99’ Harley Davidson Twin Cam Turbo Cafe Racer
The Flying Whale
What happens when you slap an air compressor to a bike that’s already an oversized air compressor itself? A stupidly torquey Harley that pulls like a freight train above 4000rpm.
In an age of identity politics, this bike challenges all preconceptions. I find myself staring at it, thinking ‘what exactly are you?’. There are some pretty hard juxtapositions going on; a big-bore American V-Twin sitting in a stripped back chassis that’s more akin to an English cafe racer. Then protruding from the intake as an enormous middle finger to sensibility is a cast iron turbo from a Japanese sports car. Yet despite this mish mash of cultural heritage, the bike suffers no confusion–its stance is remarkably self-assured.
ORIGINS
Like all customs, the ‘Flying Whale’ didn’t start life out this way. The story starts with a bloke called Will, who did the initial turbo header work for a laugh with his fabricator mates during the Covid lockdowns. Fast forward a few years and owners, the shape of the build had already had input from multiple talented bike builders. That said, it was in pretty rough shape when we first got our hands on it. Advertised as “in good working order”, our initial excitement about a turbo Harley quickly faded as we were greeted by a bike that wasn’t running. A huge crack had formed in the turbo manifold where a weld had failed. To make matters worse, the compressor had so much freeplay that the blades were fouling on the housing. A full teardown and repair on the turbo and exhaust was in order, just to get the thing spooling up.
POWER
Harley-Davidson claimed 56 horsepower at the rear wheel from the 1,450cc ‘Twin Cam 88’ engine back in 1999. A quarter of a century later, we’re making 78.8 hp thanks to the miracle (and joyous stupidity) of forced induction. Even with the rubber-mounting, that motor shakes you to your core when you’re stopped at the lights, threatening to rattle the bike to pieces. Once you’re rolling and the revs start to climb, everything begins to harmonise and you’re cruising in typical Harley fashion.
The turbo itself is from a Nissan Silvia S15 inline-four 2.0 litre engine. It’s definitely oversized for the current application and works best once it’s built up some revs. But once it does, it completely offsets the asthmatic top end of the stock motor. The boost kicks in and that hefty 270 kg curb weight disappears in a heady mixture of exhilaration, terror and glorious induction whir.
COLOUR & TEXTURE
This wouldn’t be a Kelpi build without a custom seat trim and we didn’t hold back on this design. The classic black suede is paired with no less than six subtly different shades of thread. They range from cream to dark chocolate and gold to bronze in a bespoke stitching pattern that perfectly compliments the tones of the custom painted fuel tank. Everything sits on a blacked-out chassis including painted fork lowers, wheels and swingarm.
REPROFILING
A radical departure from the original silhouette leaves the ‘Flying Whale’ with little resemblance to a standard Wide Glide. A hand-built subframe with an integrated taillight and plate holder does away with much of the bulk of the factory mudguard. Aftermarket shocks have raised the rear ride height, adding to the sense of visual lightness whilst livening up the handling dynamics of the bike.
Similarly, a slimline headlight, custom front fender and lowered forks have drastically altered the profile of the front end. Sitting atop the triple trees are a set of drag bars, lending the rider a more aggressive, forward-leaning position with greater leverage to match the mid-mounted footpegs. Low-mount mirrors, mini indicators and a tidy Acewell speedo all contribute to the cafe racer spirit.
WITH GREAT POWER…
It would be irresponsible for us to add power and lightness to a machine without addressing stopping power. We’ve upgraded to a 6-piston calliper at the front with sintered pads and braided lines all round. Fresh rubber in the form of a Shinko E270 rear and Avon Speedmaster Mach 2 front maintain the old-school aesthetic whilst hooking up surprisingly well.
FRANKENSTEIN’S MONSTER OR STROKE OF GENIUS?
The Flying Whale speaks to the halcyon days of three separate continents. It honours Harley-Davidson’s steadfast, almost-dogged commitment to the air-cooled V-twin that continues to this day, the fearless pursuit of speed of the English cafe racers, and one of the finest periods in car culture history with the much celebrated JDM models of the late 90s and early 2000s. Without a doubt, it also bears that signature Australian optimism and a bit of ‘fuck it, why not?’. To some, it’s nothing more than a bastard child, but I think that it’s precisely in this amalgamation of pieces once separated by time and space that something new and interesting is born. Besides, we love a mutt here at Kelpi.
