Bikes line up for Originals Ashburton motorcycle show

Willie Little took a 1996 Harley-Davidson Sportster and blinged it up with chrome.

It has a six inch oversized springer front end, been lowered an inch at the back and a customised sissy bar.

It is one of the toys, he said. Little, an engineer, did the work himself during Covid lockdown.

He bought the 1200cc sportster in 2019 for $5000 and imported parts from the United States.

Then Covid hit, giving him time to work on his machine.

He stripped it all back and replaced the front, lowered it at the rear and handcrafted his own sissy bar.

Replaced the belt with a chain, put in a new exhaust, custom chromes and paint work.

Then he added a small 1950s-style peanut tank which holds about 3.5 litres of fuel.

"Enough to get you to the pub and back," he said.

The motorbike was on show at the recent Originals Ashburton motorcycle show and shine at the Ashburton RSA.

There were about 40 bikes of all makes and models inside and outside the event ranging in ages from 1953 to 2025.

Little finally finished the motorcycle in time for last year’s annual November bike show.

In keeping with his Harley-Davidson preference, his next project is to rebuild a Pan America.