In December last year he finally qualified from his trade as a panel beater, he stepped up from his ‘green P’s’ to his full licence and he bought his dream motorbike.

All this in the last three days before Christmas.

Ricky told me that he’s been messing around with motorbikes ‘since he was a kid’, and it’s no surprise, with his dad Scott and his pop Alex both being motorbike enthusiasts with a large collection of motorbikes between them.

Ever since Harley Davidson released the Muscle Ricky knew that he wanted one and now he finally has it.

Ricky’s bike is a 2009 Harley Davidson V-Rod Muscle, the first year that the Muscle was introduced to the V-Rod range.

The V-rod itself was first released by Harley Davidson in 2001 becoming the first ever water cooled Harley, with an engine that was co-designed by Porsche.

“It’s still the V-twin but there are some Harley purists who hate it because it’s not traditionally air cooled,” Ricky said. 

Another interesting feature is the faux fuel tank which actually houses the airbox.

The actual fuel tank with a 19 litre capacity sits below the seat.

This helps to keep a lower centre of gravity which Ricky reckons helps the big Harley handle better.

The 1250 cc engine and 5 speed gearbox makes it no slouch either with a claimed top speed of 220 km/h from the 300 kg bike. Not that Ricky would know anything about that!

Ricky has spent some time modifying his Harley Muscle, most notably with an Arnotts Air-ride airbag system for lowering the suspension which sits the rear down low over the fat 240 mm rear tyre.

He did all the fitting himself, including the Vance and Hines slip on exhaust and performance tuning chip and a K and N air filter.

Right now Ricky is quite happy enjoying his Harley as often as he gets the chance to ride it (which is usually most days). He’s hoping to take on an automotive painting apprenticeship next with plans to possibly change the colour scheme of the bike.

“Add a different set of bars and I’ll have my own custom look,” he said.