HEAVY DUTY MAGAZINE - ISSUE 91

HARLEY DAVIDSON SOFTAIL BOBBERS
ENHANCED BY CHOPPERWORKS

STORY BY DOC | PICS BY LOU MARTIN

These bikes have plenty of what we all want... plenty of style!

I hate mean cops. I hate mean cops who get their jollies by pulling bikers over to hand out defects – yeah that’s closer. Unfortunately there are way too many of them out there, which, in a round-about way, is one of the reasons that I like bobbers so much.

Depending upon where you live, riding a modified motorcycle can be more or less of a problem, but where I live they swoop on apehangers like vultures on carrion and on one occasion I only got two kilometres from home before a new set of apes got me defected. This meant that the whole tiresome process of swapping handlebars, bolting on a stock exhaust and so on, began all over. It got so that every time I rode that bike and saw a cop car or bike I slipped into a paranoid mind state at warp speed. But bobbers, ah bobbers – they’re the go. They’re as cool as choppers in their own way, handle well – given the limitations of whatever fat rubber is down the back – and the best part is they’re not the cop magnets that choppers often seem to be.

Speaking of cool, Jeff of Chopperworks fame has done it again with this sweet pair of bobbers both of which started life as stock Softails but which, with some judicious use of a cutting torch and a keen eye for selecting just the right bits to bolt on, have been transformed into the cool rides you see over these pages. Personally, the red-rimmed Springer lights my fire, whereas a couple of mates who called round and to whom I showed these pics both preferred the tele fork model with its black fork lowers, black rims and black spokes and the elegant green and white pin striping. Nah, gimme the red one and apart from staining the seat black I’d ride the wheels off it as it is – sensational!

And speaking of bobber wheels, nothing looks so right, so well suited, so like the baby bear’s porridge as those fat spoked wheels from Ride Wright Wheels of Anaheim California. How about those in-ya-face red hubs and rims on the Springer with that matching red final drive pulley? Is that cool or what? Don’t the red covers on the primary add a nice touch also? And how about those red rocker covers? And also that red-accented pin striping which ties the whole theme together beautifully? Err ... did I mention that I’m really taken with the red and black bike?

Now both of these bikes rolled out of Harley’s York factory as Softail Standards, but the one with the black rims is a 2006 model while the red rimmed bike is a 2007 model, so there were already some differences before master bobber Jeff began to work his stylish wand on them. You see it all began one day when Jeff was hard at work on a customer’s bike and these two blokes walked in wearing green knit cardigans, green ties embossed with shamrocks and felt pork pie hats. “Begorrah!” the bigger of the two bellowed, “We’re the Murphy brothers and we might be feckin’ Oirish but we’re not eejits! We hear tell you build the best bobbers and we’d loike one each, ‘cos we’re sicko ridin’ piles o’shite. Now boyo, while you finish that job you’re doin’, we’ll just be nicking down to the battle cruiser for a pint o’ the old black stuff.” Well maybe that wasn’t exactly how it happened.

Okay, so it was nothing at all like that at all. But these bikes – I swear to you – are owned by two brothers named Murphy who, if this part of the story was being made up I’d call Seamus and Sean, however, their real names are Brian and Peter. Still at least the name Brian came in 36th in The 100 Most Popular Male Irish Names list, while poor old Peter was way down in 48th place. Anyway to get back to the real story, Brian bought his bike, the red trimmed one, first and when it was in another incarnation. If it looks familiar that’s because it graced our hallowed pages some time back before going back to the Chopperworks for a make-over during which it was repainted matt black, a Harley-Davidson Bad Boy Springer front end grafted on, pin striping applied and various items like the air cleaner changed.

Now when your brother is in the market for a 2007 bike with the 96 cube engine as standard you don’t want to be left eating his dust so Brian’s bike runs a punched out 95 cube donk running 10.5:1 compression, S&S gear drive cams, S&S barrels, pushrods, lifters and heads along with an S&S ignition module to spark the fire. A Feuling hi-flow oil pump circulates the good stuff and the gases left over after the motor has made its hundred or so ponies blasts back into the atmosphere via that sexy red RB Racing exhaust system. With 100 ponies on tap this sure ain’t your grandpa’s bobber!

Now as the Australian agent for Heartland USA it is not surprising that Jeff used the Heartland “Two-Five- 0” conversion kit on both these bikes, the components
of which include a cover plate that conceals all your electronics and the vintage-look sprung seat along with a new back guard and mounts to allow it to ride along
with the bike’s swingarm. Avon 250s, which have long been the wide tyre of choice for fat arse ends, is the rear rubber fitted to both bobbers on those cool Ride Wright 18-in wheels.

Up front on Brian’s bike is a 21in Ride Wright Fat 50 wheel complete with Ride Wright rotor and a Stealth Racing brake caliper with the juice squirted being squirted through a Russell braided brake line. Down the back is another Ride Wright Fat 50, an 18x8.5in unit with a Ride Wright pulley and rotor as finishing touches.

Various Heartland parts adorn this bobber including the taillight, the mirrors and the side-mount taillight/number plate mount. Naturally, the handlebars came from those kings of custom bars up Burleigh way and Ness grips added a fine finishing touch with Heartland mirrors for Brian to see his brother dwindling in the distance.

Now Peter’s bike, the one with the Shamrock green pin striping as befits a man of Irish heritage allows him to say to his brother, “Mine’s bigger than yours” with his 96 cubes pipping Brian’s at the post. Still, as the actress once said to the Bishop, “What’s an inch matter?” Essentially, the already strong 96 cube engine has been left stock internally, but allowed to breathe better, both in and out thanks to a high flow filter element nestling inside the Magus made Norm DeCo air cleaner (rather than the winged rib Magus made Art DeCo unit like his brother’s) and a jet black RB Racing exhaust.

Now we didn’t get figures on this donk but even a well tuned 96 cuber with free flowing inlet and exhaust shouldn’t pump out enough ponies to make them any where near even in the crankshaft horsepower department - though the 96 motors are very torquey. And then we have the differences in the gear ratios and the fact that Peter has six gears to Brian’s five. So, who’s fastest off the green light? Only the Murphy brothers know for sure and they ain’t tellin’ tho Peter reckons that it’s Brian that he sees dwindling in size in his mirrors. Well, go figure.

Pete can boast Burleigh bars on his ride too, in this case retaining the stock grips, levers and switch gear and, like Brian’s bars, looking tough in black. Tough black is also found on the Heartland mirrors and the black Ride Wright wheels, with the only touch of chrome being on the nipples, while the blacked out fork lowers complete the dark vision.

Chopperworks laid on the matt black paint on both bikes and then called on the talents of Neo Dutch (0432 050 238) whose work looks like it would easily stand comparison with the late Von Dutch. Both bobbers are a credit to Jeff from Chopperworks whose work you can view at www.chopperworks.com.au or speak to by calling (07) 3356 6107. If there’s a better way to turn a boring stocker into a bedazzling bobber, I’ve yet to see it.

head office / show room

QUEENSLAND

ABN: 31 112 750 268

210 Days Road
Grange 4051
Queensland, AUSTRALIA

Phone: (07) 3356 6107
Fax: (07) 3356 0177

contact@chopperworks.com.au

service and Enhancement centre

A.C.T.

ABN: 97 634 301 384

3/18 Whyalla Street
Fyshwick 2609
A.C.T., AUSTRALIA

Phone: (02) 6280 6000
Fax: (02) 6280 6107

contact@chopperworks-act.com.au

service and Enhancement centre

QUEENSLAND

ABN: 31 112 750 268

5/11 Hayward Street
Stafford 4053
Queensland, AUSTRALIA

Phone: (07) 3356 6107
Fax: (07) 3352 3414

contact@chopperworks.com.au

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