Harley-Davidson

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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Harley-Davidson to offer US dealers smaller selection of motorcycles

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by Reuters from https://nypost.com/ Harley-Davidson is reopening its factories this week at lower production rates and sending dealers a narrower range of motorcycles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The US motorcycle maker, which closed its US plants in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, may not ship any additional new motorcycles this year to about 70 percent of its 698 dealers in the country, the report said. The company did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Harley would reopen its plants in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and accelerate production in phases that would be limited to bestselling models and palette of colors and without customizable features for the rest of the year, the report said. The company has failed for years to increase sales in the US, its top market, which accounts for more than half its motorcycles sold. As its tattooed, baby-boomer consumer base ages, the Milwaukee-based company has found it tough to attract new customers. To make matters worse, the pandemic has further dented demand as Americans stay at home. In April, then-acting Chief Executive Jochen Zeitz, who has since taken a permanent role at Harley, told investors about plans to cut costs and “de-emphasize” some of its unprofitable international regions. Jochen and team have been working on a new five-year strategic plan here to revive sales, which the company plans to reveal in the second-quarter earnings update. Harley has also moved the launch timing of new models to the early part of the first quarter from August to better align with the start of the riding season. That provided some boost to its US retail sales in the first quarter. Harley’s annual dealer meet, usually held in August, will now take place early next year. Harley to sell fewer models, simplify factories by Bob

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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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Harley-Davidson Inc (HOG) SVP & CFO John A Olin Bought $256,770 of Shares

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from https://www.gurufocus.com SVP & CFO of Harley-davidson Inc (30-Year Financial, Insider Trades) John A Olin (insider trades) bought 13,500 shares of HOG on 05/13/2020 at an average price of $19.02 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $256,770. Harley-Davidson Inc produces and sells heavyweight motorcycles, as well as offers motorcycle parts, accessories, and related services. It operates in two segments, Motorcycles and Related Products, and Financial Services. Harley-Davidson Inc has a market cap of $3.01 billion; its shares were traded at around $19.66 with a P/E ratio of 8.48 and P/S ratio of 0.58. The dividend yield of Harley-Davidson Inc stocks is 7.66%. Harley-Davidson Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 8.70% over the past ten years. GuruFocus has detected 2 severe warning signs with Harley-Davidson Inc. Directors and Officers Recent Trades: Chairman and Acting President Jochen Zeitz bought 51,020 shares of HOG stock on 05/13/2020 at the average price of $19.52. The price of the stock has increased by 0.72% since. Chairman and Acting President Jochen Zeitz bought 97,850 shares of HOG stock on 05/08/2020 at the average price of $21.26. The price of the stock has decreased by 7.53% since.

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Apex Predator Is One Sportster Harley-Davidson Should Start Making

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com At the beginning of April, Harley-Davidson announced the winner of this year’s King of Kings competition, a mashup of the best 15 previous winners of the Battle of the Kings. Its name is Apex Predator, and with it we’re kicking off a series that will bring to light over the following days all the participants. Known in the industry as BOTK, Battle of the Kings kicked off in 2015 as a custom build competition for Harley dealers worldwide. It is, if you like, a competition of ideas Harley itself was incapable of having, but recognized by the bike maker as possibly game changing for the custom industry. The rules of the competition are simple: the base motorcycle needs to be a Harley-Davidson bike, the customization must not cost over €6,000 ($6,500) and must have at least half of the parts used taken from the Harley inventory, and the final bike must be road legal. Over the years many competed in the Battle of Kings, but in April 2020 Harley crowned one of them ruler of the pack. And as fate would have it, that King of Kings is the Apex Predator. Built by a dealer in Mexico called Harley-Davidson Queretaro, the Apex is based on the Sportster XR1200 with the stock engine, and it is supposed to be a “retro-futuristic XR-based track monster meets street fighter.” Featuring custom parts like front fork covers, dual air intakes, and wave-style brake rotors, the bike does not shy away from making use of materials not often used in the motorcycle industry, like the Alcantara on the seat. Aside from the visual upgrades made to it, the Sportster also got a full color TFT Bluetooth instrument panel, and a hand built 2-1-2 exhaust system. As for the Sportster line,

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Spectacula Motorcycle Is Proof Some Builds Are Better Than Custom Harleys

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com Absolutely awesome. These are the words used by a German custom bike garage to describe the Specula, a motorcycle the like of which the European continent had never been gifted with before. Used to seeing incredible motorcycle builds coming from the U.S., the world is at times blind when it comes to noticing other incredible machines rolling out garage doors elsewhere in the world. In Europe, for instance, the last couple of decades have seen some stunning bikes roll out into the sunset. One of the main custom garages there is Thunderbike, a German group that started out as a repair shop for Japanese motorcycles, and then moved on to customizing Harleys and making their own frames. The bike in the gallery above, called Spectacula, is part of the latter category. The design is 15 years old, but despite not being the newest kid on the block, it’s still one of the most extreme. Unlike many of the Thunderbike designs we talked about recently, the Spectacula is not powered by a Harley-Davidson engine, but uses a TP-Pro one. It is rated at 120 ps and resides in the middle of a custom frame that has been built from scratch, as did every other part of the motorcycle, for that matter. Shaped like no other bike out there, the Spectacula carefully hides all of the working parts so they are not visible: throttle, clutch, brake, gearshift and air suspension, all seem to have not been visibly linked to the fork or frame. It took the Thunderbike guys six months to bring this project from the drawing board into the real world, with a full month of that time being spent on carefully applying 28 layers of paint on the bike’s body. The Spectacula is not for

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Harley-Davidson GT One Is a Special Breed of FXDR

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by Daniel Patrascu from https://www.autoevolution.com/ Generally, the GT moniker is reserved for a particular breed of cars, built specifically to offer performance, thrills, and looks to die for, even on long distance drives. But it is used on motorcycles as well to advertise the machines’ capability of handling long trips and high speeds simultaneously. There are a great number of bike builders that use the GT name for their models.Yamaha does it for the Tracer, BMW has a number of GTs too, and so does KTM. But not Harley. At least not officially, because there is a Softail FXDR out there that is called exactly that. Of course, the bike is no longer the FXDR you get at the local Harley dealer, but a customized piece of work handled by a German garage called Thunderbike. As many of their other builds, the GT One, as they call it, is the result of serious work that ended in the replacement of many original parts with custom-made ones, all for the sake of doing something Europeans are generally not used to seeing. There’s a long list of modifications made and custom parts added. The list includes new wheels, grips and exhaust system, but also a unique paintwork handled by a group called Kruse Design. Most importantly, despite having much larger wheel than stock (23 and 21 inches), the bike makes no compromise when it comes to suspension, which is essential for long-distance travels. Thunderbike says that by using a completely new triple tree, no restrictions had to be made in this respect when the new wheels were fitted. The Harley-Davidson GT One was shown for the first time at the end of last year. It is part of a family of Thunderbike builds that includes other high-profile projects, like the RS Lambo

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