Fultilt Harley-Davidson Deuce

THIS IS MY first Harley-Davidson. My father-in-law had one and I rode it home one day about four years ago, then I bought one. I made my mind up there and then. I was just into trail bikes before; still got one now but I don’t ride it much.

It’s an ’03 Anniversary Deuce Softail and I’ve had it about three and a half years. It was in good nick; the first owner looked after it really well.

It had engine work done to it when I got it. I haven’t touched the engine or gearbox; it’s mostly been cosmetics. It started as an 88 cube Harley engine and they bored it out to 103. Otherwise, I haven’t got a clue. I don’t know because we’ve never had it apart; I’ve never had a problem with it.

I’ve changed everything besides the engine — the tailight, exhaust pipes, belt drive, forward controls, the brake set-up, the wheels, the handlebars, the speedo, and the complete chrome frame.

I stripped it back so it was just a frame, then I brought it down to Steve at Chromemasters in Elizabeth West. He chromed the frame, the swingarm and other bits and pieces like support bars and the controls. He’s virtually chromed all of it except the belt drive.

I pretty much started off with a bare frame and set everything up myself and put it all together again. I mocked it all up and made everything fit.

The gearbox is a standard Twin Cam gearbox with a heavy duty clutch that came with the BDL belt drive. The belt drive, like all the parts, came from Andy at Hyperformance. The exhaust is a Hooker that I put on.

I had a look at a catalogue, looking for a style of guard that I liked. I liked the old Deuce style but I wanted something with a bit of curve in it. So I bought this guard bare and there were no struts with it. I welded it into the position I wanted, and went from there.

The front guard was from the catalogue too. It was already that shape and all I had to do really was drill the holes.

Andy had the tank there and thought I might like it so I took it home and it looked good.

It’s got Performance Machine brakes front and back; four-piston on the back and six-piston on the front.

Hyperformance had this one set of five-star wheels and I liked it so I bought it.

There’s a S&S air filter; the carby’s a 45 mm Mikuni; the controls are Pro-One; the headlight’s flamed.

My mate Jason from down the street — we actually work next to each other now — does custom Skinner Seats. He made a number for me and that’s the one I liked.

My business is Cycle Shack Tune Up — right next door to Rai’s Cycle Shack in Salisbury South — and our specialty is dyno tuning fuel injected bike engines and putting a Power Commander on them to get them running right.

The bike was blue with gold striping when I got it; I’ve still got the guards and tank sitting at home. I was originally going to go green but the more I looked in books and magazines, the more green bikes started popping up so I went for this orangey pearl looking colour. Once I’d settled on the colours, I went to see Troy at Nightmare Design. He got it all going for me and did a terrific job: the mural, the paint, the whole lot. The mural’s from a European heavy metal band called Man o’ War. They’re very big over there and I’ve been into them for 15—20 years.

I changed the fork position myself so it’s about a three-degree rake. The rake came in the triple trees; I didn’t want to cut it into the frame.

It’s very comfortable to ride with the 22 inch ape-hangers. It handles really well; I’m surprised. It doesn’t go off track around corners, you just push a little bit on one side of the bars and you hook off around the corner.

Pics by Chris Randells; words by Warren