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Pandemic Panhead Project, Part 2

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The tanks and fender are out to Deny 925, the master of patina paint, for a scallop classic paint job. In the meantime, I needed to install the Morris Mag, decide on a carb, install the front brake, finish a handful of welds, work with the guys at Bates on a clutch cable, make an old clutch lever work, hell, make the brake lever work and find a brake cable, take the springer apart and add Paughco inner springs, install the headlight and taillight, make a muffler bracket and mo’. READ THIS BUILD TECH ON BIKERNET – CLICK HERE JOIN THE CANTINA – SUBSCRIBE TODAY https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

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Blacked Out Harley-Davidson Melville Has More Tattoos Than a Yakuza Henchman

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Technically, this modified Harley-Davidson Forty-Eight has been designed to be incarnation of a bunch of Japanese myths. Looked at from afar and in a totally superficial manner, it looks more like something the Yakuza would ride around on. The bike is the creation of Harley-Davidson’s dealer in Shizuoka. It has been the shop’s entry in the King of Kings competition whose winner, the Mexican Apex Predator, was chosen by the public in April. Called Melville, the motorcycle was once a stock Forty-Eight that received both a serious makeover and a bunch of new parts. The shop had to stay true to the rules of the Harley competition, and that meant taking at least half of the custom parts from the Harley inventory. A long list of such hardware, including things like the rocker covers, the saddle, or the fuel cap, are also of Harley origin, but new to this Forty-Eight. What strikes the eye the most when looking at the bike is the way it looks. The pitch-black apparition lacks the chrome parts others are so in love with and use extensively on their builds, and even the fork is black. The only thing that breaks the trend is the extensive drawing on the fuel tank and some of the other new parts on the motorcycle. According to the people behind this build, the tattoos displayed in a silver that perfectly offsets the dark tone of the bike are supposed to separately represent things like “prayer,” “death,” and “awe,” and combined to form some type of myth that is easy to understand if you’re Japanese. Of course not all those who voted in March and April were Japanese, and many of them probably didn’t get the message the builder tried to send, so the bike

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1976 BMW R60/7 Is the Olive in Some Popeye’s Dreams

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Sometimes giving an old motorcycle a new identity is as simple as repairing what’s in need of repair, and simply slapping a tank from another bike on the existing frame. At least, this is how simple the crew from Paris-based Blitz Motorcycles make the whole process look. Unlike most moto shops out there, which go to great lengths to make crazy designs, this one has been making a living by restoring beat down, old machines and giving them a new life, possibly under a different name. Their builds are generally simple, lacking all the bells and whistles others like to adorn their bikes with. Case in point the 1976 BMW R60/7 shown in the gallery above, renamed Olive. The bike started off as all others from its range, but got a new engine, 600cc in displacement, because the owner had barely gotten the driver’s license and needed to comply with power output requirements. “We chose the 600 cc engine for this reason, being certain still that once he will be over the first 2 years of riding (and therefore be allowed to ride a more powerful machine), he will stick to this one. For good,” Blitz says about the engine. The entire bike has been rebuilt according to Blitz, as was the engine (it got new carburetors too) and the electric wiring. On top of the frame the tank is no longer a stock BMW one, but a hardware sourced from a Honda CB250. It is because of the color sprayed on this tank that the bike is named Olive. Other modifications made include the thermal wrapping of the exhaust pipes, new Firestone tires, new headlight, Triumph handlebars, and a custom seat. We are not being told how much the build cost to make, or

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Harley-Davidson French’n Cheap Is the Sharpest, Cleanest Build in King of Kings

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com The Harley-Davidson King of Kings competition revealed once more just how talented the people working for the bike maker’s dealers are. 15 incredible entries have been judged and voted back in April, and at the end just one emerged victorious: the Mexican Apex Predator. But each of the builds that took part in the competition had something unique to bring to the table. In the case of this French-made machine, that something is the sharpness of it all. The base model for the build, which is called French’n Cheap, was a 2019 Sportster XL 1200T that was lowered front and rear by means of an extended swingarm and a lowering kit on the fork. The 18-inch wheels on the bike are actually both front wheels, taken from an FLHX Street Glide, and modified in the case of the one fitted at the rear to be better suited for its new purpose. The people behind the project, Harley’s dealer in La Rochelle, France, also tampered with the engine of the base motorcycle, something that was not all that common for the entries in the King of Kings competition: the powerplant was given Stage 2 Screamin’ Eagle camshafts, harder valve springs, and a new air filter. The choice of paint and the way in which it was sprayed on the body, the sleek tires on the wheels, and the fact that all the cables are hidden inside the handlebars make the French’n Cheap look anything but cheap. King of Kings was the culmination of the years-long Battle of the Kings. The rules of the competition called for the base motorcycle to be a Harley-Davidson, the modifications to be in the €6,000 ($6,500) budget, and the end result be street legal. Just like the other bikes we talked

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Harley-Davidson El Ganador Is How the Brits Build Club Style Motorcycles

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Harley-Davidson’s King of Kings competition may have concluded last month, but it will probably be some time before all of the builds that were entered fade into history. A souped-up version of Battle of the Kings, King of Kings was dedicated to the bike maker’s international dealers, which in their spare time find enough resources to modify existing Harleys. In fact, that is what the entire thing was about: take an existing Harley, make it unique within a €6,000 ($6,500) budget, and keep it street legal. For a British Harley dealer that meant modifying a Roadster until it became El Ganador, a club style bike the likes of which are becoming increasingly popular in Europe. “Club Style can be a blend of many things: paintwork that is very in your face – we’ve used a lot of hard candies, the metal flake in the paint, and serious patterns on El Ganador. “ says the dealer about the chosen motif. “Club Style is based on performance and that’s why we went with æhlins suspension, chain and sprocket conversion, 2-1 exhaust system, upside-down forks and more.” The changes to the Roadster were not limited to the things stated above. The bike also received the wheels from a 2009 883R for an old-school look, while the tank comes from a King Sportster simply because it’s bigger than what the base bike had. The look of the El Ganador seems closer to that of the FXR because of the way in which the side panels have been shaped. Custom fenders, a new seat, and new chains complete the list of modifications made. In the end, the El Ganador did not win the competition, but a Mexican build by the name Apex Predator did. However, this does not make the

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Harley-Davidson Daytona’s Red Has a Transparent Fuel Tank

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com There have been 15 entries in all in Harley-Davidson’s King of Kings custom bike building competition, and the winner was crowned the Mexican-made Apex Predator. The bike is, of course, a great build, but that doesn’t mean the ones who lost are anything less. King of Kings was the culmination of a years-old custom bike challenge called Battle of the Kings (BOTK). All the entries for the final, bikes customized by the bike maker’s international dealers, were previous winners of BOTK. Among the most exciting projects was that of the Harley-Davidson Barcelona shop. The bike, called Daytona’s Red, was initially a Harley-Davidson Roadster, and even if the custom work done to it didn’t make it something else entirely, this two-wheeled machine sure does look different than any other roadsters out there. The thing that stands out the most is the crazy fuel tank the bike is fitted with. At its origins a stock Harley tank, it has been modified by hand to include a transparent section through which the gasoline and even the fuel pump in operation can be seen. The garage chose the Roadster for its project because “it is the most racing bike in the Harley-Davidson range.” “We have been inspired by the history of Harley-Davidson racing looking for a more racing style of motorcycle, differentiating ourselves from the most common styles in customization contests,” the garage says. The bike has been modified with more than just the exclusive tank. Several other parts were added, most of them built in house, including the exhaust, grips, and headlights. As a touch of class, the turn signals were integrated in the brake lever, it too built by hand. Even with all those remade parts, the Barcelona crew stayed true to the rules of the competition.

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Harley-Davidson El Jefe Is Today’s Dose of Mexico

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com It may not look like it to some, but the build we have in the gallery below was once a Harley-Davidson Heritage. Severe modifications transformed it into this, a lowrider-style motorcycle aptly called El Jefe. Despite its name, this motorcycle is not of Mexican origin. The build belongs to a German custom bike maker named Thunderbike, and wears the El Jefe name in honor of the lowrider motorcycles whose roots can be traced back to the “Mexican immigrant quarters of Los Angeles in the 60s.” “Since the TV series Sons of Anarchy at the latest, Central Europeans have been familiar with the pompous design of lowrider bikes,” says Thunedrbike, adding that a “brand new Milwaukee Eight Heritage has been chosen as the basis for this” in contrast with what else is out there in this segment. The Heritage was chosen as a base for the build because the geometry of the bike gives it “good rideability and can be steered through all corners with ease,” harnessing well the torque of the 114ci Milwaukee Eight. But other than that, El Jefe is far from its former self. Wearing a special and unique paint work, the bike has tons of custom parts, including the fenders, air ride suspension, and of course the massive 23- and 18-inch wheels (front and rear). The stretched look of the bike was achieved by fitting a new triple tree that has 6 degrees of additional rake, which also helped lower the headlight even closer to the front wheel. Aside from these modifications, there is a whole list of other custom parts that make El Jefe stand out in the crowd, ranging from the otherwise insignificant license plate to the hand grips and exhaust. We are not being told who the bike was

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Harley-Davidson RoadXster Is a Wannabe Cafe Racer

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Giant Harley-Davidson is not a bike maker that makes a living by selling cafe racers. However, there are several such Harley-based two-wheelers out there thanks to the many customs shops working on such projects. These conversions are done in independent garages, who put in a lot of work and money to come up with incredible such independent projects at times. But the one we have here can be considered Harley-sanctioned. Sort of. The bike in the gallery above is called RoadXster and has been built by the bike maker’s Autostar dealership from Sao Paolo, Brazil. It was the shop’s entrance in the King of Kings custom build competition dedicated to dealers that concluded last month. Based on a Harley-Davidson Roadster, the bike has been designed with the cafe racers of the 1960s as inspiration, and its name combines the words Roadster and XR. Following the rules of the competition, which called for just a number of modifications to be made, the dealership did its best to make the final product reflect the style of the bikes it honors. One of the most visible changes is the fitting of a Scrambler-style exhaust, which should allow the motorcycle to lean more in curves. A custom paint job on the tank is supposed to “give a rebellious look to the finish of this classic and aggressive machine.” The Brazilian shop did not win King of Kings with this build, but was allowed entry because it won, as did the other 15 participants, the previous Battle of the Kings (BOTK). Launched a few years ago, BOTK pits Harley-’s various international dealers against one another by asking them to modify existing models into never-before-seen machines, all of which must still be road legal. The winners of previous BOTK editions, including

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1983 BMW R100 GS Black Ops Comes With Dented Tank Because It’s Cool

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com When someone asks for a custom build to be made based on either a car or a motorcycle, they usually ask for the finished product to be perfect. For someone living in Florida, perfect does not necessarily mean flawless. The motorcycle in the gallery above was once a stock BMW R100 GS. The R100 line was born in BMW’s stables back in 1976, and was to become the last of the German motorcycles powered by air-cooled engines. In production until 1996, the range grew to include a wide number of models, from the R100 T to the R100 GS, covering an even wider range of customer needs. Because production of these models ended quite some time ago, and BMW bikes are not usually held in such high regard to be preserved for decades, most of them are now basically useless machines. But there are some garages out there that make a buck by bringing these beatdown bikes back to life. One such garage is Paris-based Blitz Motorcycles, which focuses on giving a new purpose to old German motorcycles. Like this R100 GS here. Made at the request of what we understand is an American customer, the bike underwent a major mechanical overhaul that included an engine rebuild, the replacement of the fuel tank, the addition of new parts and, in the end, the renaming into Black Ops. Named so because the garage “wanted this bike to look stealth and mean” it kind of does not live up to the name. After all, such a dark apparition on a road somewhere is bound not to pass unnoticed, and the distinctive dents on the Honda CB350 fuel tank, kept because “this is what we liked about this tank,” sure makes it easy to pick out from a

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Greek-Made Harley-Davidson Gryps Is Part Motorcycle, Part Myth

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Greece is one of those few places where all of the world’s mythology comes from. The place where the world of Olympus was born and all the Gods of the ancient world died, but also the place from where democracy originated, the region had a major role in shaping today’s civilization. What Greece lacks is a visible motorcycle movement in the way that there are not that many new motorcycles, custom builds, or motorcycle racers that can trace their roots back to the European country. Yet the bike in the gallery above, although based on an existing model, comes from there. It is called Gryps, a word that in the ancient Greco-Latin records means griffin; that’s a creature with most of the body of a lion, and with the head and wings of an eagle. For most people of the time, it was a symbol of power. The lion part in this here motorcycle is the Harley-Davidson Sportster that served as a base. It was transformed into this by the Harley-Davidson Athena dealership, and entered in the King of Kings custom build competition ran by the American company until April this year. Lower than it used to be, and with the fuel tank sitting at a different angle on the frame, it shows a more aggressive stance, accentuated by the reworked, cold silver body envisioned for it by the Greeks. The entire build was made to resemble the mythical creature: the tank is supposed to be the body, the front fairing the head, while the side fairings are meant to represent both the wings and the legs of the monster. Competing alongside 14 other builds coming from Harley dealers across the world, the Gryps only managed to place second during the public voting period, barely

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