How ironic: Hide Motorcycle is based in the Japanese city of Kawasaki, but focuses on Harley-powered customs. For the last fifteen years, owner Hideya Togashi has indulged his penchant for vintage American racers—building quality bikes with a slightly off-kilter hybrid look, not quite American, and not quite Japanese. With the recent Glory bike though, Hide has thrown caution to the wind. He’s turned a Buell XB9S Lightning into something quite special. Powered by the familiar 984cc, air-cooled, v-twin motor, it’s influenced by Joe Petrali’s 1930s Knucklehead land speed motorcycle and Harley’s “Lucifer’s Hammer” racer. Hide has refashioned the Buell’s bodywork in aluminum, adding that extraordinary fairing and solid front wheel to give the bike a retro-Tron look. We suspect that Erik B would give this one his approval. [Via Blood Falcons.]
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That’s an awesome looking bike, I love that fairing.
That thing looks brutal.
Brutal in a good way. Are those cf wheels?
The Buell site has a full pdf article on the Hide Buell Glory.
Sooooo bad! Thx again for the traffic!
Those Japanese really know how to make an angry looking bike.
Here’s the real irony: Harley Davidsons, or licensed clones, were built in many other countries during the Great Depression: including Japan (67 countries according to http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Harley-Davidson). Japanese motorcyclists have been Harley fans ever since.
While Americans couldn’t afford to buy their own Harleys, Japanese riders could, and did. Therefore, Japan, and many other countries, saved HD, and HD in-turn helped kick-start the motorcycle industry all over the world. You can read about the Japanese HD, known as a Rikuo, here: http://www.motorcyclemuseum.org/classics/bike.asp?id=81
Buh-bye Buell.