Fame at last!  Yours truly as pictured in "Insurance Age"

I started biking at 16, riding all sorts of stuff, including a Suzuki 50 legshield (yes they can be made to wheelie!), Matchless 650 twin and Honda 750 four.  

I guess I always really wanted a Harley-Davidson and in 1992,  I got a 1200cc Sportster - wow a Harley at last (and for only £6,000!  Well the magic worked on me, 'cos now I ride an FXD Dyna Super Glide...

There is nothing that quite looks or sounds like Milwaukee metal - something primeval in the way that big engine roars and vibrates into life.  Tune it up a bit and wring it by the neck - OK you'll not exactly thrash the pants off a Fire Blade but you will surprise a few sports bikers.

My Harley 1998 new & heading towards easy rider chopper by 2001 it was low rider I love that Evo engine I love it from the left I love it from the right I love it from... every angle!

You just have to customise it and less is more in my opinion.  The style for my bike is to keep it to black, with not too much chrome and I like the aluminium engine (as opposed to black).  

The only "accessory" added is the spoiler, everything else is a replacement of a functional part.  The one essential is to add decent front braking - a Harrison billet six piston caliper does the trick.

In June 1998 my bike started out life as a basic Dyna Super Glide (but I insisted on a Bobtail fender from new) and it headed in the direction towards a chopper, with sissy-bar and buckhorn bars.  It is one of the last of the Evo engined Dynas as only a few weeks after I took delivery, the technically superior Twin-Cam engine was announced - this did piss me off at the time but over time I now really love that Evo engine's looks so much better than the "fat head" Twin-Cam.

However after a few months, I then decided to go for a sporty, lowrider style and as funds permitted, so the transformation progressed.  One thing that was clear all along is that I wanted understated minimalist styling with a solid metal and black look.  I simply do not want my bike to look like a Christmas tree or fairground roundabout horse - not too much chrome, no H-D or "live to ride" badges, no leather tassels etc.

On with a Badlander seat, fitted into the stretched tank, all black with a hand painted Harley-Davidson logo.  Lower and stiffer back and front suspension.  Clean up the lines by removing the cowbell horn, run wires in the bars and replace the big rubber pegs with billet aluminium.  Add a belly pan  and Harrison Billet six pot front brake and "stealth" mirrors.  Next to come is the "mid-glide" spreading of the front forks, then a curved drag handlebar, chop the speedo for a tiny digital one on the bars and fit the small Deuce indicators.  Finishing touches include the big headlight and black centered floating disks, and finally, as if it's ever finished, a fatter rear tyre, narrow belt etc. Oh and braided spark-plug leads, billet points cover, wheel-nut cover  - done! (well for now, at least).

On the engine side, a Kuryakyn hypercharger, dyno-jet kit, race cam and valve springs plus the Vance & Hines Big Shot exhaust. Click here to see how it checked out on a dyno. 

And as if to prove the project is never finished, the lower fork legs just had to be chromed at the end of 2002, and I played with a cats-eye rear light (the original rear light looks like a parts-bin special and really spoils the beautiful lines of the sexy Bobtail fender) and now have a lovely Custom Chrome one.  

And also the forward controls - the 2003 model ones for the Wide-Glide just look so much better than the original H-D offering for that model until now.  Finally (what?) a pair of V-Rod mirrors bring me up to date to the close of 2002.

And now, you'll maybe not believe this but I've gone and got a sports bike - Kawasaki Ninja ZX-7R!  Well this particular  bike has been a dream for a long time and I guess it's a bit faster than my last 750cc four cylinder sports bike, a Honda 750 F2!