Devil’s Advocate Street Motorbike

OZBIKE: Tell us about yourself. How did you get into motor bikes?

Scott: Dirt bikes in my youth; street bikes in my 20’s. I was without bikes from about my late 20’s to early 40’s, then my brother-in-law, Ron, who has always had Harleys, talked me into getting a Harley, and now the Big Bear.

Ozbike: You had Harleys before so why change over to Big Bear?

Scott: They are a bit more exotic. I still have two Harleys, love them for riding, but the Big Bear is about turning up and being seen.

Ozbike: Image is everything?

Scott: Yeah, it’s about the look, I love.

Ozbike: Okay, so is it a stock bike?

Scott: Absolutely. There are a couple of little add-ons but they are all Big Bear parts — the shift linkage and a couple of things like that are above standard — but really that’s how it comes out of the box — 100 cubic inch S&S motor, Baker transmission.

There is an option of going with a 300 rear tyre and chain drive but I’m glad I got the 280 rear tyre with belt drive; it’s a lot smoother.

Ozbike: How far have you ridden on it so far?

Scott: I have done about 6000 km. I have had a couple of all-day runs up to Newcastle and back and out to the Hunter Valley and it’s a lot better than I pictured it in my head. I didn’t have the opportunity to ride one really before I bought it so I was absolutely rapt that it was easy to ride.

Ozbike: How did you get into Big Bear?

Scott: I went away to the USA with Ron and another mate, Greg, looking for bikes that would suit us, and we decided to go with Big Bear for a couple of reasons: they built large volumes of bikes so we felt they would be well sorted; the price was right; and they had just started up a couple of dealers in Australia.

Initially, we chose a guy down in Melbourne, Ultimate Choppers. A terrific fellow but, unfortunately, he is not with us anymore. We were in the middle of the deal at the time, and with his death, a bit of money went missing.

Luckily, Wild Card Customs in Queensland came to our rescue. Basically, we took our kits to Wild Card Customs who did a deal for us and got us on the road.

Ozbike: So they actually put the kits together for you?

Scott: We ended up going into their store — we had our kits in our possession at the time — and they had two bikes sitting on their floor that suited us. My kit was a Devil’s Advocate Chopper and Ron’s was a Devil’s Advocate Street Bike. They had two sitting on their floor! We swapped — they took our kits and we rode off with their bikes. True.

Ozbike: But you still paid for it to be put together?

Scott: Yes, but it wasn’t excessive so we were very happy with the deal. All credit to them. I would highly recommend Wild Card Customs.

Pics by Wall 2 Wall; words by Scott Murray