The Magnificent Meteor Motorbike

I’M FROM Albury Wodonga. I bought this particular motorcycle back when I was 18 but it was in a complete different form than this for about 15 years. It was originally registered as a 1948 Santee rigid frame with an 80 cubic inch Shovelhead and Harley-Davidson four-speed. It already had the stance as well as the bits and pieces that I liked but I made sure I put my own spin on it paint-wise because I’m a spraypainter by trade. 

I rode and showed it for a bit but later let it run out of registration,  built a house, had some children and got out of the scene.

It was about five years ago that I decided I wanted to get it registered again and wanted to rake it a bit more, which is when I went to see a mate by the name of Mark Riddell. One thing led to another and it went from wanting to register and rake it to this. It was just so easy to get inspiration from shows, especially in the States because it’s all so big over there. Mark and I gelled well, had the same ideas and saw the same thing, vision wise, right from the start. Mark is a super tradesmen, a coach builder by trade. I’ve gotten into the artistic side of it more now that I am a bit older and more experienced, and Mark has a sculpture background which he mixes with his craft and skills. Mark had the necessary experience, and along with his metal-craft skills we really could’ve come up with anything we dreamt of.

It has an obvious hotrod theme which comes from the fact I’m also into cars, street machines, hotrods, older drag cars. That whole ’60s nostalgic theme and era really appeals to me. We based the bike on some Ed Roth quotes and really wanted to create something with that weird and wonderful thing from the ’60s that you’d probably see Frankenstein riding. That’s why it’s so mechanical looking and hence the green and red colours from the Rat Fink theme.

It’s got a brand new S&S 88-cubic-inch engine so it’s a repo Shovel now. We put a supercharger on it. I don’t know anyone who has done it before but we wanted that weirdness, you know, freaky radicalness from the ’60s era; that’s the thinking behind putting a supercharger on a Shovelhead anyway. The supercharger’s off an imported Nissan AMR 500. There was a fair bit of fabrication to get the belts and the plumbing to work and Mark predominantly did all the welding.

The frame is all handmade except for the original gearbox cradle and motor. Most of the parts are handmade and there are only a few items that we actually bought. It’s still got the original 1950 drum brake on the rear but we got Ducati Brembo calipers on the front to give it that beefiness; the rotors were made in Albury.

 The front-end is a 1939 Indian Girder that we extended, refurbished, braced and rebuilt. The bike has original, aftermarket, Harley-Davidson 40-spoke-rims but we painted the outer, copper plated the hub, and it has stainless steel spokes.

Mark hand-made the handlebars, headlight mounts, seat, and all the gusset and bracing throughout the bike. The petrol tank is a one-off which was made to suit the proportions of the frame.

They’re natural, old style, antique handgrips. There is a smooth bar setup for all internal throttles and cables. I couldn’t find an internal throttle that would work with a cable so that was the next best thing to clean up the handlebars. It has an inverted vintage clutch lever off a British bike and it’s still got the original four-speed which was rebuild by Whippet in Albury.

It has Race Rein Knucklehead axle hangers reproduced from the ’50s. Race Rein is a casting company who do reproduced casting products from original Harley-Davidson frames for that nostalgic look.

There are a lot of copper accents throughout the bike. We thought that would go well with the green and red colours. I think the raw metals look really nice and we had wanted a lot showing so you could see and polish it rather than having all chrome.

Richard from Redgrave Motorcycles did the bottom-end; Whippet from Albury did the top-end.

All the foot controls have been made from scratch by Mark and myself. Mark is the main man behind the bike as far as building it properly, solid, straight; he didn’t cut any corners and it rides well. I reckon he is world class.

I unveiled it at MotorEx and the response was great. We took out Best Impact and Innovation award at MotorEx in Melbourne, Best Rigid at Bankstown Bike Show, Best Nostalgia and Best Rigid at the Australian Custom Motorcycle Championships, and a couple at the American and British Bike Show, so I’m really just enjoying it.

Photos by Wall 2 Wall; words by Jole Styles