Harley-Davidson is an icon of American culture and the most popular marque for custom builders. Shortly after the company was founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, customizers started bobbing, chopping and dirt tracking the famous V-twins.
After WW2 Harley motorcycles were at the center of the bobber craze, and kept their lead as Californian bikers turned to choppers in the late 1950s. The 45-degree engines have their own nicknames and folklore: from flatheads, knuckleheads, panheads and shovelheads to today’s Evolution and Milwaukee-Eight motors.
The Sportster is the basis for more Harley-Davidson customs than any other model. Originally fitted with an ‘Ironhead’ motor, it turned 60 years old in 2017. It’s probably the single most customized motorcycle on the planet, and certainly has the largest supply of aftermarket parts.
Few Harley-Davidson models can boast the same cult following as the V-Rod. With a Porsche-designed motor and muscle bike styling, it was a bold move from the Motor Co. that paid off—mostly because it was unlike any other Harley. And it’s been missed by many ever since it was axed. Most custom V-Rod customs are…
Read more »
If pushed to pick a golden age for flat track, most folks would suggest the late 60s to the early 70s. It was a time when Harley was facing a tough challenge from Triumph, and the Japanese manufacturers were on the rise too. The racing was fierce and the bikes were good looking. This (almost)…
Read more »
When we first saw images of this bike from Custom Works Zon, we assumed it was a restoration job. And it looked like builder Yuichi Yoshizawa would have to use all his legendary skills to get the knucklehead roadworthy again. It turned out that we were wrong. This remarkable ‘vintage racer’ is actually a ground-up…
Read more »
There are a handful of classics out there that look amazingly ‘right.’ In that category, we’d put machines like the Norton Manx, the Moto Guzzi Le Mans, and the early Honda CB750s and Kawasaki Zeds. In the V-twin world the Harley-Davidson XR750 fits into that category. But it didn’t just look good: it was also…
Read more »Four years ago, Christian Newman turned up at the Born Free show with a Knucklehead chopper, and left with the People’s Choice…
Read more »Uwe Ehinger describes himself as a ‘motorcycle archaeologist,’ and the description is apt. He knows where to find the most obscure parts,…
Read more »As the electric motorcycle market continues to grow, so does the custom electric scene. But it’s forcing builders to change tack. Electric…
Read more »The new Harley-Davidson Sportster S signifies the first major redesign in decades for the illustrious Sportster. To celebrate, we’ve been looking back…
Read more »Harley-Davidson has just rebooted one of the world’s longest-running model lines, with the launch of the new Sportster S. But remarkably, it’s…
Read more »Engineering is easy. Lean on decades of technological progress, R&D like hell, and a modern manufacturer can build a mechanically competent motorcycle…
Read more »The French are out in full force this week, with a Katana from Lucky Cat Garage and an R nineT from Le…
Read more »It’s been a couple of years since Harley-Davidson revealed the LiveWire and sent shockwaves through the industry. It was the first battery-powered…
Read more »
