the three-inch open primary.

The carburettor is a Mikuni. “I like it because you can adjust it going along,” said Mick.

The pipes are Samson from America. There were no baffles to start with and Mick thought it was probably a little bit too loud. “Even with the baffles you can hear it coming; it’s got a very good note to it.” The exhaust is fabricated a bit bigger and hasn’t got the shrouds you normally have so Mick finds things like boots tend to stick to it. “You just have to get the polish out when you get home.”

The tanks were stretched and widened at Hyperformance Cycles, and the paint-job, including airbrushing, was executed to perfection by Unique Custom Paint.

Chroming was done by Jamie at Reflections; and the seat was made by Skinner Custom Seats, a well known and highly regarded Adelaide business that’s easily the equal of any of the well known big boys from overseas.

“Basically, the bike was 99 percent there, just a couple of little spacing washers I wasn’t happy with. I got Hyperformance to change them, lathe a few up, and make sure everything’s okay and running smoothly and looking good,” Mick said.

According to Mick, the new wheels are “a pain in the arse to clean but it gives you something to do on a Saturday.” The wheels are DNA 80 spoke, with 240 rear and 21-inch on the front.

“I actually got them to lift the arse-end as well because we went down to Victor Harbor on the first run and it was bottoming out. Now it rides a lot better. Actually, the more I ride it, the better it gets because going from the 1200 Sportster to this was a bit of a difference. I took it in for its first tune up and Andy lent me the old bike to go home on and I felt like I was on a Yammie 80 or something.

“I bought this to ride and I’m really enjoying it. I mainly do country runs. You go on the Victor Harbor road and it’s pretty undulating. With the Sportster I was always at the front of the pack, now I’m sort of the anchor man, but I don’t mind — you get to see more and you don’t get the speeding tickets either.

“I’ve got no changes really planned; it’s pretty well all there. It’s not overdone, it’s not underdone.”

Words & pics by Chris Randells