Aussie bike unveiled

By JIM DUNCAN

Most people in Australia are riding Italian, Japanese, American and British bikes. But what if there was an Australian bike to own - would that instill some true-blue Aussie pride?

In my mind it would, though you can be sure that there will be arguments over the bike's looks for many years to come.

Launched at the Melbourne International Motor Show 2001, an all-new Australian designed and built 'super-cruiser' drew quite a crowd.

Hunwick Harrop are the guys behind the new steed, entitled the Phantom 1500. The new bike is targeting the hog/cruiser demographic, though with its quasi-freaked-out retro look it remains to be seen whether potential buyers will cotton on to the bike.

It does look a bit silly at first, but when you see a rider tooling around on the new beast, it does look a little more acceptable.

That said, you won't find me riding one...

Hunwick Harrop didn't want the Phantom to look like any other cruiser out there. Jeff Haggarty, chief stylist of the Phantom, said: "Instead of copying or cloning the competitions' retro-theme styling, we pushed forward.

I also wanted to integrate the body masses (fuel tank, engine and seat). Integration happens on sports bikes but not on cruisers. The Phantom looks clean because I've concentrated on creating a cohesive design."

Well said Jeff. The lads at Hunwick Harrop certainly achieved their goals of creating a cruiser like no other.

Excluding the new-school looks, the first thing that differentiates this bike from a standard Harley or similar hog replica are the tyres. The Phantom is shod with the same tyres found on supersports bikes, like the CBR and GSX-R 600s.

17" rims front and back are covered by Dunlop 207s. While the Phantom won't be able to lean into corners like a sportsbike, due to ground clearance and weight, it will be able to corner much more safely and at increased angles and speeds compared to similar cruisers.

An 18-litre fuel tank is accessible by removing the seat and another cushion can be added for a pillion passenger. The bike weighs in at 240kg dry and comes with three disc brakes - two four-pistons at the front and a single four-piston caliper at the rear.

Powering the Phantom is a Hunwick Harrop-built 1500cc, electronically injected, 90 degree V-twin mill. It takes advantage of liquid cooling (one of very few cruisers to do so), has dual overhead cams with belt driven camshafts and four valves per cylinder, all of which is mated to a five-speed constant mesh gearbox.

All this equates to slightly more than 100bhp at the rear wheel @6250rpm and the compression ratio sits at 9.25:1. Peak torque is 101 lb-ft at 4250rpm - rather impressive performance for a 1500cc cruiser.

The bike has forgone a belt-driven system in favour of a chain-driven system. The guys at Hunwick Harrop reckon they can pull mammoth wheelies on the bike too. Yeah sure...

Hunwick Harrop, like Ducati with a number of its motorcycles, is selling the new Phantom via the Internet. It hopes to sell most of the bikes in the US, but Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Britain and Germany are also expected to buy a few dozen. Hunwick Harrop predicts about 325 will be made this year.

The Phantom will be released mid-way through this year and each bike will be completely tailored to suit each prospective buyer. With 20 colours to choose from (including carbon-fibre!) and even two-tone paint jobbies, most who decide to get one will likely have a one-of-a-kind.

If you like the idea of good bottom-end power and a comfy, cruisy steed with a look all its own, the Phantom 1500 could be for you. Performance wise, this has one of the best power-to-weight ratios of any cruiser, so don't worry about being smoked by learners on their 250 Bandits.

Customers can even decide to have polished, brushed or colour-anodised treatments of selected aluminium components, too.

The bike will cost around $39,000. Head over to the Hunwick Harrop website for ordering info.