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Words and Pictures Reproduced with the kind permission of Stu & Yoda ..Back Street Heroes |
THE PREDATOR Galashiels, the Scottish Borders. Situated about twenty miles from the dividing line between England and Scotland, Galashiels is a town that I've ridden or driven through several times in the past. On one occasion, on the way to Skye, I even stopped there for a couple of hours (in order to rifle through a car breaker's yard for a radiator hose) and I came away thinking that it was really rather too quiet and in danger of verging on the anonymous. Although I'm sure that the town livens up a bit once Friday night comes around, Galashiels could still never be described as a vibrant metropolis or a hub of the Western World. So it's one of the last places you'd imagine could |
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inspire one of its inhabitants to build an ultra-radical, all-conquering, right-between-the eyes custom Harley. This is a town, though, that obviously has something special going for it (either that, or there's something quite hideous in the water supply up there) because within the space of twelve months not one, but two of the townsfolk have each produced their very own ultra-radical, all-conquering, right-between-the-eyes custom Harley… |
Last year, we were treated to the sight of Galashielian (?) Charlie Beaton's monstrously huge Twin Cam chop turning up at all of the main events and quite simply stealing the show ... any and every show that took his fancy, in fact. This was not a subtle bike. No, this was a massive, imposing and highly original bike, and the clean sweep of trophies that Charlie had made by the end of 2002 was evidence of the deep and lasting impression it left on everbody who'd been lucky enough to see it in real life. Then, in the spring of 2003, from precisely the same road atlas co-ordinates, came another monster (almost literally in this case) – The Predator. Logie's the man responsible for this year's show-stopper and, as you might imagine, he and Charlie go back a few years together, which explains some of the similarities of style between the two bikes (oh come on, can you seriously imagine that two such |
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mega projects could be built in a one-horse town without either owner knowing about the other one…?). Another explanation is that both guys chose to employ the not inconsiderable bike-building skills of Vic at Destiny Cycles when it came to conjuring up basic skeletons from scratch. At this point, I'd like to make no apologies whatsoever for running two issues of BSH in succession with cover bikes that have been largely built at Destiny Cycles' North Yorks premises. It's simply a matter of acknowledging quality regardless of origin, and if you're of the opinion that Derek's green Gixer from last month and Logie's Predator here don't qualify on that score, then I suggest that you seek optical treatment with some urgency. |
The Predator ceased being merely a collection of scribbled pencil sketches and a series of shared, articulated thoughts last August when Vic took out the hacksaw to cut and then bend its first frame member. Rigid Harley-based chops are hardly a rarity these days, but rigid Harleys with just a single front downtube are pretty hard to find. Most people tend to go with twin downtubes, probably on the 'belt & braces' principle rather than on sound structural theory, but the hard riding and high mileages that the Predator has accomplished faultlessly this year prove that strength isn't necessarily compromised with the loss of one of your downtubes. Mind you, as the frame was going together, Vic strengthened each successive member by welding a second tube of smaller diameter inside of it. The original reason for doing that was to ensure that the tubing didn't weaken in those areas where Logie wanted to fit the one-inch wide conical stainless studs, because holes had to be drilled in the outer skin before the studs could be welded permanently in place. |
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To flatly refer to it as simply a 'frame,' though, is to overlook what must represent hundreds of hours of Vic's time. It must surely have taken that long, at least, for him to weld on all of the beading that squared off previously round tubing, or to appear as thick veins on the steel surface – the skin of Arnie's adversary, if you like – and for him to form and shape all of the various panels – sometimes |
jagged and harsh, sometimes smooth and flowing – into something that uncannily resembles the movie creature while, at the same time, remaining quite obviously an inert entity in motorcycle guise. Some of the more elaborate and exotic embellishments to the bodywork (in particular, the flame-like head steady and its mirrored projection at the top of the downtube, or the creeping, clinging and claw-like rear mudguard) are actually quite reminiscent of the over-the-top, acid-fuelled Californian creations of the Sixties that you’d occasionally see over here as novelty features in the straight biking press, and sometimes even as light relief article in the Sunday supplements. The work of George Barris, for instance, embraced a living, working Batmobile for the TV series, while legendary bike, trike and car builder, 'Big Daddy' Ed Roth, was no stranger to some of the more extravagant features that have been built into Predator. The only real differences are that Logie’s bike is far more sophisticated and superbly built than any of its forebears, and all of the quick-fix glass |
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fibre and body filler that would have been used on those early customs was rejected by Vic in favour of creating similar shapes in painstaking fashion using metal, and only metal. There would be no great solid swathes of filler to gradually crack and vibrate away on this bike, thank you very much. |
Which is just as well, really, because Logie intended riding the finished thing in, shall we say, a spirited fashion and over decent distances too, especially with regard to the five-week European hike that he and Charlie had had planned once Predator was up and running. And anything other than solid steel would surely have succumbed to the effects of that thumping great solidly-mounted Twin Cam engine somewhere along the line too (no, a trailer wouldn’t have been an option either – Like Charlie, Logie refuses to countenance such heresy. If he’s entered into a show, even if it’s half a continent away, then he’ll ride the bike all the way there from Scotland, put it on display, and then ride all the way home again!). And besides, can you imagine the heartbreak of completely ruining such a sumptuous and flawless paint job as this one, the work of Percy at Bad Brush, just because a couple of cubic inches of filler decided to part company with the frame… |
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The trouble with Predator – if indeed you can call it ‘trouble’ – is that the fact that Destiny Cycles was involved guarantees that there will be more engineering detail and trick solutions worthy of mention than there’s ever going to be room for in an article like this. Ditto Percy’s fabulous paintwork. And that’s before you even begin to document all of the accomplished work carried out by Logie himself, or the list of exquisite one-off parts machined by Neil at Cademuir Precision Toolmakers just down the road in Selkirk, or any of the other contributions made by a number of talented people. That means you’ll just have to be satisfied with these few words and photos and the details in the spec panel, I’m afraid. So if you’re ever at a rally, or show, or a pub, and Logie’s there too, do yourself a favour and go out of your way to check out his bike and see with your own eyes the full glory of Predator. |
words: STU The story so far: |
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Make & model: Engine: Frame: Front end: Rear end: Stuff: |
Paint: Polishing & plating: Thanks to: |
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