Fair enough, mate, but you look way
too tough to be going around saying stuff like that.
Fair dinkum.
“Well, I do,” admits Snake, “And Sylvester is pretty
cool too.
“As for the Squarley, it’s the result of hundreds
of hours work making a bike that fits me perfectly.
I have exactly what I want. But it was no easy slog.”
Five minutes later Snake wheels Squarley out into
the morning sun, takes a big swing on the kick-starter
and fires the mutha of all turbo cruisers into life.
As Squarley sits there, idling away with the rhythm
of a bog-stock factory bike but the bark of a rabid
Pitt Bull, Snake explains the origins of the machine’s
name.
“The front end, back wheel and brakes are GSX-R1100.
The engine is Harley – so that makes it a Squarley.”
I wander around the bike while the others prepare
to head off for our shoot. Everywhere I look I find
something worth a story in itself. There must be some
serious hours in this thing.
The frame is a steel cradle unit hand-bent from Reynolds
tubing and was a joint effort between Snake and Penrith’s
Natli Enterprises. “The swingarm is also by Natli.
I wanted the whole bike to be built around me, from
the frame and swingarm up.”
The
GSX-R running gear was next, with Sean from
SOS suspension extending and revalving the forks
while Snake fitted up the wrinkle-coat triple
clamps.
Says Sean, “The standard rebound assembly was
retained, as were the 0.8kg/mm springs which
work well in the raked front end. We also retained
stock travel but compression valving was modified
to better suit the application.” |
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The GSX-R1100 front wheel went in next and Snake
fitted up the Tokico calipers and rotors after some
serious shine work. Braided lines went on and the
GSX-R guard was fitted up.
“Next I had some custom KTT gauges made up and machined
the instrument panel from billet, coating it with
black wrinkle-coat.” Says Snake, “After that I fitted
an aftermarket chrome headlight and the stainless
steel T‘Bars, finishing off with ZX-9R switches, Tokico
levers and master cylinders and a White Power steering
damper.”
With the front end finalised Snake turned his attention
to the back, again enlisting Sean from SOS for the
shock work while he concentrated on fabricating everything
else. Says Sean, “The shocks are one-off specials
specifically designed for Snake’s bike. Using a combo
of custom and Technoflex parts I’ve been able to build
them to perfectly match Snakes requirements.”
The springs are custom 4.6kg/mm items, while the
steel bodies house Technoflex valving with 22 positions
of high-speed comp, 22 positions of low speed comp
and 24 rebound settings. Preload is stepless and the
shaft diameter is 14mm. Blue powdercoated springs,
anodising for the billet mounts and reservoir and
spherical bearings complete the shocks.
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The lot was then bolted up and
Snake had a complete rolling chassis. Time
to get started on the motor then…
The engine of choice was a 1340,
Snake opting to go with the 80-cube twin over
any of its mega-bore cousins simply because
the turbo would more than compensate for any
shortcomings. The stock engine height also
allowed for the compact chassis – something
a big, stroked ‘Twin couldn’t offer.
“The first job was to completely
strip the engine and start from scratch,”
says Snake, “These engines are only designed
to put out 40-odd horsepower so subjecting
them to 130 horsepower is always going to
be a big ask!”
|
Stock bore and stroke was retained, but Snake re-shaped,
ported and polished the heads, dropping compression
to 8.0:1 in the process. Black Diamond valves were
also installed and the standard barrels were given
a once over.
With the extra torque coming its way, the stock pressed-up
crankshaft was never going to cope. So with that in
mind, Snake built a custom crank with a mixture of
S&R Pro one-off parts and stock parts, the end
result being a much stronger slotted and welded unit.
The stock ‘rods were polished and shot-peened.
“The crankcases had to go, too,” adds Snake, “So
we ordered a set of Delkron’s finest. They’re much
stronger and more durable than the H-D ones.”
Once the bottom end was together a turbo-grind cam
went in and pair of forged CP pistons went on, then
the top came down.
The
gearbox, clutch and final drive was next.
Says Snake, “Again, the stock ‘box was never
going to cope so we went for the strongest gearbox
we could find – the RevTech four-speed. I also
fitted a Primo belt primary drive a and chain
final drive.” |
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A Barnett clutch went on next, complete with hydraulic
actuation via a Tokico master cylinder and a neat
slave cylinder that Snake machined up.
“We then went about fitting the turbo, dump pipe,
intercooler and plenum chamber then fitting the carb’s
and BOV.
“Once all that was done it was a matter of fitting
the oil tank and ignition system. Then the fun began!”
With the bike a runner, Snake had the mammoth task
of tuning the Mikuni CVs but eventually got it running
sweetly.
Bodywork is always what sets a bike apart and, following
in the theme of his yellow turbo trike, Snake went
all out on the Canary yellow paint with Squarley.
“The tank is a modified Z900 Kawasaki unit, and the
oil tank is my work. We used the GSX-R front guard
and a custom carbon-fibre rear guard with a custom
seat out the back. Paint is by Jay’s Custom Paint
in Dapto.” Snake adds, “Squarley is the ultimate.”
|
So that’s Snake’s
Squarley, without doubt one of the most customised
bikes in Australia and, by the look of the way
he just took off up the road for the shoot,
the fastest bloody Harley we’ve ever seen. Baaaaaaarghhhh
Psshhh! |
BLOW,NOT SUCK
Snake’s beastie is quite unconventional in
the fact that it is carburetted and has a blow-through
turbo set up. Most turbo tuners these days steer clear
of carburettors but Snake built his bike back in 1997
when the only decent computer available was the expensive
MoTeC unit – and at a time when there were no injector
systems to suit his 1340 donk.
What that meant, apart from headaches, was that Snake
had to come up with a fix for the obvious problem
of pressurising the twin Mikuni CVs he’d sourced from
a Ducati 750 Supersport. Says Snake, “I’ve had to
heavily modify the carburettor bodies to make the
fuel bowls atmospheric, which means pressure in the
bowls needs to match boost pressure, but it runs well
now.” He adds, “Cruising was a problem at first, though,
because it didn’t want to fuel properly on vacuum.
But I came up with a solution and now it runs like
a dream. It’s not a one-way valve, it’s something
better. Can’t tell you what it is though, it’s my
little secret!”
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE 1340cc OHV V-twin four-stroke, bore
and stroke of 88.0mm x 108.0mm, compression ratio
8.0:1, CP forged pistons, CP rings, Delkron crankcases,
RevTech four-speed gearbox, custom S&R Pro crankshaft,
turbo-grind camshaft, Black Diamond valves, ported
and polished heads – bath tub chambers, Barnett clutch,
Primo belt primary drive conversion, chain final drive,
S&R Pro custom intercooler, IHI 220HP turbo, HKS
blow-off valve, S&R plenum chamber, inlet manifolds,
exhaust headers and dump pipe, twin Mikuni 32mm CV
carburettors, Bosch fuel pump, K&N pod filter,
Dyna S ignition with Dyna coils and bob weights. CHASSIS
Homemade custom – built to fit. Hand-bent from Reynolds
tube, Natli Enterprises custom swingarm, powdercoated
by Crows Custom Paint, White Power steering damper,
GSX-R1100 triple clamps, stainless steel T ‘bars,
KTT instruments, custom alloy dash, ZX-9R switches,
forward controls, GSX-R1100 3.5 x 17in (f) and 5.5
x 17in (r) polished alloy rims, Dunlop D208 tyres.
SUSPENSION - FRONT 1993 41mm inverted GSX-R1100 with
custom-made internals by SOS suspension, polished
outer legs by Dave the polisher, 0.8kg/mm springs
(stock, suit rake angle), extended inner tubes by
SOS, standard travel, Motorex 5wt oil – 140mm air
chamber. REAR SOS custom shocks using Technoflex components,
spherical bearings top and bottom, 22 positions of
high-speed compression, 22 positions of low-speed
compression, 24 positions of rebound damping, threaded
preload, billet alloy top mounts and reservoirs, ?40mm
steel bodies, ?14mm shaft, travel limiting spacers,
Technoflex valving, custom 4.6kg/mm linear rate blue
powdercoated springs. BRAKES Polished four-piston
Tokico calipers and 320mm floating discs (f), chromed
twin-piston Tokico caliper with 220mm disc (r), stainless
steel braided brake lines. BODYWORK Modified Kawasaki
Z900 fuel tank, custom oil tank, carbon-fibre tailpiece,
GSX-R1100 front guard, custom seat, and custom paint
by Jays Custom Paint, Dapto NSW. REAR WHEEL HORSEPOWER
130hp@6500rpm and 150ft-lbs@6000rpm running 12psi
of boost on PULP. INDIVIDUALITY There’s nothing even
close.
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