STORIES

HANK'S BIKE

A casual observer might glance at Hank's bike from a distance and think that it is a stock model which is not quite the insult you might imagine....

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All custom bikes are testament to the presumption that whatever the company produces, an owner can always improve upon it....

either in terms of practicality or aesthetics, certainly they can mould it to their personal appetites or requirements.Many projects however end up with discordant elements that lead one to question the taste or sanity of the builder and emphasis the reality that the machine in question is definitely not a stock production model.Study it for a while..

and the features that distinguish it from a stock model rise toward the surface. For a start the wheels are both different.The rear is a 17-inch W&F fatboy holding a 200/50x17 as opposed

to the regular 130/90x16 of a Heritage, which is the model that this bike started out as.The front wheel is a rear wheel off a Sportster,  modification was required to the fork leg to get the brake caliper in.

The W&F fenders lighten the look of the bike.The tank was stretched by Richard Wilks at Dockgate 20, who also made the polished stainless side mount rear light/license plate and other bits and bobs that confirm the owners stamp of unique identity.The seat, with which the tail end of the tank so perfectly mates, was crafted by Chris Taylor of Bournemouth.Battistinis have long been established in the resort and their paint maestro Terry Spencer had a hand in the project with work on the tank and fenders, featuring some ghosted flames, which do justice to the contours of this bike.Many a good bike has been ruined by messy and contrived bars on ridiculous risers that make the machine look awkward from almost any angle, not so with this one.Low and wide works well with a Softtail concept and the exiled wiring now resident inside those inch and a quarter bars assures a cleanly aesthetic bliss that is sustained throughout the length of the bike.The frame has been cleaned up as it left the Harley Davidson factory with loads of mig-wire hanging from the welds.All the welds were cleaned and all the unnecessary brackets removed before painting in signal red by Neil at Spraymaster.The owner and director of this project is a 56 year old Security/Safety Officer who's lived in Jersey for the last 30 years, and is a member of the Guernsey H.O.G. Chapter.After riding British machines in the 60s/70s, he had a break from bikes for a few years, and his return in 1991 took him into the Harley fold where he has stayed ever since, owning a total of ten of them in that time.He still owns three, a Sportster 1200R, a Twin Cam Night Train and the one gracing this web page, which as anyone can tell, is nothing like a stock model....in fact only a half-wit would think it was.....