WUT NOW Harley-Davidson Night Rod & Jessie

SOMETIMES it’s hard to get a vision out of your head. It could be that bird in the short frock as she walked by, or in this case, the sight of a tough bike with a back-end that would put most squat-rack selfies to shame. Either way, a nice rear-end gets attention regardless and Paul Murphy had to have one on his next bike.

After getting into the USA trend of customising Hayabusas and Gixxers, Paul turned his attention to Harleys with three V-Rods so far, plus an aped Rocker C thrown in but that didn’t last a week on account of how bad it was to ride once he got it on the freeway. After such an experience going back to Harley’s water-cooled offering was an easy choice.

“These just have the comfort and speed off the line that’s perfect for me. I like the fatness of this look, so when this bike came up, we did the deal.”

Paul had his ol’ mate Damo from Holrods Customs in Mandurah rip it apart straight off the Perth Harley-Davidson showroom floor.

Maybe it was the previous Jap bike influence, but either way, a very tough sounding Akropovic exhaust found its way onto the bike along with the blue LED accent lighting and running lights.

While he was at it, he blacked out the hand and foot controls, added some fat pull-back handlebars from Ghost Rider Customs, and pulled off the rear tail light and fitted the smoked LED arrangement it has now.

Trying to wedge a tyre that wide in anywhere would bring a tear to a glass eye. So once all the lights and noise were sorted, Paul asked around as to who was the best to finally get that 300 conversion he had in mind. He was directed to Coops Custom Cycles in Mt Helena where Glen got in touch with Danny and Matt at McCully Customs and ordered the Aussie-made swing-arm and rim. Made completely in-house, solid blocks of 6061 billet aluminium were machined down on a three-axis CNC lathe before being powder-coated.

Coops also fitted the mirrors and tidied up the wiring while waiting for the conversion to arrive, but once it was fitted, his keen eye for detail picked the cheap air shocks originally installed had too much travel for the new rear-end so they were changed out for the recommended Legend air-ride units which had their internal spacers removed for an even lower aired-out stance.

After a bit of grinding to the rear subframe there was no more rubbing either.

The bike was all ready to go again but not until the full wash and detail Coops is well known for when giving owners their bikes back.

After buying and immediately throwing a solid two months work at the bike, it was back in Paul’s hands a week before the shoot, but the boys decided at the last minute to pull the rear rack and sissy bar off and smooth over the fender. Dave from RD Motor Cycle & Custom Paint in Rockingham showed his class by having the rear fender repaired and repainted within four days and over a weekend with a perfect result.

Future mods at this stage include “Putting a supercharger on it and maybe playing around with the headlight, but in the mean time, it’ll be seeing plenty of miles. You can ride all day, every day, and get off fresh as you like.”  Something we’d all like to say about our own fat-bottomed girls I’d venture!

Paul would like to thank his mate Damo for his top work on the bike, Coops for his attention to detail and presentation, and the amazing Jessie for bringing her talent and gorgeous smile to the studio on the day. 

Words & Pics: Brad Miskiewicz

Jessie from Brazil

HI, I’m Jessie. I’m 28 and I left being a Bank Manager in Brazil to come and experience Perth for six months, but now I’ve been here for well over two years so I think I’ll never leave.

I worked hard cleaning houses and offices to pay my way and start a food business with a friend, plus some skimpy waitressing on the weekends.

I really enjoyed the photoshoot and the photographer was fantastic and very professional. Thank you to my friend Ananda for helping me out with poses and faces as it’s hard for me to do sexy faces.

My best feature is my smile and that’s all I can do!

Thank you also to Paige Nicole (@miss_paigenicole) for her amazing hair and make-up skills and Paul for making such a beautiful bike for me to pose with. We all really had a great time and I’d love to do more of it in the future!”