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.
Released in 2008, the Harley-Davidson XR1200 should have been a big hit for The Motor Co.; an athletic Sportster fashioned after the iconic XR750 flat tracker. But it never quite stuck. One theory is that it was too sporty for dyed-in-the-wool Harley fans, and not sporty enough to entice new riders. But you could also…
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Even though the Harley-Davidson Evolution Sportster is no longer in production, it’s eons away from going extinct. There are plenty of second-hand Evo Sportsters kicking around, and no shortage of aftermarket parts for them. And as long as the Sporty is still in play, masters like Richard ‘Mule’ Pollock will be on hand to extract…
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“Who wouldn’t want to build a two-stroke Italian Harley?” asks Chris Tope, almost irreverently. “It’s the original Harley-Davidson Pan America!” As the ‘Tope’ in Utopeia Moto Company in Texas, Chris is known for building offbeat scramblers stacked with quirky details. His signature style is easy to spot and hard to replicate—so when his latest customer…
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Big-bore adventure bikes like the Harley Pan America have to tick a lot of boxes, which is why they end up looking like two-wheeled spaceships. But the custom scene has shown us a new side to the Pan America. If you can strip away enough of its adventure-focused accouterments, there’s a pretty gnarly street bike…
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Richard Pollock has an enviable problem; an order book that’s bursting at the seams. The ink has hardly dried on the story…
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Kevan Cahyadi is the type of guy who has fully embraced the eclectic nature of Indonesia’s custom motorcycle scene. His shop, Solace…
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As a nuclear chemist with clients spanning multiple industries, Corban Gallagher’s day job calls for ingenuity and precision in equal measure. So…
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If you’re still sad about Harley never bringing the Bronx streetfighter to market, California’s Whiplash Speed Company has a custom Harley-Davidson Pan…
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Marc Holstein might be German, but he’s a massive fan of Japanese culture—and an even bigger fan of Japan’s spellbinding motorcycle scene.…
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Motorcycle enthusiasts are probably not as familiar with NEIGHBORHOOD as fashionistas are, but the powerhouse Japanese streetwear brand does have a strong…
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Ben Schmitt’s name first appeared on these pages three years ago, when the legendary NYC Norton built him a Norton Commando race…
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Takuya Aikawa is on a roll. There hasn’t been a running of the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show in the last few…
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