Wicked Southport Harley-Davidson Sporty
Dave had the idea of building a Sporty like no-one else had, something different with a bit of new and old school mixed together.
MY PASSION for bikes started with an RM 80 dirt-bike when I was 14-years-old. Then my first road bike was a 125 Dalem (Korean Import), then a Honda CB super 400. I’ve always wanted to own a Harley-Davidson so I bought a 1987 XL Sporty that was run down and needed a rebuild, and then it all started. I had no idea what I was getting myself into with the amount of money that you can throw at these projects, but let me tell you, oh boy, did I find out the hard way!
After talking to a few bike shops and getting the feedback that it was a waste of money and time with how I was telling them that I wanted to change it into a rigid and have that bobber look (I’ll let you guys be the judge of that), I found Johnno at Southport on the Gold Coast; he came to the little party that was going on in my head. After a long talk to Johnno, we started with a good base of ideas to get the project rolling.
The strip-down started and then the frame got the chop ready for the hard-tail to go on.
The frame was sandblasted ready for the full gloss 2-pac black paint job.
I decided to go with spoked 21-inch front wheel and a 200 rear, a 2009 Sporty tank, and a La Rosa Design hard-ass seat with mini shocks. The front-end is made up of Pro-One fork legs and billet chrome HHI triple trees with an inbuilt rake of 7 degrees. I love the look of those chopper style headlights so we bolted on a Headwinds head-lamp, a set of 1.25 inch chubby T-bars, Arlen Ness hand controls with Battistini hand grips with matching foot pegs and toe shifter.
As I hope you can all understand, every time I went to check out the progress, I would purchase some dear-as-poison shit that make a real difference to my bike. Like the Badlands digital mirrors with built-in indicators, speedo, tacho, and more idiot lights than you would find in a fighter plane. Plus the mounting of an Alloy Art, 90 degree bend with a K&N pod filter, really set the theme.
The coil was mounted in the traditional FXR position with cover and key switch. The single fire ignition system delivers a wicked spark that really makes the bike go hard.
We then had a good hard look at the engine and decided to put a big bore kit through, which consisted of changing it 1200 cc with Keith Black pistons, new valve stems and new seals and gaskets all through, plus a new clutch and new charging system. The carb was upgraded to a kitted CV Keihin.
I then decided to put on a set of Pipe Dreamz with covers to match the custom-made back fender rails.
All in all, now that the bike is finished and I’m riding it around, the words that describe the feeling I get riding it are fuckin’ wicked!
Please let me first thank my wife Michelle for allowing me to smoke so much money and understanding my final goal, and my brothers James and John who helped out, and last but not least, Johnno. Thank you for building my dream and doing such a great job, and thank you Ozbike for your interest in my bike.
Pics by Jules @ Top Gun; words by Dave
