Harley-Davidson Archives — Bikernet Blog - Online Biker Magazine

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 for coming up with great designs for prices that are often under $10,000, not including the base motorcycle, of course.

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com

Even today, more than a century after the first Harley-Davidson motorcycle rolled, there’s no denying the appeal the Milwaukee-made machines have for the people in the custom industry.

First, we have the countless shops and individuals out there who keep working their magic on decades-old HDs, as highlighted by the recent The No Show ran by the bike maker last month. Designed to help all those builders who had no place to show their creations because of the ongoing health crisis, the online event brought to light a number of very unique creations, some of them amazing.

At the same time, the bigger and more visible shops have shifted their focus to the more recent models in the bike maker’s lineup. That’s not a bad thing in itself, but these newer machines have some too industrial about them. Take the Thunderbike line of custom Breakouts for instance: the Germans have around 40 of them, and despite each one being made to be unique, they do kind of look the same.

The Billy Bones we have here is a tad different, though. Based on the Cross Bones model that was produced briefly not long ago, it has a very distinct look about it, one that somehow links today’s mass-produced Harley’s with the ones of the olden days that are still so appreciated in the modern times.

This particular bike came to be in 2009, at a time when the Cross Bones was still around. It packs a great deal of custom parts (over 20 of them, and we’re told not all have been listed on the bike’s official page) that took about a month to assemble in the shape you see here, a shape the guys at Thunderbike call “vintage.”

The motorcycle has been christened Billy Bones by its makers, probably as a means to continue the pirate-themed nomenclature of the Milwaukee company.