Custom Harley Davidson Bike
It's been a good year for custom motorcycles. Actually, the past few years have been phenomenal. We've moved beyond choppers, the cafe tide is beginning to ebb, and our friend Chris from Bike EXIF has been documenting it all. But 2014, in particular, has been a breakout year.
As Chris points out in his 2014 wrap-up, nearly every major motorcycle manufacturer is partnering with independent builders and the results have been, by and large, terrific. That momentum is also putting smaller shops in the spotlight, many of which are finally putting as much A custom motorcycle is a motorcycle with stylistic and/or structural changes to the 'standard' mass-produced machine offered by major manufacturers.
Custom motorcycles might be unique, or built in limited quantities. While individual motorcyclists have altered the appearance of their machines since the very first days of motorcycling, the first individualized motorcycles specifically labeled 'Custom' appeared in the late 1950s, around the same time as the term was applied to custom cars. In the 1960s, custom artisans like Arlen Ness and Ben Hardy created new styles of custom bikes, the chopper. In the 1990s and early 2000s, very expensive customs such as those built by Orange County Choppers,
Jesse James's West Coast Choppers,[1] Roger Goldammer became fashionable status symbols. There are also companies that are bringing back pin striping, such as Kenny Howard (also known as Von Dutch) and Dean Jeffries from the 1950s, with a continued effort to keep pin striping alive.Not only does the engine of the Busa make for ease of speed, so does the chassis. The suspension and frame feels so planted and stable that it chews up the miles. When the asphalt follows nature’s chosen lines, the big beast handles admirably. It’s long and low, requiring minutely more of an effort to initiate a turn than a liter-bike or a super sport as would be expected, but at the same time it is rock solid once leaned over. Only the tightest of mountain roads will be hard work on the Hayabusa. Long sweepers are nirvana.
Hauling the Hayabusa down from speed highlights the newly added Brembos and ABS. As a former hater of ABS, the manufacturers have finally got the systems calibrated as to not be too intrusive, and the Suzuki system is up there with the best of them. Grabbing a handful will not immediately result in a pulsating lever, and the ABS will only kick in during the direst situations. Only once did I get too deep into a corner while trailbraking where the front brakes were taken over by the Busa’s brain. It saved my ass. I may have been able to avoid washing-out the front on my own, but I’ll take certainty over the possibility of a crash any day.
focus into functionality as aesthetics.
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