Harley-Davidson is an icon of American culture and the most popular marque for motorcycle customizers. Shortly after the company was founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, builders 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, originally fitted with an ‘Ironhead’ motor, 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.
Let’s all gawp at the latest oddity from Curtiss Motorcycles, and then drool over a fabulous retro kit for the Kawasaki Z900 and a killer Sportster scrambler. We’ve also discovered the obscure Honda QA50 KO Minibike and the Royal Enfield Indian.
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Right now, it’s hard to judge Harley-Davidson’s tactics without framing them against the stiff challenges the company is facing. If it’s not tariff wars, it’s the reality of an aging demographic. And then there’s same struggle every other manufacturer has in the USA: reaching new riders. But in the midst of this, the Motor Company…
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We’ve got a Harley-heavy selection this week, with a cafe racer from Italy, a scrambler from Japan and a tracker from the UK. Rounding out the selection are a rally-style Royal Enfield, and a jaw-dropping cafe/streetfighter Ducati Panigale.
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Custom Works Zon have a stellar reputation in their home country of Japan, but are only just becoming known outside. Six months ago, BMW propelled Zon into the limelight when they revealed the R18 ‘Departed’ collaboration at the Mooneyes show—and now Zon are back with an equally amazing Buell S1 Lightning custom. It’s called ‘Zonkern’—which…
Read more »Two years ago, Harley-Davidson flew Winston Yeh to Barcelona to test ride the new Milwaukee-Eight big twins. And like most riders at…
Read more »Despite being steeped in the custom scene, Harley-Davidson doesn’t often donate bikes to custom builders. So this Sportster Iron 1200 from Prism…
Read more »It’s been almost nine years since we featured the Rough Crafts ‘Iron Guerrilla‘—a murdered-out Harley-Davidson Sportster that flung Taiwanese customizer Winston Yeh…
Read more »In the world of professional motorcycle racing, development is a constant grind. Hooligan flat track racing is the same. But here, the…
Read more »Where is the line between meticulous and just plain nuts? Because we’re sure Albert ‘Ash’ Aeschlimann crossed it at some point during…
Read more »Harley-Davidson is under a microscope right now: its every move is dissected, examined and critiqued. And there have been plenty of moves…
Read more »There are only four or five months of good riding weather in the American Midwest. The rest of the time, motorcyclists keep…
Read more »More Harley-Davidsons go under the grinder than any other make of bike. But surprisingly, The Motor Co. seldom commissions customs from big-name…
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