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.
Meet the new LiveWire S2 Del Mar—a bike so hotly anticipated, the first 100 sold out in 18 minutes. Then peruse a tasty club style BMW R18 from California, a Kawasaki KLR from Colorado, and a race-ready Honda GB350 from Japan. We finish things off with a bonafide 1960s motorcycle safety video.
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If there’s a bike that symbolizes the uneasy relationship between Harley-Davidson and sporting performance, it’s the VR1000. Developed in the late 80s to compete in the AMA Superbike series, it finally appeared on track in the mid 90s. By that time it was down on power compared to the competition, and despite excellent handling, never…
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With the release of the Nightster, the decades-old Harley-Davidson Sportster has now fully passed the torch on to the next generation. But even though the ‘old’ Evo Sportster is starting to vanish from showroom floors, it remains iconic, and will stay a popular custom build donor for years to come. Yesterday we showcased one of…
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It’s only three weeks since Harley-Davidson pulled the sheets off the 2022 Nightster, giving us a look at the spiritual successor to the original Sportster. But six months ago, pre-production versions of the new bikes were discreetly delivered to a select group of six customizers in the US, England, Germany, China and Japan. Hideya Togashi…
Read more »Harley-Davidson expands their new Sportster line with the 975cc Nightster. Plus we profile a BMW R18 from Canada, a Ducati SportClassic from…
Read more »The market for modified Sportsters is crowded. Most builders of repute in the USA know their way around the venerable platform, and…
Read more »There are a million ways to customize a Harley-Davidson Sportster, so it’s tempting to look to those that have gone before for…
Read more »The most prestigious custom event in Japan is the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show, better known as Mooneyes. If you pick up…
Read more »You know you’ve been building custom motorcycles for a long time, when a bike you built two decades ago makes its way…
Read more »A client in France left the door wide open for Walt Siegl when he asked the New Hampshire-based craftsman to build him…
Read more »We often laud Winston Yeh for his ability to apply his signature Rough Crafts style to just about any type of motorcycle.…
Read more »There’s a staggering number of aftermarket Harley-Davidson Sportster parts on the market, and nobody knows this better than Jimmy Chou. His father…
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