Root Beer Harley-Davidson Softail
Mark’s Harley-Davidson Softail transformation from stock to custom only took five weeks. It all started with wanting a wide back tyre, and as we know, it never stops there, does it?
ONCE THE 17 inch x 180 rear tyre on the Centreline wheel was squeezed into the stock swingarm and under the nine-inch round-top rear guard, it was time to look at the front-end. So the search on eBay began… The front-end Mark bought was a USD American Suspension B17 with a phantom brake line. It was a scratched-up-chrome, oil-leaking unit but that was easily fixed with some black powder-coating and new seals, etc. It was a massive job getting the phantom brake setup working again, Mark said, although he used other adjectives.
The tanks were a eBay purchase. While they were brand new they had a lot of surface rust to contend with before the painting started. Mark was seeing a lot of black, silver and red paint on custom bikes so decided to be a bit different and go with Kandy Root Beer from House of Kolor. A gold base paint was used to get the nice marble effect. To get the two-tone effect, the same paint was used but two tones darker. John from John’s Custom Motorcycles and Paint was given the job of laying down the paint. Like all of John’s work, this paint looks sensational!
The solo seat is a no-name brand which Mark bought second-hand ripped and torn. He got it recovered at Nerang Motor Trimmers and the colours he chose work a treat with the Root Beer theme of the bike.
The front guard is a tail dragger and really blends in nicely with the whole theme of the bike. The 21 inch front wheel looks cool powder-coated as well.
Mark went with a 100-cube RevTech engine with a Mikuni carb feeding in the juice. The exhaust is interesting. It’s a four-into-one Hooker Headers system… and it sounds the goods hanging off that 100 cuber I can tell ya!
Mark would like to thank Lorne from Sin City Cycles for being kind enough to let him use his workshop to build his bike after-hours and late into the night. Mark would like to thank Nathan as well from Sin City Cycles for sorting out the electrics.
For a guy who has never built a bike before, Mark would have to be proud of his Harley-Davidson Softail. It certainly is a credit to him! It’s built to a budget, built to last, built to ride, and built to go hard!
Photos & words by Rod Cole
