This custom Exile Cycles bike, crowned the "Black Diamond" is now an addition to the Melbourne streets.. It's a fully registered thunder maker that packs a punch... Words & Photos: Knackers.
Jurgen is the proud owner of Black Diamond. With many thanks to the talented and gifted bike builders Luke and Mick that Jurgen had at his disposal, the full on custom bike is a ride that no one in Australia has seen before… But the build wasn’t a cake walk…
This ride wasn’t brought over directly from America…Nope! There’s an interesting story as to how that evolved.
After Jurgen owned several stock Harley-Davidsons and a couple of slightly customised bikes, he thought it was time for the real deal. He’d always admired the combination of power, simplicity, looks and style packed in to one seen on big American custom cruisers. So after some searching he decided Exile Cycles would be the closest to achieving that.
Check out our other custom bike features here…
The Fat Bloke (name of bike) was ordered from Exile Cycles USA directly by Jurgen when he was living in Indonesia. The plan was to complete and build the bike in Indonesia and go to the Yogyakarta bike-week; not just for the experience! Later he planned a trip to Bali and Java.
The bike has plenty of stamps in its passport, it wasn’t just ordered from USA and delivered straight to Australia.
But since most matters are unofficial in Indonesia anyway he decided the custom build would not spoil the fun. No rules, just ride with many others on illegal bikes; with or without a police escort. “As long as you have a few dollars in your pocket you are safe. The fact that big motorcycles are mostly owned by the high ranking there has something to do with that as well.” Said Jurgen.
The Fat Bloke (name of bike) was ordered from Exile Cycles USA directly by Jurgen when he was living in Indonesia.
He’d already found a local motorcycle shop owner to help with building the bike in Semarang. Mr. Islander at Leduwi has 40-years plus experience with various bikes; including Harley-Davidson. They ordered two complete Exile bikes in parts, one for Jurgen and one for a friend. It took a while to work out the logistics. Semarang is quite a remote place even though it has a few million inhabitants.
Finally the bikes were air freighted from California to Singapore on four pallets to be trans-shipped by air/sea to Indonesia to take advantage of a low and fixed import duty at the time. Officially these bikes attract a 200 per cent import duty. But thanks to a guy he knows in Singapore, they got a nice cheap rate. The plan was to ship the engines separate.
A billet Patricks Racing-Satin 120 Cubic Inch with dual Fire electronic ignition, four-stroke, Mikuni 45mm carburettor was used for the power plant.
Unfortunately, the customs offices were raided on the day that the engines were supposed to be signed off by the Anti Corruption squad. So the engines (two Total Performance 121 cubic inch engines fitted with an S&S Super G carburetor) disappeared from the radar into the unknown but expected to be delivered soon after.
Monster-spoked 15×7” front and rear wheels, with a massive 200 wide Metzeler on the front and a 230 on the rear.
In the meantime they had the frame and metal parts worked on with primary and secondary coating. This job was done by the local Honda dealer who had all the equipment available to do it professionally. After that the forks etc were all fitted. However, the engines never re-surfaced and in the meantime Jurgen moved from Indonesia to Melbourne-Australia.
Jurgen’s first experience with the Australian desire to regulate everything wasn’t as he’d expected it to be. That’s also when he wanted to bring in the bike. After Indonesia’s total anarchic environment he was faced with AQIS. Imagine a topic and they have a rule for it. AQIS simply said…“no you can’t because it’s a rigid and that would never be able to get registered on the road”… They had no suggestion and advised him to sell the bike. So he had to be creative and eventually got it in.
It finally arrived in Melbourne with a big relief attached. Now he had to look for an experienced and affordable bike builder to register the project. Through a friends recommendation he ended up at Luke’s, the cool and gifted bike builder.
Things like a Fat Chrome velocity stack, Techcycle 2.0Kw starter motor, custom exhaust, Jims 6-speed gearbox, Barnett clutch, Rivera Primo-3” belt were added to the Patricks Racing engine.
Since the original engine was still stuck in customs on Batang Island, Jurgen had to buy a new power plant. His choice was the potent performance package of a Patricks Racing 120 cubic inch v-twin (PR) partially satin finished and it fit in nicely. Luke facilitated the purchase and did a great job fitting and aligning the major drive train components. Unfortunately for Jurgen, Luke couldn’t complete the whole build and Luke steered him in the right direction to complete it.
Fortunately for Jurgen that direction was Mick who agreed to take on the not yet registered ride. However, the unexpected happened. Jurgen got a call from the freight forwarder that the engine arrived in Jakarta. But first he had to pay 10 million rupiah (equivalent of $1100) to them; probably to pay for some customs officer’s vacation he suspected. Since he now had two engines he sold the original one at cost in Jakarta and continued the project in Melbourne.
The frame is a rigid Daytec custom build that cradles the 120 cubic inch PR engine fitted with a 45mm Mikuni carburettor feeding the fuel. A Dual Fire electronic ignition supplies the spark and a Techcycle 2.0KW starter motor makes it possible for it to be fired up. The open primary transfers the grunt to the 6-speed gearbox from Jims. The spoked Monster rear wheel, 15in x 7in was shod with a 230 Metzler Cruisetec tyre and has a Sprotor attached by Exile Cycles. Front rim is of the same but shod with a 200 tyre from the same tyre manufacturer.
“The frame is a rigid Daytec custom build that cradles the 120 cubic inch PR engine fitted with a 45mm Mikuni carburettor feeding the fuel.”
The SPJ front-end is an extra wide fat glide 300; headlight is 3.5in diameter also from SPJ. Bars are known as Fat-Wide being 1.25in thick. They are accessorised with Grip Ace levers and grips. The guards accommodate the fat rubber which is more from Exile Cycles; the rear has a Sparto taillight.
Fuel tanks are 6-gallon Fat Bob’s divided by the H-D speedo-tacho. The tan leather covered seat is Exile Cycles spring mounted from Le Pera. And there’s a stack of black anodising throughout this high gloss black finished ride. It’s a ready ride that will no doubt turn heads for all the right reasons. But for now…Jurgen intends to make some miles!
Exile Cycles “Black Diamond” Specifications
ENGINE: Patricks Racing-Satin 120 Cubic Inch with dual Fire electronic ignition, four-stroke, Mikuni 45mm carburettor, Fat Chrome velocity stack, Techcycle 2.0Kw starter motor, custom exhaust, Jims 6-speed gearbox, Barnett clutch, Rivera Primo-3” belt.
CHASSIS: Daytec custom-Rigid frame, 38 degree of rake, SPJ extra wide Fat Glide 300 front end, SPJ Triple Trees, LePera seat, Exile Cycles-spring mounted, SPJ-Fat Wide bars, Exile Cycles front and rear guards, Monster-spoked 15×7” front and rear wheels, 200 Metzler front tyre, 230 Metzler rear tyre, Exile Cycles 4 spotter front brake, Exile Cycles-Sprotor rear brake.
BUILDERS: Owner/G Works & Mick
OWNER: Jurgen, Melbourne, Australia.
Exile Cycles “Black Diamond Gallery
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