Harley Rose Harley-Davidson Motorcycle

AFTER A SERIOUS plane crash in 2000 which shattered many vertebrae in my neck and lower back, as well as rearranging my head and face, I found it difficult to get back on my new Z1200 Ninja. After about 20 minutes on the bike, the pain was incredible, so for the next 10 years it basically sat in the shed. I think it did around 7000 km in 10 years. Every now and then I would blow the cobwebs out of it. I wound it off the clock a few times, and if I went any distance, I found myself sitting around 200 km/h to get where I was going just to get off the bloody thing. I thought no good was going to come out of this, I was eventually going to loose my privilege to drive/ride for the rest of my life or end up back in hospital on my back again. So one day I said to the misses, “I’m going to get rid of the bike; it’s giving me the shits walking past it every day.” So it went on the market.

As it was selling, I had a real empty feeling in my gut. Never really been without a bike since I was about 14. I’m now in my 50s. So Harley-Davidson hunting we did go. We had a bit of a look around not knowing much about Harleys and found a Dyna Wide Glide. The misses had one look at it and called it Harley Rose, hence the theme.

Being based in Hervey Bay, it was off to see Hans at The Paint Doctor in Maryborough armed with a handful of tattoo mags and a head full of wild ideas. You should have seen his face when I said I wanted the bike covered in roses. He looked at me really weird, cussed and scratched his head. We sat down and nutted out the theme starting with the front guard. It had to have Harley Rose written on it with roses. I wanted to keep the two-tone tear drop on the side of the tank with Harley Davidson written on it, with roses everywhere else. I had the idea of two rose buds with barbed-wire stems on the rear guard. I also didn’t want it to look really loud; sort of blackish at night but red during the day. Hans suggested candy apple red so we went with that. 

I went home, ripped off the tins and shot them back to Hans. Two week later, he rang me and said come and get your tins; they’re all done.

Well the misses and I walk in and it was unbelievable; we had never seen anything like it in our lives; we both nearly teared up it was that good. Hans threw a bit of his own imagination into it as well with ghost flames and a few other things. He hand-painted around 73 roses on it and said he doesn’t want to see another rose again. The guy is a bloody legend.

Checking out websites, Harley Riders and groups like that on Facebook, and of course, the monthly fix of Ozbike mag, we started to get the feel for what we wanted the rest of the bike to look like. After trawling many H-D agents and aftermarket shops up and down the coast, we came across an amazing bloke, Mal at Bikers Life in Maroochydore, and his mate Rick who has the workshop out the back. Rick has extensive experience working with Harley-Davidsons, not only nationally but internationally as well. He has also been instrumental in setting up workshops for H-D dealerships. There’s nothing this bloke doesn’t know.

Starting with the front, I wanted a springer front-end. Problem was they don’t make them for Dynas so we went for a two-inch-over DNA Springer for a Softail. We had to re-engineer the head-stock to make it work. We used offset bearings to give it an extra three-degree rake which in-turn lifted the front about three inches and made the overall length of the bike around eight inches longer. Then we had to relocate the tank back about 3/4 of an inch to give the front-end full movement which affected the geometry for the seat as well. With a bit of imagination and engineering, we were able to get it all to fit while still using the same anchoring holes in the rear guard.

Going with a chrome arse-end, Rick ripped out the swingarm so we could get it chromed (that’s a story in itself). I decided to go with a solid billet rear rim. Rim, rotors and pulley are all Dragway Tribal with four-spot calipers front and rear.

Also to keep the sharp pointy theme, we decided on Grim Reaper mirrors and Kuryakyn pointy grips hanging off a set of 16-inch High Ball apes from Burleigh Bars, and Kuryakyn pegs coupled with braided cables, hoses and leads.

I wanted the arse-end to be low and open and full of chrome. We started with Progressive 11s in the shock department which dropped the back around two inches.

The pipes were an issue. I was toying with designing a set of dumpers but since I wanted to ride almost every day, I didn’t want to be cleaning road-grime and dirt off it that has been blown up by the pipes. So after a few weeks of mussing over it, I went for a set of Vance & Hines Shot Shots which did the trick better than I thought, covering up the bottom of the frame while leaving the arse-end open.

The only thing we have done motor-wise is jetting the carby to tune the pipes, but in time, I will source another motor and slowly work on it and stick in a six-speed gearbox.

All in all, we have a bike I ride almost every day and we get away and enjoy it as often as possible. It’s taken around 12 months to build while riding it in-between putting bits on her. It would not been able to achieve the build of such a beautiful bike for the low budget it took if it wasn’t for Mal at Bikers Life for his extensive knowledge and good value buying power; Rick from Rick’s Motorcycles for all his knowledge and engineering skills on the build; and of cause, Hans, the one and only Paint Doctor. Thanks guys for giving birth to Harley Rose for us!

Pics by Jo; words by Gerry