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Red Scorpion Is What Happens When Custom Frame Meets Harley-Davidson Hardware

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com There’s nothing better in the world of custom bike-making than coming up with your own frame. Sure, you could choose the easy way and start modifying existing motorcycles, but that doesn’t say that much about your skills as a custom builder. We know of a huge number of shops in the U.S. making their own custom frames, that in turn end up becoming the base for incredible two-wheelers. But there are garages outside the States that do the same thing. One of them – and a very lucrative one – is Germany-based Thunderbike. We talked about their work extensively over the past few months as part of our various special coverages, but given the large number of builds they make, there seems to be no end in sight. Until recently, we covered at length Thunderbike’s skills when it comes to modified Harleys, but from this week on we decided to have a closer look at their custom frames, and we’ve already said a word or two about some other of their creations for this segment. And now it’s time for another. In the gallery above sits a motorcycle the garage completed all the way back in 2007. It is called the Red Scorpion, and it is one of the finest examples of how you can pair your own custom frame with custom parts and available Harley-Davidson hardware. The bike is part of the garage’s Freestyle collection of bikes, and it is built around one of the 15 or so frames available in its inventory. Riding low thanks to the use of an air suspension, and with an appearance of having a broken back, the Red Scorpion is animated by a Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle 103ci engine. The powerplant draws its fuel through a Mikuni HSR 42 […]

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CCE Bagger Thunderbolt Is a Whole Lot of Name for a Custom Harley Street Glide

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com The Harley-Davidson Street Glide is one of those bikes you should not mess with. Described by its maker as a stripped down version of a hot-rod bagger, the no-nonsense bike has been made with long trips in mind. But baggers have also been favorites of the custom industry. Either reshaped from stock motorcycles or made from scratch on a custom frame, custom baggers are a common sight on American roads. We’re not sure how many of them are in Europe, but you can count at least one, this one here. The work of a German shop that goes by the name Thunderbike, it takes a stock Harley Street Glide to whole new levels of cool. The build is based on 2017 Street Glide Special, still packing the original Milwaukee-Eight engine. But other than that everything about it is enhanced, including the name. Using custom parts made all over the world, Thunderbike kept the overall appearance of the motorcycle, but increased the size and reach of most of the hardware on the bike, from the front fender to the saddlebags at the rear. The fairing at the front, the fuel tank behind it, and the wheels – including the barely visible one at the rear – are of course custom, and contribute to giving the bike a retro-style look. Thunderbike, who has been in the business of engineering motorcycles for the past 25 years, is usually very good at naming its creations too. And even if the name of this one might seem a bit pompous, there’s a reason for that. The CCE in the name stands for Custom Chrome Europe, a parts wholesale company founded in 1986, while Thunderbolt is the creative side of the project. So, no matter how you call it – Thunderbike

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Harley-Davidson Custom King Is the Iron Beast Milwaukee Should Be Making

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Harley-Davidson is many things, both good and bad, but for the custom bike industry it certainly is godsent. The Milwaukee company is responsible through its products for the existence of countless garages across the world, and for what it’s worth, it never forgot that. For a number of years now, Harley has been holding a build-off competition called Battle of the Kings. BOTK in short, it is dedicated mostly to the international dealer network, and calls upon interested partners to come up with stunning designs based on production motorcycles, while following a rather strict set of rules. BOTK culminated this year with a mammoth iteration called King of Kings, pitting 15 of the best previous participant garages against one another. The winner was crowned the Apex Predator, a Sportster XR1200 modified by a Mexican shop called Harley-Davidson Queretaro. We covered all those bikes extensively back in May (you can see them all at this link), but there are incredible creations made for earlier BOTK events worth talking about as well. One of them is this Iron 883 called Custom King. Modified by German garage Thunderbike, it won the third place in the 2017 BOTK. The build was inspired by drag-style motorcycles on the 1970s, says Thunderbike, and it all came down to “the love of detail and hand-crafted parts.” Wrapped in a black and red livery to die for, the bike is one of the most uncharacteristic in the Iron family. The race-inspired look is enhanced by a wealth of custom parts. Air filters, special covers all around, high-performance brakes, a fork brace instead of a front fender, lamp covers, the chain conversion kit, the turn signals, the ignition coil set, and even the side license plate holder have been created with a single goal

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Harley-Davidson Breakout CVO Gets an Extra Touch of German Custom

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com In the world of Harley-Davidson, CVO stands for Custom Vehicle Operations. Going further, that means motorcycles specifically created by the American bike builder with the custom industry in mind, for garages all across the world to tweak even further. The program was born at Harley in 1999 and each year a small batch of bikes was chosen and gifted with limited edition runs that were all about customization: bigger engines, crazy paints, and a wealth of accessories one usually didn’t get with the road-going versions. Among the motorcycles chosen by Harley to go down the CVO path in 2014 was the Breakout (it was offered alongside the Ultra Limited Electra Glide, Softail Deluxe, and Road King). And since this model is a favorite of a German custom shop that goes by the name Thunderbike, it of course didn’t escape some further upgrades. Thunderbike’s interpretation of the CVO Breakout comes with a more radical look, achieved especially because of the deployment of bigger wheels, a new exhaust system, and a polished paint over the bike’s main parts. The motorcycle rides on Harley Turbine wheels (sized 21 and 18 inches), but with the rear one wrapped in a Metzeler tire that is 20 mm wider than what came standard. Additionally, a pulley brake kit was deployed on the rear wheel to allow a clear view from one side at the design. The engine, which was lest pretty much stock, breathes through an electronically adjustable exhaust system from Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde. A wealth of other parts, smaller in size and impact, are also custom: the rocker boxes, oil tank, turn signals, mirrors, and even the license plate bracket and frame. We are not being told how much it cost the Germans to put the entire build

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Sultans of Steel by Kromworks Is Superbly Crafted Harley-Davidson Custom Art

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by Elena Gorgan from https://www.autoevolution.com As much as you appreciate a good – and good-looking – motorcycle from any manufacturer out there, there is no denying there is but one way you’re guaranteed to stand out: with a custom build. That’s what Tedja Wijaya was also thinking when he approached his friend Andi from the custom shop Kromworks in Indonesia, with the request that he build him a bike that would truly be one of a kind. Andi and the team build for him the Harley-Davidson-based sportster known as Sultans of Steel. Sultans of Steel was completed and delivered at the beginning of the year but, given the location of the custom shop and the fact that 2020 has proved to be, generally speaking, the absolute worst, news failed to register on the international radar. The bike is so beautiful and beautifully executed that we couldn’t have overlooked it and not included it with similar pieces of art, detailed as part of our Custom Builds Month theme. The Sultans of Steel rolls on 23-inch (58.4-cm) rims with Avon rubber, and features an exposed Sportster 883 engine, H-D Softail rear shocks and catalog brakes, but otherwise it’s Andi’s work of art. It’s a superbly crafted piece of jewelry that stands as tribute to raw metal, and simplicity as the ideal means for said tribute. Crafted from stainless steel, with the occasional brass inlays for necessary contrast, the detailing on this bike is astounding. With curves and aggressiveness overload, it stands out for stark minimalism in the design, as well as the refusal to use any other material than those mentioned. There is a single downtube and a single backbone, while the double cradle design stands out for extreme curvaceousness. Both the vintage leather seat and the rear fender seem to float

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Harley-Davidson GP-Style Is the Radical Way to Make a Breakout

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com “Probably the most radical Softail who saw the light of day” – this is how the Germans from Thunderbike describe one of their builds from two years ago. And just by looking at the two-wheeler, you can tell they’re not far from it. Thunderbike has been in the business of customizing Harleys for more than two decades now. The shop seems to be determined to break some record or something, as they now have in their portfolio several hundred bikes customized in one way or another. For its work, Thunderbike uses both stock Harleys, which it modifies, or custom frames built in-house, which they generally gift with Harley hardware. The one in the gallery above is called GP-Style, and it is somehow related to the Grand Prix we talked about earlier this week – that bike, in turn, is an evolution of another build by Thunderbike, the Outerlimit. The GP-Style was completed back in 2018, and believed it or not, it used to be a stock Harley-Davidson Breakout from that year. According to the shop, “except for the last screw, the Breakout was disassembled; frames and attachments scanned and were taken as a base for our new parts.” And that shows, as this is nothing like what the American bike maker lets loose in Milwaukee. The motorcycle comes with more custom parts that we can count. The wheels – both sized 21-inches – are from the Digger series and come with many spokes – that allowed for the installation of a “huge” perimeter brake from Brembo. The engine is a Milwaukee Eight 114 from the Breakout series, sitting inside a custom frame drawing its fuel from a Thunderbike tank. The entire frame, so different from what Softails are over at Harley, rides on an air

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Racing Red Harley-Davidson Grand Prix Pushes the Outerlimit to the Extreme

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Over the past few months, as part of our various special coverages, we’ve talked at length about certain custom motorcycles coming from Germany. As you can see, we’re not quite done yet, because the number of extreme builds a certain shop there is responsible for is huge. The shop is called Thunderbike, and this weekend we’re showing you a machine it unveiled at the 2016 Custombike show in Bad Salzuflen, Germany. It’s called Grand Prix, and it’s an even more radical interpretation of another build that goes by the name Outerlimit. The Outerlimit was made for one of the shop’s customers specifically to mirror the design and colors of a Lamborghini Aventador. Built on a custom frame, it sports a Harley-Davidson twin cam 120R engine linked to a 6-speed manual transmission, which gives the bike a power output of 140 ps and 190 Nm of torque. Likewise, the Grand Prix too uses the same Screamin’ Eagle, packed in a frame that offers a 1,780 mm (70 inches) wheelbase, 132 mm (5 inches) caster, a steering head angle of 36 degrees. That makes the overall design of the bike pretty similar to the Outerlimit, only there are exceptions, too. The most visible one is the color. Instead of the white used on the Lambo-mimicking bike, this one comes in racing red, hence the name Grand Prix. The wheels on the build are a tad different, too. The custom shop went for a new design, more aggressive, for the rims (they are sized 23 inches at the front and 21 inches at the rear) to give the motorcycle a more racing-like look. We are not being told how much the Grand Prix cost to put together, but we do know that a lot of CNC-machining, CAD design

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Harley-Davidson Vancy Has Both Thunderbike and Roland Sands in It

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Just like garages specializing in tuning or rebuilding cars, custom motorcycle shops are a dime a dozen. Nowhere in the world are there as many in the U.S., though, and over the years some incredible two-wheeled machines have been revealed here. But that doesn’t mean the rest of the world is sitting idle. From Asia to Europe and Australia, shops are doing their best to come up with their own worthwhile designs. Most of the time, they fail, and the number of such high profile organizations outside the U.S. is not that big. In Europe, the most active Harley-Davidson shop are the Germans from Thunderbike. Over the past 25 years or so, they came up with literally hundreds of builds, both based on stock Harleys, or using custom frames and Harley engines. Being so active means Thunderbike was quickly noticed by the big names from across the Ocean, and the shop has been a constant presence in the H-D build-off competitions over the years. At times, some collaborations were born. So is the case with this bike here, one the shop calls Vancy. Based on a Harley-Davidson Iron, it came to be as a product that uses parts made by Roland Sands, the American motorcycle racer turned designer of custom motorcycles. Built as “the perfect example for the fact that you can get a new custom Harley with relatively small money,” it features a new suspension system, a new exhaust and a new air filter, but also parts meant to make it look better than stock, such as a new seat, new grips, and of course a custom paint job on the rear fender and fuel tank. We are not being told exactly how much this customization work is worth, but the Germans are know

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Harley-Davidson Glamor Is Shovelhead Reloaded

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com There’s something special about older Harleys. Maybe it’s their looks, maybe the engineering, or perhaps just nostalgia, but there are fans out there, not few, who would always choose an aging Harley over a newer one. And the same goes for custom shops. In America, there are countless garages who like to take these old Harleys and customize them beyond recognition, as shown in June’s The No Show online event set up by the Milwaukee bike maker. Elsewhere, however, things are a bit different. Take Europe, for instance. The continent is Harley-friendly, yes, but far less so than the home market. There’s no decades-old tradition there of riding these bikes, not in the way we have it in the U.S., and that means that custom shops, few as they are, usually steer clear of older H-D bikes when it comes to customizing them. Have a look at one of Europe’s largest custom bike shop, Thunderbike. These guys probably have hundreds of customized motorcycles made over the past 25 years, but most of them are recent Softails, because this is what customers in Europe like. But there are exceptions, and this here Super Glide is one of them. Also built by Thunderbike, it comes as a testimony of how older Harleys can be better platforms for customization than newer ones. The bike is an FXE from 1977, and it was given its current shape at the end of a three-month long build that took place in 2016. It sports a Shovelhead engine inside the stock frame, and custom parts all around. An S&S Super E carburetor, custom struts, special wheels and fenders, and of course a unique fuel tank are just a few of the over 20 aftermarket pieces of hardware that went into building the

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Harley-Davidson Black Power Is a Cheap Way to a Custom Motorcycle

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com This year’s King of Kings competition was one for the ages. A total of 15 bike builders from across the world, specialized in remaking Harleys, took the center stage with their incredible creations until one of them, the Apex Predator, was crowned ruler of them all. Being essentially a competition intended for the bike maker’s international network of dealers, King of Kings (known in previous years as Battle of the Kings) lacks the glamour of other things American. Thus there’s a good chance you didn’t know that much about the bikes and their builders, whom we’ve covered extensively back in May. This competition has been around for some time, though, and the shows of the past are equally as exciting in terms of projects as the one that just ended. Case in point the Harley-Davidson called Black Power we have in the gallery above. The bike is the work of German Harley shop Thunderbike itself was not an entry in the competition, but was inspired by one: the 2017 Thunderbike entry known as the Custom King. Black Power is based on a Harley-Davidson Iron 883, and has been designed in the usual Thunderbike way, with a wealth of custom parts making their way onto the two-wheeler, and then wrapped in a special paintwork which in this case is obviously black. Following the tradition of the Harley competition, there are fewer custom parts featured on this build than usual, but the result is equally stunning. We have new toppers and new covers for the ignition, new handlebar and new speedometer, new exhaust system and of course a reworked fuel tank, just to name a few. Thunderbike does not say how much the conversion of the Iron cost, but the parts listed by the shop do not

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