Harley-Davidson

Thunderbike Smoothless Custom Motorcycle Is the Snow White Beauty of Dubai

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Dubai is one of those places where there’s no shortage of extreme and luxury cars. The city’s residents have made a name for themselves as being among the richest on the planet, and this is why here you get to see more high-end products than anywhere else in the world. Having found an undying love for all things motorized, those in Dubai spare no expense in flashing their wealth on the roads and on the dunes. The city’s police force, for instance, drives around in Lamborghinis, Ferraris, or Bentleys. They’re even looking into making flying bikes a reality. What we don’t see so often however are the custom motorcycles made for the local elite. The custom bike you see in the gallery above is one of the bikes that can be found in Dubai. It is named Smoothless, and has been built by German custom shop Thunderbike for one of the customers there. The two-wheeler is custom from front to rear, and despite its name is as smooth as they come. The backbone is a custom high neck frame the garage calls Radical Over Curved. It is more of a kit actually, as it comes with all the extras needed for a successful build: the frame itself, the fuel and oil tanks, a CNC-milled aluminum swingarm with battery holder, rear section with wheel axle motor bracket, seat plate and tank transition. Made from thick-walled tubes and CNC milled side profiles, it offers a steering head height of nine inches and supports the engine. As usual when it comes to Thunderbike builds, we are not given the full specs or the price of the finished product. We do know however that the frame alone is worth a bit over 11,000 euros (close to $13,000). Add the […]

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Harley-Davidson R-Odynamic Is Screamin’ Eagle Heart in the Right Custom Body

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com If we were to choose between a custom made motorcycle (that means built from the ground up, with different parts made to fit together in previously untried ways) and an extreme conversion of an existing series production model, we’d certainly go full custom. Perhaps that’s owed to the countless hours spent in front of a TV screen in our childhood, seeing the likes of the Teutuls working their magic on metal while fighting each other like they were enemies. Thanks to them and others that go back decades, custom motorcycles are still very hot in America today. Not the same can be said about Europe. There are far fewer shops there, and most of them are involved in bringing back to life old, locally-made models the likes of 1970s-1980s BMWs. Sure, there are shops specializing in reimagining Harleys, as we’ve seen in the recently concluded King of Kings competition, but almost none of them is in the business of mating Harley engines to custom frames, for instance. We said almost because in Germany there’s a very active shop that goes by the name Thunderbike. The group has in its portfolio literally hundreds of Harley builds, most of them based on existing models, but also around 15 frames they have been playing around with for the past 25 years. One of those frames is called Dragster R-Odynamic, and is used to underpin the bike in the gallery above. Specifically designed to work with 21-inch rear tires, it only includes the single-side swingarm, meaning everything else has to be carefully fitted to work with it. First, the engine. The shop went in this case with a Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle 110. Tied to a Harley-Davidson 6-speed transmission and ignition, it breathes through a Vance & Hines exhaust system.

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Harley-Davidson swings to Q2 loss, plans overhaul of operating model with new 5-year plan

by Ciara Linnane from https://www.marketwatch.com Harley-Davidson Inc. shares HOG, -0.75% slid 2.9% premarket Tuesday, after the iconic motorcycle company swung to a loss in the second quarter and unveiled an overhaul of its business that will see it exit certain markets and streamline its product line. Milwaukee-based Harley swung to a loss of $92 million, or 60 cents a share, in the quarter, after a profit of $196 million, or $1.23 a share, in the year-earlier period. Its adjusted loss per share came to 35 cents, short of the FactSet consensus for earnings of 11 cents a share. Revenue fell 47% to $865 million from $1.633 billion, ahead of the $761 million FactSet consensus. U.S. motorcycle sales fell 27% to $31.3 million, EMEA sales fell 30% to $11 million and Asia Pacific sales were down 10% to $6.9 million. The company is not offering guidance, given the uncertainty created by the pandemic. Harley is planning a ‘Rewire’ restructuring of its global operating model, that will impact all areas of the business from commercial operations to center-led support functions. That process will build to a new five-year plan, to be called ‘Hardwire.’ “Building on our strong brand legacy, we are reinvigorating our core profit driving business — powered by our strongest dealers, most exciting products and careful inventory management, while focusing on the most important opportunities for future expansion,” Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz said in a statement. The plan includes 700 job cuts that were previously announced and a streamlining of motorbike models by about 30%. The company will focus on about 50 markets in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific that currently account for most of its volume and growth potential. The company is planning a marketing campaign featuring “Aquaman” actor Jason Momoa. The company expects too save $250 million

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Harley-Davidson 800 12V Dual Battery Charger

Stay Charged and Ready for the Road I recently installed a Lithium Batter in my 2009 FLHTC, so I purchased a new battery charger Part Number 66000181 that would charge it. It will also charge the regular lead acid type battery that comes from the factory. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS TECH ARTICLE ON BIKERNET Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

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Harley-Davidson Lithium Battery

  I installed LITHIUM Batteries in a lot of motorcycles for other guys, and everyone has had good things to say about them, so now it’s my turn. Like everyone else I am looking for long life and powerful cranking amps. The Harley Davidson LITHIUM Battery promises that. They offer 2-times longer battery life and more cranking amps than standard AGM batteries. They weigh much less, have quality machined brass terminals and a built- in tester so you can tell how much charge is in it. There is a lot of technical stuff about these type batteries, and if you really want to know about the background information it’s readily available. CLICK HERE TO READ THIS TECH ARTICLE ON BIKERNET. Quick, Join the Cantina – Subscribe Today https://www.bikernet.com/pages/custom/subscription.aspx

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Harley-Davidson El Fuego Brings German Heat to the Road

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com A custom, German-made frame, a proven, Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle 110ci engine sitting inside, and a paint job to die for – these are the three elements of the custom motorcycle known as El Fuego. Shown in all its glory in the gallery above, the El Fuego is one of the hottest builds coming our way from Germany-based custom garage Thunderbike. Responsible for literally hundreds of custom motorcycles, all based or inspired by the Milwaukee-made two-wheelers, the crew behind this machine surely outdone themselves with this one. First, the frame. Thunderbike has around 15 in its portfolio, meaning it could design bikes to suit all tastes. The one used here is called Dragster RS, and is more of a kit: it includes the frame itself, the fuel and oil tanks, CNC-milled aluminum swingarm with battery holder, rear section, rear wheel axle, motor bracket, and seat plate. Ready for the road, it only needed an engine and some wheels to get it moving. In the case of the former, the shop went for the Screamin’ Eagle 110ci, adn tied it to a Thunderbike exhaust. For the latter, the elements of choice were monoblock wheels, milled from solid aluminum blocks and wrapped in Metzeler tires. The flowing lines and curves of the build would have been nothing without a proper paint job. As usual, Thunderbike turned to Kruse Design for the visual tweaking, which in this case translated into a hot combination between the black on pretty much all parts of the motorcycle and the metallic orange on the tanks, fenders, and wheels. Thunderbike does not say how much El Fuego cost to make, but you should know the Dragster RS frame kit alone is worth close to 12,000 euros. That’s about $14,000 at today’s exchange rates.

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Livewire: a plug for a whole new generation of Harley-Davidson bikes

By Mathieu Day-Gillett from https://www.driven.co.nz Who on earth expected that it would be Harley-Davidson that would become the first major motorcycle manufacturer to bring to market a fully electric bike? Okay, all cards on the table, I’ve really been looking forward to riding Harley’s Livewire on behalf of DRIVEN and www.onthrottle.co.nz. In fact, I was lucky enough to have ridden the Livewire’s precursor – 2014’s Project Livewire – and I was so blown away by the bike that I gave it my Bike Of The Year gong for that year. For the production model, all the rough edges have vanished and Harley has given the bike a charging port in the traditional fuel filler location. The lightweight alloy frame no longer has a rough finish to it, and while I was at first sad to see the cool textured finish of the concept bike make way for the smooth new frame, I can appreciate that owners of the Livewire would struggle to clean such a thing. Imagine the damage to your trusty old sponge if you had to wipe it over the sandpaper-like finish of Project Livewire? Other minor changes come in the form of a small fairing around the LED headlight unit, a new sub-frame with space for a pillion, a variety of colour options (our pick is the Yellow Fuse colour scheme), and rather importantly the addition of a numberplate carrier which integrates the rear tail light and indicators also. Most importantly, however, the Livewire now has functioning rear-view mirrors. Yup, as cool looking as the mirrors on Project Livewire were, in terms of function all they gave you a good view of was your kneecaps. But what we really want to know is how it rides. Thankfully, Harley-Davidson sorted us out with a guided ride around Portland,

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Freestyle Harley-Davidson Blue Flames Is What’s Wrong with Series Custom Frames

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Take a good long look at any custom motorcycle made in the U.S. No matter in what state they were made, or when, they tend to have that certain unique feel about them. And a big reason for that is the custom frame that underpin them. You see, Americans love to make one-offd, and that is why the garages there usually don’t make a frame and then turn series production on it. This results in truly unique two-wheelers, each with its story to tell. Not the same can be said about Europe though. First off, there are far fewer custom motorcycle garages there. Secondly, the ones that do exist have been forced to turn to mass production, including of custom frames, and that takes its toll on the originality of this build. Take the bike in the gallery above. It comes from Europe, and is the work of a very busy garage there called Thunderbike. It looks very much like all the other custom-framed Thunderbikes we’ve discussed over the past few months, regardless of when they were made. This one comes from 2008, and it is the result of pairing a custom Thunderbike frame by the name Freestyle with the usual Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle engine. It appears to be exactly what you would expect from a custom European bike, with nothing particularly exciting about it. And the blue color sprayed on it, the work of Thunderbike’s usual partner in this area, Kruse Design, does not seem to help either. The fact the bike will probably not be remembered down the ages (we uncovered it while digging for machines worthy of our Custom Builds Month coverage) does not diminish the merits of the frame tough. Made from large diameter cold-rolled ST52 steel tubing, it comes complete

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Harley-Davidson Radical Over 26 Is All About the Massive 26-Inch Front Wheel

by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com As some of you might have noticed over the past few days, as part of our Custom Builds Months we started covering more the side of the motorcycle industry that has to do with custom frames, because this is how you get truly unique builds. Generally, motorcycle garages come up with a frame design and stick with it, if it works, for the limited number of bikes made based on it. But there is one such organization in Germany that has not one, but 15 custom frames, and made not a few, but literally dozens of bikes using them. The shop is called Thunderbike, and one of those dozen bikes they made over the years is the one in the gallery above. It’s called Radical Over 26, hinting to both the type of frame used, and the size of one of the wheels that support it. First, the frame. Thunderbike has about six Radical frames in their portfolio, ranging from lowriders to the extremely curved one that formed the basis of this machine. This one allows for the integration of Twin Cam B engines, and is made of large-diameter cold rolled ST52 steel tubing. To power it along the shop chose a Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle 103 good for 100 ps and gifted it with a Mikuni HSR 42 carburetor and a custom exhaust system. As for the element that makes the bike stand out perhaps the most, the wheels are seriously imbalanced in terms of size, and that, coupled with the very low seating position and the raised handlebar really make the motorcycle worthy of the Radical name. Up front, the shop went for a 26-inch wheel inspired by the one used on another of its custom builds, the Open Mind, and offset it with

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

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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