Chris Greenwood is a man who goes his own way in life. If something doesn't fit with his vision of the way it should be, he changes it. If you thought at first glance that these photos were taken in some sunny location in the South of France or Portugal, look again. This is the Costa Del Yorkshire and the idyllic rural shack in the background is Chris's office. And the Palm Trees? Imported specially by Chris to brighten up his front garden. They don't normally grow in this part of Yorkshire y'see and Chris didn't want to move. If Mohammed won't go to the mountain...

So when Chris bought a Fat Boy it's not surprising that the stock bike lasted approximately ten minutes before he reckoned it needed improvements. And substantial improvements at that. While still wishing to retain the character of Milwaukees basic product Chris wanted more power, better handling, more brakes and, well, just more. With a vision in mind Chris enlisted his brother Scott to take hands-on control of the building and fabrication, and the project began in earnest.

Over the next three years, working as time permitted, Scott brought this voluptuous and mean Black Beauty into existence. First the frame was cleaned up, each weld being fastidiously sculpted before being powder coated for durability and then painted for looks. The forks received a set of White Bros springs and a Rick Doss nacelle, and Scott hand crafted new lower covers for the sliders to create a smooth, flowing line from upper leg to lower. At the rear end a pair of "very expensive" shocks replaced the stock items with ride height adjustable from the large alloy knob mounted above the Primary cover. The whole plot was then mounted atop a set of Performance Machine Viper wheels running 18" rubber with a 180 section rear.

Vastly improved stoppers also came from Performance Machine with progressive six-pot calipers at the front and two mammoth four pot calipers running on the rear disc. Scott hand made all the mountings and re-engineered details right down to the bleed nipples from aircraft grade stainless steel. In fact the bike fairly bristles with Scott's hand made parts, most of which he took great delight in machining from scrap alloy and stainless.

Moving to the very heart of the beast, the motor received detailed attention from John Williams at R.M.D, who began by rebuilding the bottom end with an S&S crank and rods in House Of Horespower cases. S&S cast iron barrels and pistons are topped by S.T.D. high performance heads, and the motor now displaces 114 cubic inches. A Crane cam operates solid lifters through roller followers running in Ness blocks, with an S&S Super G carb supplying essential gasses. On the right side the stock cam cover has given way to a Karata replacement which provides a solid mounting for the Vertex magneto. None of yer namby-pamby battery & coil stuff on this baby! Gasses exit through 2 1/4" AR drag pipes, which announce the bikes presence in no uncertain manner.

Scott found that more often than not aftermarket parts needed extensive work to make them fit or work properly, and suggests that when working with aftermarket goodies you should be prepared to "throw the fitting kit away and make your own". Hence the beautiful turned dizzy cap, the hand made engine scavenge pipes, the solenoid operated fuel tap, the billet ignition switch mounting and hand made oil cooler and oil filter housing; all the product of Scotts dedication to fine engineering and craftsmanship.

Both Chris and Scott remain unconvinced of the benefits of belt drive, particularly when this much BHP is involved, so the bike kept its stock primary drive and received a chain final drive conversion. A Ness hydraulic conversion ensures smooth clutch operation, and removes the requirement for an unsightly cable.

Not surprisingly, Chris wasn't happy with any of the aftermarket tanks and fenders in the accessory catalogues and had to have something unique. After playing around with sketches and cardboard mock-ups, Fabritech in Pudsey were enlisted to produce the gorgeous, hand made and totally unique items you see before you. The fenders were hand made from steel sheet and the six gallon fuel tank was beaten from aluminium and welded to take the Chrome Specialties tacho and Ness oil pressure gauge mounted on its top surface. And not an Aircraft Filler in sight - that understated filler cap was hand crafted by Scott who used the internals from the original Harley item as a base.

The bike was finished off with Performance Machine pegs and controls and a set of Ness beech bars and cylinders. Again some of the parts didn't meet Chris & Scotts exacting standards, and Scott adapted the Petite switchgear to fit alongside a handmade throttle housing cover to clean up the controls. Scott also made the riser cover which runs tiny warning lights originally from a BMW car dashboard, and hand turned the speedo housing from solid billet. All the controls, hydraulics and wiring run inside the bars, and Scott installed all the electrics in tamper proof concealed conduit.

As a final touch, Chris commissioned a simple gloss black paint job from Paul Murgatroyd. The brothers feel that engineering like this should be appreciated for its own sake, and don't share the view that a bike should simply provide a rolling canvas for someone to slap murals on. And with such a wealth of beautiful hand crafted engineering who can blame them. The level of detail finish is second to none, every single nut, bolt and washer has been replaced with stainless steel equivalents, many manufactered in house by Scott himself. Each fastener and hand-made part has then been hand polished to show standard.

Just as the bike was finished and ready for the road Chris had to up-sticks and re-locate his house and business, and the bike has spent rather too long in storage in less that ideal conditions. Despite that Chris has still managed to put a few miles on it, even if some of those were under, er, less than fully legal conditions. The copper who stopped him for no helmet, registration number, tax disc or M.O.T. was so flabbergasted by the bike that he was still fumbling for his note book and pencil as Chris roared off into the sunset.

Chris and Scott are already planning the next bike, and may have to move this one on to make room for the creative process to bloom once more. If you're interested and have appropriate funds available drop me an e-mail and I'll put you in touch.

Dr.Rod.