Wheel Stand & Deliver

SIMON’S A man with a true passion for motorcycles and cars—actually, choppers and hotrods—even better. But don’t think we’re gonna tell you this is a chopper. Of course it’s not. Simon knows what a chopper is. 

“I’ve got a ’75 rigid Shovel, jockey shift—full old school. I’ve also got a genuine ’48 Panhead. My Shovel’s got a 130 back tyre, four-speed stick shift, kickstart, no electric start, no blinkers or anything. That’s what a real chopper is—headlight, tailight, kickstart—that’s it.”

In an ideal world, you’d have a couple of choppers, a hotrod or two, and a nice comfortable ‘custom’ with all the goodies that’ll get you around with no problems at all. Well, this is Simon’s custom.

“It’s a 2001 custom Twin Cam. 95 cubic inch. It’s been stretched by The Chopper Shop. Joe Webb did the paint-job and the murals. LA Cycles—Cow—did the engine work. A good mate of mine, Winger, did all the putting-together—all the bits and pieces. I’ve had this bike for a couple of years. It was originally blue. I’ve stripped it down and painted it again—stretched it and did a few other things to it. Joe painted it black and did all the pin-striping and the murals on it. The ideas for the murals were mine—mostly taken from the photos inside the clubhouse here.”

As a club member for more than 15 years, Simon’s done some hard riding and he appreciates a bike that’ll get the job done time after time. 

“I ride the bike everywhere. She’s been all over the place. She’s been to Melbourne, Tassie, Gold Coast, Dubbo a fair bit, Queensland a couple of times—it’s been everywhere. Where I go, she goes. I’ve had no problems with her. I just got it back from Cow’s the other day—I got the bigger cam put in it. I got rid of the rear belt and put the chain on. The belt kept on slipping with the horsepower.”

As you can probably tell, Simon doesn’t treat the bike with kid gloves. 

“She’s been flogged. It started as an 88 stocker. Then I took it to 95, then recently I just put the cams in it and now she’s really boogyin’.” 

Don’t believe us? Check out the pic of stuntman Wally lifting the wheel a metre in the air! That’s ‘taking it easy’ according to Simon—he didn’t want Wally going too high because Simon hadn’t even ridden it with the new cams yet!

Simon’s happy as hell with the bike now and says there’s nothing more he wants to do with it. But I’ve never met a custom Harley owner who is ever finished with his bike. 

“Probably, within the next five years, something will happen. Some of the boys will put some fuckin’ idea in my head and I’ll wanna change something! But she’s alright, mate. I’m happy with where it is right now.”

It was good to meet someone who seems to have a real passion for the history of choppers, as well as a passion for the custom Harleys available today. I’m going to check out Simon’s other ‘super machines’ I’ve been hearin’ about, and we might bring you a story on those shortly.

As far as the Twin Cam goes, Simon would like to give a big thanks to Cow, Winger and Joe. He says, “If it weren’t for them it wouldn’t be looking like that. And thanks to Wally for being a mad test pilot!”

words & pics by Wasko