The Purple Track Record Eater Harley-Davidson Dyna Glide

MARC at Sydney Custom Spraypainting has this very fast 2003 Twin-Cam Dyna Glide. It’s a 124-cubic-inch, slightly modified, street bike. It carries treaded rear tyre, no wheelie bars, no air-shifter, and foot-only-controlled gear lever. Marc purchased it off an insurance company as a slight accident damage, as a 1500 km old bike at the time. It was too much of a good offer to pass up.

Marc did a good job on its initial set-up with help from Pieter Van Straalen at P&L Cycles. It was originally built for the Screamin’ Eagle 2004/2005 drag racing series. In the 124 S&S Cycle sponsored Street Bike Class, it won its first year out, and was runner-up in the second year.

The Dyna Glide hadn’t had much use in the last few years, but Marc is a good friend of Bob Axisa and asked him if he would like to run it. Bob was in-between racing bikes at the time. He usually races a Fraser Motorcycles sponsored bike and was leading the points championship this year.

Bob took on the kind offer, gave the Dyna a light service, changed the handlebars around a little bit, and rode her twice in the NSW Screamin’ Eagle Drag Championships in Rounds 5 and 6.

He top qualified in Round 5 at 10.125 seconds with an ET @ 136 mph. But at that speed he found the accelerator twist-grip was coming back to three quarter throttle at half track distance. At 56 years old, Bob was maybe thinking that he couldn’t hold the handlebars properly anymore on a big fast bike like this. Bob found out in the pits from other motorcycle racing guys that at a certain speed this can happen. Solution: he glued 40 grit sandpaper upside down to the accelerator twist-grip so the throttle wouldn’t slip under the grasp of the leather glove. That’s all the mods done to the bike.

At the next round, first qualifier, first thing in the morning, first bike out on a cold track, he broke the track record and the fastest mph as well. 

In Round 6, the bike top qualified at 9.961 seconds with an ET @ 136.5 mph which became the new Eastern Creek Track Record for a Screamin’ Eagle Harley-Davidson. This is first stock-framed street Harley into the 9 second bracket drag-racing in Australia.

She has also taken Bob to First Place winner in the 2011/2012 NSW Screamin’ Eagle Drag Championships. Not to mention she has nailed a couple of V-Rod Destroyers in her past outings.

The bike had a three-inch extension on its swingarm, a slight rake as well so to fall into the 124 S&S class minimum wheel base regulations.

The S&S motor is fitted with a high-volume oil pump and 640 gear-drive cam shafts. It also has high comp pistons, B2 heads, heavily modified S&S D carburettor with two Thunder Jets, and bolts to a lengthened inlet manifold that has been ported and polished by Bob from BPM from the mouth of the velocity stack, through to the header pipe which is a RB Racing two-into-one exhaust system.    

The power runs through to a Barnett Scorpion clutch. The final drive is a heavy-duty drag link chain to an alloy rear sprocket that is bolted to a standard Harley-Davidson 17-inch Deuce rear wheel covered with a Mickey Thompson threaded competition/street performance rear tyre, which a bike of this calibre requires to get that power to the ground. 

The front-end, when not under full power on the race track, sits on a PM 19-inch front race option wheel covered by a Bridgestone B39 race/street compound. 

Brakes and forks assemblies are all standard Harley arrangement. 

The Dyna weighs in at around 270 kg and does the standing 60 ft time in exactly 1.550 seconds from standstill. She also does the standing 1/8 mile track in 6.3 seconds @ 112 mph. Which means it does the last flying 1/8 mile in 3.6 seconds. Added together equals 9.9 quarter mile times.

Bob would like to thank Marc for having the confidence in letting him race his beaut bike.

Compiled by Bob Axisa; photos by Grant at Cackling Pipes