Lowered Harley-Davidson Rocker C
"Roundabouts are a problem and you need a three-point-turn to turn around in a normal street," said Rick.
I JUST love to ride. I mainly had dirt bikes before, and when the kids grew up, I got the Harley I wanted: a Rocker C from Peter Stevens in Dandenong. I went to buy a bar fridge at Harvey Norman around the corner and saw the bike, so I came back home with a Harley-Davidson and a bar fridge.
It lives inside the house, in the lounge room. I had to widen the door — got a custom-built glass-door from a mate — so I can ride it inside and park it right in the lounge-room where it sits in front of the big screen and the bar. The girlfriend doesn’t mind and I think it’s a talking point when people walk inside to have a drink at the bar.
The work’s been done by several people; just different ideas from different people. The majority was done by Harley City.
Speedy from Horsepower Hotrods has done a fair bit of the chrome work, built the handlebars, and set the bike up so it’s more user-friendly. Anything you can think of, virtually, has been chromed. He changed the look of the bike — he turned it from ‘disco’ to ‘rock’.
The headlight got put on in Harley City, as well as the mirrors, hand-grips and foot-pegs. The rear-end and seat are from Heartland; they come out of America after I saw them on the net. The wheels are handmade; I bought them from RC Components in America.
It’s the original tank and frame, of course, but the front-end’s been stretched 5 degrees. I think they came out standard at 32 degrees; this one is 37. I just knew I wanted it lengthened but without being too stupid.
It used to have a lot of suspension, but when I lowered it, it took the suspension away. Either it looked good or it rode well — so it looks good! For straight-line highway-cruising it’s absolutely beautiful to ride, it just won’t go round a corner properly. Roundabouts are a problem and you need a three-point-turn to turn around in a normal street.
The paint hasn’t been touched; eventually I’ll get Speedy to do something to it, I just don’t know what design I want. I like it to stand out but not stand out. It still looks like a normal everyday bike but a bit better than average.
It was just a matter of breaking the bike down into three sections by looking at it side-on, looking at it from behind and the front, and making it all flow… it’s important to have the little pieces all flow together.
The mirrors match the blades on the wheels, the foot-pegs and the hand-controls; the brake calipers match the wheels. The fuel caps are something else I did; they match the foot-pegs. Little details like the air-filter, the gearbox cover, the RC brakes are important — I tried to keep it all uniform for the flow of the bike.
There’s nothing I’d do differently, I’m happy with it as is, although if you could sink the seat lower into the frame I would, but you can’t move that; it won’t fit. That might be it now, I’ll just do a hotrod next, I think.”
Words by Rick; photos by Chris Randells
