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
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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 |
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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 |
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American V Twin Custom Chopper Motorcycle Dry Build - Custom bikes are built in two stages. 1) Dry Build 2) Final build including paint Date: January 2008 This is the most important stage when building your dream custom motorcycle.This is when you make your first parts purchases with the aim of: • Bolting frame to forks and wheels and suspension • Welding any brackets onto frame and swingarm for brakes, gas tank, oil tank, kickstand, and exhaust system. You can’t do any welding or frame mods after painting. • Installing engine, transmission, primary along with carb and air cleaner and exhaust. This is to ensure all these parts fit drivetrain lines up and the engine works. If you don’t ensure the engine and drivetrain is set up, you don’t want to experience having to remove and repair any of these items after the paint job has been completed. At this stage it would be advisable to start the motor and run it for a few minutes. This is not a must do thing, if you don’t have the facilities to do this • In fact this should include everything you need to do prior to painting and final assembly including wiring Get it right at this stage will save you both time and money! |
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Painting your American V Twin Custom Chopper Motorcycle or even a Harley Bike to make it look the best bike on the block Date: March 2011 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. Choose your painter carefully. A painter used to spraying large areas of flat or near flat surfaces, such as a car, may not be so clever with frame tubes or fenders which have small radius curves. Find out if they are used to painting bikes and to what quality. Do they have a picture file of previous work and names of previous customers who you can talk to? All of these confidence -building processes are necessary before you hand them your bike to paint. You have already spent many thousands of hard¬earned cash on your custom. At one fell swoop it can all be ruined by poor paintwork shown here is bike by Walz Hardcore Cycles |
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American V Twin Engines, Engines, Engines. Motors by Harley-Davidson, S&S, Sputhe, Merch, Dux and Hyperformance, TP Engineering, Axtell etc Date: March 2011 This is a guide to the after market engine market, giving advice and pointing out what is available. It is not a completely comprehensive guide as much more space would no doubt be needed than is available here. There are also some very good books on the market which I shall mention at the end for further reference. Most people who consider purchasing an OEM or after market engine do so for one of a few reasons. These fall into two broad categories: 1. Replacing an existing engine 2. Custom Bike Build The variety of engines is very wide. What I will attempt to do here is to summarize what is on the market and what makes them different. An approximate purchase price may also be mentioned. Flathead® Knuckle Head® Panhead® Shovelhead® Evolution®- will be referred to as Evo Twin Cam® Panhead Evo Sportster® Feuling 3 cylinder motor shown here is engine by Patrick Racing Billet |
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Youve Got a Lovely Custom American V Twin Motorcycle - Now you need Good Pictures to tell the world about it Date: March 2011 How to get good photographs of your new custom and how to get them into the magazines, You have now built your bike and you will no doubt be riding and enjoying the fruits of yourlabours. You may wish to show it in a custom bike show competition. This will cost you money to get the bike to and from the show and sometimes competition is strong. Occasionally a well known builder and sometimes the builder of a quality custom can be paid by show organisers, usually in travel costs and hotel costs, although this is not common. If your bike is unusual or innovative the show organisers may be convinced enough to dip their hands in their pockets shown here is a bike by Kodlin Murder Cycles |
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Custom Exhaust System for your American V Twin Custom Chopper Motorcycle to ensure fitment and Style Date: March 2011 Exhaust Systems - Choosing one for your bike. Taking into account the style of your custom, select one that you feel fits within your design brief. However it will be useful taking the following into consideration. Off the shelf systems are made to fit stock bikes. Very few are made to fit either bigger motors or custom frames. Bigger motors tend to place the position of the exhaust flanges higher (and further apart) than a stock motor, thereby changing the exhaust mounting points. If you do use one of these be prepared to make some custom mounting brackets. shown here is an exhaust from Harleycustom |
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Victory Customs – New Delhi – Jatinderpal Singh - The Customiser of Royal Enfield Motorcycles Date: March 2011 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 |
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Modifications to Royal Enfield Motorcycle to Have Custom Motorcycle or Harley Davidson Styling Date: March 2009 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. 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. 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 shown here is a customised bike from Victory Customs in New Delhi India |
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TUV Certified American V Twin Motors and S& S Cycle for your Custom Motorcycle Date: March 2011 S& S Cycle supply EU/TÜV approved Evolution Style motors. They are certified to meet the current 2003/77/EC emission standards for exhaust, noise and electronic interference. In order to be compliant to EU/TÜV standards, these motors are furnished complete and assembled by S&S™ engine builders. In addition they MUST be used with specified gearing, stock H-D or aftermarket EU approved exhaust and S&S™ IST ignition systems. shown here is TUV engine from SS Cycle
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USA Motorcycle Emissions Regs Examined – Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 2/15/2007 By Bart Madson Important Reading before Registering your Custom Motorcycle Date: March 2011 Whenever the word restriction comes out in the context of motorcycles, ears prick up and the opinion factor runs high. Motorcycle exhaust systems are the focal point of restrictions in two controversial areas: sound and emissions. While the issues are related - with loud exhausts a subject worthy of an article all its own - in this story we will examine the quieter issue of pollution emissions regulations and the way it is changing the motorcycle industry. Restrictions to exhaust emissions were brought to the forefront last year due to confusion regarding new EPA regulations, which went into effect for the 2006 model year - the first revision to nation-wide motorcycle emissions requirements in more than 25 years. shown here is American V Twin X Wedge engine from SS Cycles |
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Front End Forks for your American V Twin custom Chopper motorcycle – Get the Rake and length Right first time Date: March 2011 Forks. Choosing the style is relatively easy compared to getting the rake, length and trail right. Many custom builders are eager to get started and often buy their forks at the same time as the frame/wheels etc. This can be a mistake and the best time to calculate the fork length is after you have mounted the rear wheel in the swinger/frame when you can measure the neck height and front wheel Dia. and use the methods detailed below to accurately determine the correct length and trail. Correct trail is vital for safe riding and you may have to choose raked triple trees to maintain correct trail. Too little trail is as dangerous to the rider as too much. Optimum trail should be the choice. SJP Engineering Forks Shown here |
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