Articles and Features written by Alistair Harley

Custom motorcycles. Motorcycles started as a lower priced and practical alternative to four wheel transport and as such predominantly became the preserve of people with a lower income. Looking at the profile of many Harley Davidson owners one can see this motorcycle is now owned by higher income people whose main mode of transport is a car and use their bike as a  recreational vehicle  and for social reasons via HOG club meetings and rallies. V Twin Custom and chopper motorcycles  are an extension of the interest in the Harley Davidson that has developed almost to an art form. In some cases these bikes are just that, an art form, and any practical considerations have been ignored in the quest for the aesthetic themes pursued sometimes by enthusiasts out to prove they have the purest engineering and artistic skills. Many of the bikes shown in the bike gallery exhibit varying degrees of practicality and design. One of my main areas of interest is to be able to bring these beautiful bikes to a wider audience via car and bike magazines, Lifestyle magazines, airline magazines, Sunday magazines and any magazine that wants to offer their readers something innovative, colourful and very, very different.
I have written a 200 page brochure and other advertising material as well as many advertorial contributions to all the Harley Davidson magazines around the world. I have a database of all the Harley Davidson and Custom Motorcycle magazines in existance. I can also make contributions to lifestyle and general interest magazines and high tech magazines. Download Adobe Acrobat

Autocar India - First Look - In the Harley Custom. This article summarises the opportunities open to Harley-Davidson Motor Company in selling their iconic bikes in India and also the possibilities available for businesses in India Date: March 2007 Will harley-Davidson Inc. enter the Indian Market. This feature explores the options, possibilities and probabilities and also the Custom Motorcycle market                                  Click on Title above to view article                  click here to go to Autocar India website see next article
T3 India - Everything a Man (and Woman) Should know about Custom Motorcycles. Indian businesses could build and supply these bikes to the Indian consumer, fans of Orange County Choppers! Date: April 2007 T3 India is Indias premier gadget magazine and this feature explores features of custom motorcycles that are of interest to readers in India. Click on Title above to view article         T3 India main website
Custom Motorcycle Dry Build - Custom bikes are built in two stages. 1) Dry Build 2) Final build including paint Date: January 2008 Building a custom motorcycle and how to get started.
Painting your Custom Motorcycle to make it look the best bike on the block Date: Paintwork is the most noticeable aspect of your new Custom bike. Get it right and you have a show winner. Get it wrong and you wished you never started.
American V Twin Engines, Engines, Engines. Motors by Harley-Davidson, S&S, Sputhe, Merch, Dux and Hyperformance, TP Engineering, Axtell etc Date: All you need to know about the vast array of V Twin motors available to the custom bike builder
Youve Got a Lovely Custom V Twin Bike - Now you need Good Pictures to tell the world Date: How to get good photographs of your new custom and how to get them into the magazines
Custom Exhaust System for your Custom Bike to ensure fitment Date: Just some advice on the dos and donts
Victory Customs – New Delhi – Jatinderpal Singh - The Customiser Date: When driving through the streets of Delhi, Mumbai or any other busy city amongst the smart cars, dusty motorcycles and battered taxis playing dodgems with each other you might be lucky enough to come across one of Jatinderpals bikes. Owners of these bikes might of course wait until the streets have quietened before they venture out and you may not see one until its either dark or at a weekend. If you have a bike as good looking as one you see below you might understandably not want to risk the daily jostle that city folk have to suffer every day. They prefer to ride less congested roads or to glide peacefully at moderate speed along traffic free country roads and enjoy the ride; such is the fun of riding these bikes. Although Victory Customs will customise any motorcycle they have a strong affection for working with Royal Enfield motorcycles. They excel at modifying these bikes to look completely different from when they left the factory. One or two of these bikes look like they never started out as a Royal Enfield and have come out of the Victory Custom factory, as the design and execution is so good. Jatinderpal at Victory Customs in New Delhi offers a wide range of customising services for the Enfield as well as making bolt on parts for Enfield owners to fit themselves. This is the first paragraph of the as yet unpublished article
Modifications to Royal Enfield Motorcycle to Have Custom Motorcycle or Harley Davidson Styling Date: March 2009 The lucky owners of the Enfield have a bike that is old fashioned, yet has many useful qualities, one of which is that it easily lends itself to being modified to take on different personalities. Although an anathema to many RE owners one personality some bikers would like to change their bike to is to make it as much like a Harley-Davidson or Custom motorcycle as possible. Whatever you do in terms of modification wont make your bike exactly like a custom or HD motorcycle but some of the things listed below will go some way along this road. Whatever changes are made for styling purposes, it is important not to do anything that will cause unsafe riding characteristics. All these modifications must always be carried out by a competent engineer or motorcycle mechanic. The modification list below is not a comprehensive one and I am sure interested readers can think of other alterations that could be made. I am concentrating here on the major changes in appearance and function that can be attempted. Increase fork rake. This will push front wheel forward and combined with a fatter smaller dia. rear wheel, will help give that long low look favoured by customisers. There are two ways to change fork rake. Altering the rake of the triple trees and increasing the rake of the frame headstock. The pictures below show the change in appearance by minor changes in fork rake. Because raked triple trees are not yet manufactured for a Royal Enfield, you are seeing pictures of a modified Harley-Davidson that has had three different raked triple trees. This is the first paragraph of the as yet unpublished article