As a nuclear chemist with purchasers spanning a number of industries, Corban Gallagher’s day job requires ingenuity and precision in equal measure. So when he sometimes takes a break from work to construct customized bikes, he usually finally ends up creating machines which can be each outlandish and well-engineered—similar to this completely bonkers Harley Sportster ‘Grand Prix’ racer.
Similar to his debut customized construct, Corban constructed the Sportster particularly for the annual Handbuilt Present. “As a result of it’s held in Austin on the identical weekend because the American MotoGP, I wished to do one thing that was within the spirit of each occasions,” he tells us. “I believed it might be enjoyable to construct essentially the most low-budget ‘GP’ bike ever, by utilizing virtually completely salvaged elements.”
The place to begin of the mission was a wrecked 1996 Sportster body and the rear shock from a 1998 Ducati 900SS. With a 1997 Sportster XL1200 engine sourced from a junkyard, the mission was kind of underway. However first, Corban needed to convey the 27-year-old V-twin as much as spec…
“As soon as I had the crusty motor torn aside, I requested Hammer Efficiency to place a package deal collectively for me based mostly on a set of Buell Thunderstorm heads I had on the shelf,” he tells us. “It now has 1,275 cc barrels with domed pistons, a racing clutch, Andrews cams, a 42 mm Mikuni carb, and some different bits and items.”
Adamant about utilizing the Ducati shock, Corban’s subsequent large job was to construct a brand new mono-shock rear finish to place it to make use of. Cannibalizing the decrease shock mount and brace from the Ducati 900SS, he constructed a brand new swingarm that might accommodate not solely the shock but additionally a 200 mm-wide rear tire. The brand new swingarm ended up being about 3” longer than the OEM Harley unit.
Though it’s a small piece, a whole lot of thought went into the higher shock mount. It wraps across the body’s spine for additional energy, and serves as a mounting level for the entrance part of the all-new subframe. Other than having to straighten out one of many down tubes on the entrance, Corban left the remainder of the body inventory.
The remainder of the rolling chassis elements come from a 2003-model Buell XB9R. “I selected these wheels primarily due to that insanely cool entrance brake rotor,” Corban tells us. “I used the decrease triple tree from the Buell, however a customized steering stem and flat high higher triple tree from Naked Knuckle Efficiency was wanted to mate every little thing up correctly with the Harley’s neck.”
With every little thing now in place, Corban turned his consideration to the bodywork, placing the bike along with a pleasant mixture of kinds spanning a number of a long time of racing.
The entrance fairing comes from Airtech Streamlining and is designed for Nineteen Seventies Triumph and BSA race bikes. These bikes aren’t fairly the identical form as a Nineties Sporty, so Corban needed to do a substantial quantity of massaging to get the fairing to suit. He ultimately managed to place it in order that the windshield would sit impossibly low, the highest fringe of the facet part would run parallel to the seat, and the stomach pan would match completely below the engine.
“The fairing additionally had a very slick cutout within the entrance, initially for the Triumph’s oil cooler,” says Corban. “As a substitute, I used to be capable of finding an off-road LED mild bar that match completely inside it, and lower the lens out of smoked polycarbonate. It made it look type of like Robocop—which isn’t a foul factor.”
Plan A was to make use of an outdated Norton Commando gas tank, however the positioning of the rear shock laid waste to that concept, as a result of it didn’t go away any room for a separate oil tank. So Corban pivoted, putting in a Fifties Norton Manx cut up tank that might carry each the gas and oil. The tail part is an off-the-shelf half and homes the battery tray.
The remainder of the elements listing consists of Woodcraft clip-ons, Sato Racing rear-sets, and a chunky 5” Autometer tacho. The brutally brief exhaust headers have been made by Kinetic Bikes, and reportedly sound downright maniacal.
Similar to his final Handbuilt Present mission, Corban opted to deal with all of the paintwork on the Sportster himself. “I painted my final bike in the midst of my machine store at work, and wrestled with airborne mud and particles,” he says. “So for this one, I believed it might be higher to spray it in my yard—however I discovered my lesson, and have since gone again to portray in my machine store.”
“I felt {that a} bike as cartoonishly absurd as a Harley GP bike constructed from junk deserved a cartoonish paint job as properly. I selected my coloration palette from a ‘Spy vs Spy’ comedian I noticed. The entire web page of the comedian was fantastically balanced with the flat grey tying the black and white collectively, so I approached the paint and graphics with the intention of making the identical degree of steadiness.”
As soon as once more, Corban’s proven that he not solely has a wild creativeness and a pointy eye, however a deft hand too. This Harley Sportster race bike is totally off the wall, however by some means additionally impressively elegant. We’d like to see it go round a observe at full tilt, however sadly, Corban’s not fairly able to trip it in anger but.
“The bike nonetheless must undergo all of the break-in suggestions Hammer Efficiency prescribed earlier than I take it to a observe and run it laborious,” he explains. Within the meantime, he has a slew of different initiatives to maintain his palms from being too idle.
“I’m ending up a ground-up restoration of a 1976 Harley Electra-Glide, and I’ve a donor Triumph Thruxton and a depraved cool customized body from Bitter-Finish Choppers on deck. I’m additionally attempting to work out an amphibious seaside chopper concept that I’ve had knocking round upstairs; nonetheless looking for the candy spot of buoyancy and gnarly energy.”
Corban Gallagher Instagram | Photographs by Myke Toman
