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Harley-Davidson Track Racer Is an American Muscle Bike

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The Harley-Davidson V-twin Racing Street Custom, or VRSC for short, is a bike like no other in the Milwaukee company’s portfolio. Born in 2001 as a means to mainly fight off the Japanese muscle bikes (but others, too), it stayed in production long enough to draw in a massive fan base, but also to stir an entire custom industry based around it. Click Here to Read this Photo Feature on Bikernet. Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today. https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

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Harley-Davidson Mallet and Iron Is a Miner’s Tribute Ride

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com The thing with motorcycles customized at the request of the customers is that they are truly unique. Unlike bikes made for show, they also have something more appealing to them, warmer, something closer to our hearts. Just a quick look at this former Harley-Davidson Softail, and you instantly feel that. The conversion of the Softail into a bike that is now called Mallet and Iron was performed by German custom shop Thunderbike at the request of one of its customers from the country’s Ruhr area. That’s one of the nation’s most important industrial zones, and a place where, among other things, a lot of mining is done. We mentioned all that because the Mallet and Iron is supposed to be a tribute to Ruhr hard-working people, especially miners. That is visible on the graphics the bike displays, with engravings meant to remind onlookers of that: ”hammer and iron as symbols for the miners’ work, St. Barbara as her patron saint and “Glück Auf!” as a miner’s greeting,” the shop says. But there’s more than that to the olive green, gloss-black-instead-of-chrome two-wheeler. As usual, Thunderbike modified the thing extensively by removing stock parts and putting in its own custom touches – the list of hardware additions made is over 20 items long, and includes everything from the turn signals to a Stage 2 lowering kit that brings the whole thing closer to the ground by 30 mm (1.1-inches). We are not being told how much the customer was asked to pay for the conversion of his bike, but we did the math on the parts Thunderbike said it used and we came up with around 3,000 euros, or $3,600. That is far less than some of the more recent builds handled by the Germans, but proof

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Space-Themed 1949 Harley-Davidson Panhead

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Back in 1949, the year when parts of this here bike were born, humans were not even dreaming of becoming space explorers. The world was fresh out of the worst years of its existence, a time when most of the planet’s nations tried to obliterate each other in more or less creative and horrific ways. They tried to do so by using rockets, too, an invention that eventually helped open up humanity’s appetite for space exploration. After the war ended, Germany’s most prestigious rocket scientists, Wernher von Braun and his Nazi V-2 rocket team, found themselves working for the Americans. Faster than you could say “Man belongs wherever he wants to go,” we went to space, reached the Moon, and sent a small army of rovers to Mars. The fast pace of space exploration was of course sung in literature and movies, but also on mundane objects such as teacups or T-shirts. And yes, even on cars and motorcycles. This 1949 Harley-Davidson Panhead is one of the objects celebrating space exploration. It does so by displaying one of the most intricate and detailed custom paint jobs we’ve seen on such a project. Despite the rather limited real estate available, the bike reeks space no matter where you look: there is a big NASA logo visible on one side, a couple of planets and a self-propelled astronaut on top of the tank, suns, moons, and alien UFOs on the side of the thank, and a fancy human spaceship on the frame. The motorcycle is part of the larger lot of two-wheelers known as the Legends Motorcycles Museum collection. No fewer than 36 of them, including this one, are going under the hammer in April, during the massive Mecum auction, which is to be held in Las

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Harley-Davidson GP S Le Mans Is a $50K Stage IV Monster

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com We have no idea how many Harley-Davidson shops are out there. However, we do know that no matter the number, very few have the capability of making so many builds to form entire families of custom bikes. The Germans from Thunderbike are part of those few. We’ve featured this shop extensively this past year because of two reasons: first, their projects are literally unique in the Harley world, and second, they keep on coming. This Christmas treat: the GP S Le Mans. The motorcycle is based on the Breakout and is part of a larger family of builds dedicated to race tracks. We’ve already seen the Silverstone, or the Laguna Seca, and it was about time one of the world’s most famous circuits, Le Mans, got its own Harley tribute. Described as the “new mega flagship from our exclusive GP series,” the Le Mans is simply breathtaking. Powered by a Stage IV 131-ci engine good for 123 hp and 178 Nm (131 lb-ft) of torque, the unlikely Breakout rides on massive 21- and 23-inch wheels behind which sit huge brake discs. The rear wheel is accompanied by a shock absorber that allows the ride to be lowered and raised, not unlike an air ride suspension. The fork also holds an adjustable system, this time in the form of a new damper system. In all, more than 20 different custom parts made their way into the build, ranging from license plate lighting to the Stage IV kit slapped on the engine and the custom exhaust, but all that pales when faced with the paint scheme chosen. The work of Thunderbike’s favorite partner in this field, Kruse Design, it is supposed to accentuate “the sporty format of the bike.“ And they kind of nailed that. As for

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Harley-Davidson Sun Rod

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com For many bikes lovers out there, the Harley-Davidson VRSC is the most extreme motorcycle to have come out of Milwaukee. More or less short for V-Twin Racing Street Custom, the nameplate entered the Harley portfolio back in 2001 as the first bike using a modern-day DOHC engine with liquid cooling – the Revolution powerplant. Born as a weapon to fight off other muscle motorcycles, especially Japanese ones, the V-Rod as it came to be known was made until 2017 in a number of variants, including a non-street legal one called the Destroyer and meant for the drag strip. Of the ones that were allowed on public roads, the Night Rod, available for just two years between 2006 and 2008, is one particularly appealing canvas for a certain German custom shop we like to feature: Thunderbike. About a month ago we showed you the Thunderbolt, a Night Rod-based build meant to advertise a certain Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust system. Given how V-Rods, especially of this variety, are rare, we thought we’d bring another one to your attention. This one is called Sun Rod, as if denying the nature the original creators bestowed upon it. Described by Thunderbike as “optically perfect on the ground,” it too uses a Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust, but several other pieces of hardware too, making it significantly different, at least visually, from the Thunderbolt. Overall, not many parts went into changing the natural face of the bike, but the ones that did are very effective. We’re talking about an air ride suspension that can lower the height of the two-wheeler, a new forward control kit, a new, 18-inch rear wheel, and other minor tweaks like front turn signals, grips, and a custom tank cover. The special changes made

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Harley-Davidson Vegas Is an Ode to Drilled Aluminum

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Much more so than when it comes to cars, wheels play a very important role in the motorcycle world. And we’re not saying that from a functional standpoint alone, but from an aesthetics one as well. Whereas custom cars can be made to look good with a variety of such parts, custom motorcycle makers have to be a bit more careful in choosing their hardware, because a poor choice could easily ruin whatever message they are trying to send across. Of course, the selection process is much easier when shops have the means to build wheels in-house. So is the case with German shop Thunderbike. In business for close to three decades now, these guys are advanced enough to have their own production lines for custom parts, including the hardware that allows the bikes to transfer the engine’s power to the ground. Not once Thunderbike has created motorcycles with the sole purpose of advertising the wheels it makes in its own shop. We’ve seen recently that was the case with the Spoke Bob 21, or the Big Spoke. The one here, called Vegas Drilled, is part of the same category. Unlike the two other bikes mentioned, which used a multi-spoked design for the rims, this one goes for a much simpler approach. CNC-machined from aluminum, just like most of the wheels Thunderbike makes, the piece comes with only 5-spokes, and with sizes ranging from 18 to 23 inches. Unlike them though, they have a bicolor cut and polished rim edge. As usual, the wheels are not the only extra fitted on the Street Bob used as a base. A total of around 30 parts went into the project, ranging from the grips and ending with the air ride suspension, and increased the base bike’s value

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Harley-Davidson Daytona Bagger

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Are 30 inches too much when it comes to a motorcycle wheel? It depends, I guess, on how one uses it to get the desired effect. Visually, the choice of wheels for a custom bike is extremely important. More than when it comes to cars, the wheels are crucial components for sending the right message across. What you’re looking at here is called the Daytona. Initially, it was a Harley-Davidson Street Glide, but after it landed in the shop of German specialist Thunderbike, it got severely mutated. Like many of Thunderbike’s other builds, this one too revolves around the wheels. That’s because the garage makes and sells its own, and what better way to advertise the products than fitting them on incredible builds? In the case of the Daytona (that’s also the name of the part), the front wheel is a massive 30-inch piece of hardware in a design the Germans call Spoke Light. It’s a forged aluminum piece designed to be a fit in the shop’s bolt-on bagger rake kit. On its own, the wheel would have been enough to capture all our attention, but as usual, Thunderbike did not stop there. Most of the motorcycle’s body elements were changed, starting with the front fender, going to the fuel tank, and ending with the rear hardware, now pierced by the longer exhaust. Needless to say, the modifications reshaped the entire Street Glide. From a rather upright, proud bagger, the bike went for a much more feline-like appearance, with a design that seems to flow smoothly from the front to the rear. A major part in this perception is played by the paint scheme used, one that sandwiches strips of yellow between the black of the frame/engine and the seat/top of the fuel tank. We’ve

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Old School 1935 Harley-Davidson RL 45

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Generally speaking, motorcycles are not made to carry passengers. Sure, you can do it, but people tend to forget that motorized two-wheelers are mostly meant to be ridden solo. And you could get some incredible thrills riding on your own on this Harley-Davidson RL 45 from 1935. The RL range was made by the Milwaukee company from 1932 to 1936, at a time when, as it would happen over and over again, Harley was facing serious difficulties. The difference is these difficulties were not of its own making, but caused by the Great Depression. Comprising back then the 45-solo, R, RL and RLD, this family of bikes helped Harley survive those troubled years, and made it one of the two motorcycles companies to do so, alongside Indian. Some RLs have made the journey over the decades and are still as shiny today as they were prior to the war. The one we have here, coming from 1935, is one of the finest examples we’ve seen. We’re talking about a higher compression RL born for solo riding and powered by a 45-ci (737-cc) side-valve engine with a total-loss oil system. Wrapped in red on the massive fenders and fuel tank, it sports enough chrome and black accents to make it a real head-turner. This particular RL is one of the 36 motorcycles the Legends Motorcycles Museum from Springville, Utah, is bringing to Las Vegas at the end of next month for the massive Mecum auction there. The event will see a total of 1,750 bikes cross the block. We are not being told who was in charge of making the RL look so good (the bike is owned by the museum’s Rick Salisbury), nor are we given any indication as to how much it is expected

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1948 Harley-Davidson Chopper

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Fans of old, customized or other types of motorcycles have a major event coming their way in the first month of next year. At the end of January, many of them will flock to Las Vegas, where a Mecum motorcycle auction of massive proportions will be held. The auction house has been hosting this event for years, and for 2021 we are promised to see 1,750 two- or three-wheelers crossing the auction block in the hopes of earning big bucks for their current owners. Many makes are on the list, but one of the most important is, of course, Harley-Davidson. Milwaukee-made motorcycles are coming to Vegas either individually or as part of some collection. One of the biggest such packs is that of the Legends Motorcycles Museum in Springville, Utah, with 36 motorcycles owned by the museum’s Rick Salisbury going under the hammer. From Tri Glides to vintage choppers, very few Harley types are missing from the bunch. The 1948 model featured here is one of the two-wheelers in this special pack. Despite being based on an older model, it is meant to be reminiscent of the choppers made in the 1960s and 1970s, with a raked and molded frame, king and queen seat, and a sissy bar behind it, among other things. What catches the eye, though, is the fuel tank, which seems to come with a photo of an aircraft carrier. And we do literally mean a photo: not spray- or hand-painted, nor airbrushed on it, but apparently glued to the upper side of the fuel tank, and presently peeling off at the corners. Try as we might, we were unable to identify the aircraft carrier and get a sense of why it was chosen as an adornment for the bike. This particular

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Harley-Davidson El Divino

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com “Lots of metal, lots of color, lots of everything!” These are the words used by German custom motorcycle shop Thunderbike to describe El Divino, a Softail Heritage 114-based project looking more like a bike worth admiring than riding. True to the Chicano style of motorcycle building (the likes of which we’ve seen before from Thunderbike, like say with the El Dorado), El Divino came into the world sporting the exaggerated front and rear fenders of the style, an extremely long exhaust system, and a paint scheme that either makes your eyes hurt, or shed tears in delight. The bike sports modifications all over. First, there’s a swingarm conversion especially designed by the shop for the Chicano style. Called Toxic, it was developed with the goal of being a fit for both the 18-inch wheel and another in-house-made piece of hardware, the pulley brake kit. Then come the modified triple trees for increased steering angle, allowing for the fitting of a massive 23-inch wheel. An air ride suspension is also on deck to make the motorcycle get low for artistic value whenever the need arises. From the minor parts like the license plate frame to more important ones such as the brake discs, almost everything has been tampered with in one way or another. In all, over 35 new pieces of hardware made their way onto the build, but none seem to be as in-your-face as the paint job. The golden-wooden appearance is the work of one of Thunderbike’s partners, Chiko’s Pinstriping. Chicano bikes have a lot of metal skin on them compared with other styles out there, and Chiko took full advantage of this to create a scheme you’ll either love or hate: much like with all Chicano bikes, there’s no middle ground here. As

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