Special - Harley outfit
The circumstances surrounding the sale of this outfit are as special as the bike itself, hence our decision to allocate some extra space to it in this issue. While late model H-D outfits are unusual enough in this country, this one is extra special as the bike is a dealer demo that came down under well before the publicly-available 2005 model Softail springers.
Iron Robb, a longtime Harley enthusiast, first saw the bike in the window of Peter Stevens' Dandenong dealership while travelling through Victoria in October, 2004. He loved the look of the bike, as it featured a number of custom touches, like different grips, new switchblocks, whitewall tyres and appearance modifications that Peter Stevens had added to enhance the retro springer look. The bike had a 'SOLD' sticker on it then, but Ron was so taken with it, he contacted Peter Stevens upon his return home to NSW to request some photos before the bike left the dealership. Fortunately for Ron, the sale had fallen through. Upon hearing that, he was on the first train from New South Wales to make sure he didn't miss out a second time! The bike was immaculate and had zero k's, but not for long! Ron rode it back to NSW, and the 1450cc V-twin didn't miss a beat all the way.
With a family history of building sidecar chassis', and more than thirty years in the business himself, it seemed logical for Ron to turn the bike into an outfit. The retro look would no doubt be enhanced by the addition of a classic Dusting sidecar, so Ron went searching and eventually found an original all-steel Dusting body in QLD, which he added to the chassis he fabricated himself. A neat touch is the 'diving lady' mascot that Ron added in honour of his father, who had the same adornment on many of the sidecars he owned. Ron told us these mascots were commonly available from a motorcycle spare parts store in Pitt St., Sydney (any readers out there remember that one?) in the 1940s & 50s.
The design of the sidecar chassis means it's easily removable, if the prospective owner wants to ride without the sidecar. Since completion, Ron and his wife have taken the outfit on many trips, and entered it in many shows and concours events, where it has been a regular trophy winner. However, Ron now needs to urgently sell the bike to cover medical expenses for his seriously ill wife, so he asked us here at JUST BIKES if we could help him out. Under the circumstances, we were more than happy to do so. Asking price is $30,500 ono. Spare wheels and a pillion seat are included in the price.
Source: JUST BIKES, June 2009
