Now don’t think the worst of our feature bikes heading, the name is deprived from the actual colour of the bike and not due to the fact a Copper owns it!
No the owner of this Big Bear is Matt Waldron.
Matt is well known in the motorcycling circuits here in Australia as a racer having raced naked bikes for 3 years and placing 4th each year on the Naked Bike circuit and then raced Harley Davidson’s for 2 years when he returned home to Australia finishing sixth.
As with many of us Matt was starting to feel the pressures of age and gave up racing but still delved in the sport as a somewhat mentor to British Superbike Champion, mate and godfather to Matts son, Josh Brookes when he was racing in the World Supersport Series.
Matt says his boys Ryder and Ace are already riding and are sure to follow in his and Josh’s footsteps.
Matt’s first Harley was an FXR he bought off LTR’s (Live to Rides) own Westy. He had the bike for 8-9 years and decided he wanted something a little subtler and bought himself a Springer.
It wasn’t long and the knives came out and the Springer went through some changes most notably an old school suicide clutch and jockey shift and now he has the Big Bear.
Matt bought the Big Bear in kit form and had Dean from Loaded Cycles, Kirrawee to build the bike.
Not wanting to draw unwanted attention from the law Matt wanted the bike to look every part a Chopper whilst being road worthy and is pleased with the results “it’s the sort of bike you ride to a show rather than tow the thing! You don’t have to worry about scrapping out and she is really nice to ride. You can take the your hands off at 120kph and the thing runs dead straight. It’s such a well handling bike even with its wide arse, which usually make the bike handle like a pig. If your into riding bikes and not pushing them around this is the Chopper for you.’’
The Copper Chopper is the standard Big Bear kit with a ‘’few extra’s’’.
Matt has gone with a 4 inch stroke 4 inch bore 100 cube S&S square bore motor with the little known Big Bear cam ‘’the S&S 100 cube is usually a pretty savage engine and this cam makes it subtle and ride able. The bike has no problem doing 190kph’’ says Matt as he pulls up the proof on the history in the Dakota instrument display.
The Supertrapp pipes weren’t Matt’s first choice but they were legal.
The power to the 300-arse end is by way of a Baker 6 speed box and the bike is fitted with Big Bear certified Performance Machine (PM) controls and calipers.
Matt is wrapped with what Dean (Loaded Cycles) has done with the bike and describes the bike as what a Chopper should be! You can ride it; it turns heads whilst not being overdone.
Matt’s good mate Bonnie Lee Lifieczko was our model for the shoot.
Bonnie is a Vet Nurse by day and Belly Dancers of a night.
A well-established model with TV experience, Bonnie is a country girl at heart Bonnie stay’s fit by riding horses and has competed in the Rodeo Circuit.
Bikes have also been a big part of Bonnie’s life and bikes run through the blood in the family.
Bonnie’s dad and Brother ride bikes and even her Mum ride.
So entrenched are the family Bonnie’s name was a deprived from her mothers beloved Triumph Bonneville “I have grown up with bikes. The bikes got more attention than me! My mum is a traditional bikie chic me I just like to pose on them and I do like to being on the back on a nice day out, but I couldn’t see myself riding one’’