Sean Jackson has done an epically cool thing, he built a 48 Harley with an Aviation Inertia Starter (made by Bendix division)

this guy... is a fashion statement on a Harley, in a class all to himself. I'm surprised he's not internationally famous

 And I have no idea what country this happened in, I'll guess Nigeria, because I've posted some really unusual bikers and taxi driving bikers from there https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/01/im-ignorant-of-how-lot-of-world-does.html

Custom XR1000 by Laurel Classics

 https://pipeburn.com/harley-davidson-xr1100-laurell/

Jurors awarded $287 million earlier this year to a guy who sued Harley Davidson

Morris and his partner Pam bought a trike motorcycle from Harley-Davidson.

“With the two of us getting older we thought it would be safer, instead of sitting on two wheels, there’s three,” Morris said.

The crash that followed injured Pam’s hand and ankle, but Morris walked away relatively unscathed.

The trike was a mess.

Morris got the bike fixed by at a local Harley-Davidson dealership and asked the company to pay their medical bills.

They refused.

Around this time, Harley-Davidson authorized a recall of certain trikes for a traction control issue.

Then, on June 6, 2020, Morris and Pam were on the trike when, “again suddenly, inexplicably, unexpectedly and without warning malfunctioned and failed causing the vehicle to swerve into the opposite lane of travel and off the roadway where it struck an embankment and overturned.”

“(People who saw it said the trike) flipped, rolled several times, threw us off. (Pam) was killed at that point."

“I did not sue them for money,” he said. “I sued them to be held accountable and do what was right for the people who buy and use their equipment.”

Jurors agreed with that claim and awarded Morris and Pam’s family $287 million 

When asked why he didn’t settle, Morris said, “They were so arrogant about doing anything and blaming it all on me, they went to the point to sue me claiming I have a death wish and wanted to kill us.”

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/top-stories/exclusive-interview-with-local-man-awarded-287m-in-suit-against-harley-davidson/

Harley-Davidson has problems

Sales are plummeting, owners are aging out, internet trolls are calling them woke, dealerships are pissed with executive mandates and increasing inventories, and their bikes just aren't as good as they once were

Harley's executives believed they had a way around the proposed counter-tariffs the European Union imposed on American goods, as well as reducing production costs. What did it do? It started building bikes in Thailand.

There was just one problem with that plan. The EU knew the game Harley was playing, and it subsequently sued the company for essentially trying to pull a fast one. Well, that case has finally been resolved and, wouldn't you know it, Harley lost.

https://www.rideapart.com/news/744093/harley-davidson-europe-tariff-customs-thailand-production-lawsuit-lost/

the photographer got lucky to find such a cool variety in close proximity

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10226732320514336&set=a.1617402035143

grumpy old man who hates yuppies making Harleys crazy loud, wrote a really long article about it ("some of them wanted everyone to know their mufflers are broken")

"full disclosure, I do know a little about generating noise. I have an electric wood chipper that can scare off crows and terrify small pets. But I don’t fire it up unless somebody goes first with their leafblower. And I certainly don’t go riding it up and down the street to show off."

"if you need to wallow in the noise, rent Climate Pledge Arena and do it indoors the way nature intended. Instead of forcing your noise on people who just want to get home without feeling like they’re being buzzed by the Blue Angels."

for the full grouch out, https://mynorthwest.com/3990292/ross-enough-of-broken-muffler-noise-motorcycles/

Harley-Davidson said it is ditching some of its DEI goals, a move that comes after it faced pressure from anti-diversity critics on social media, following similar change of course from John Deere & Co. and Tractor Supply

 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/harley-davidson-drops-dei-policies-robby-starbuck/

Utopeia Moto Company in Texas is known for building offbeat scramblers, this is a 1973 125cc Harley two-stroke off-roader, built by Aermacchi back when Harley owned half of the Italian company.

 

Produced from 1969 until 1972, it was designed to help Harley break into the small displacement off-road market.

https://www.bikeexif.com/harley-davidson-baja-100

Harley-Davidson was ordered to pay $287 million after the company was found liable in a lawsuit stemming from the death of a trike rider

The initial verdict came down last Wednesday, finding that the company had a defective traction-control system that resulted in the 2020 death of Harold Morris’ longtime companion Pamela Sinclair.

The system’s software malfunctioned, causing 75-year-old Morris to lose control of the three-wheeled vehicle and go off the highway. He was seriously injured while 63-year old Sinclair, his passenger, died from her injuries.

In 2019, the trike experienced the same malfunction, resulting in a crash. Morris and Sinclair were injured in that accident, but their injuries were not considered serious. Morris said he believed the vehicle was fixed after a subsequent recall.

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/local-news/livingston-county-man-awarded-287m-in-lawsuit-against-harley-davidson/

Harley-Davidson is facing biker backlash over accusations that the manufacturer with the renegade image is now identifying as woke, and moving work from Wisconsin to Thailand

"Recently on CEO Jochen Zeitz’s watch, they’ve gone totally woke," filmmaker Robby Starbuck shared on X in late July.

When filmmaker Starbuck shared on social media what he claims are Harley-Davidson's woke wishlist of internal policies, discontent turned to outrage for many.

"It’s branding suicide," Vinny Terranova, the owner of Pappy’s Vintage Cycles in Sturgis, South Dakota, told Fox News Digital. "A lot of bikers are switching over to Indian," he said. "They killed Harley.

The situation has drawn comparisons to the Bud Light marketing suicide move of 2023 in the beer brand's decision to partner with Dylan Mulvaney.

Harley riders have been concerned about the direction of the company since the German-born Zeitz took over as CEO.

The company's alleged DEI focus today contrasts sharply with the image that has appealed to core customers for decades.

Attendance declined dramatically last week at the annual Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival in Milwaukee,  where about 60,000 people attended the event, a 25% drop from the 80,000 who took in the festival last year.

Harley last year ditched its globally iconic logo of orange and white lettering on a black shield. Its new logo is an empty metallic shell – the same shape, but different colors and no words.

Sean Strickland isn't letting his hatred for the woke die down any time soon. The former UFC middleweight champion has shared a video on social media explaining why he can no longer associate himself with Harley Davidson.

The motorcycle company has long been in partnership with the UFC and is considered a product that essentially resonates with fight fans. Strickland was one of the many who supported the company, all the way up until they began promoting controversial musician Machine Gun Kelly. 

 

Strickland went on a social media tirade, threatening to sell his bike and announcing his displeasure at Harley Davidson "going woke".  

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/harley-davidson-woke-accusations-sturgis-bikers-breaks-heart

https://www.mmaweekly.com/news/sean-strickland-doubles-down-on-harley-davidson-threat

https://www.tmj4.com/news/waukesha-county/workers-pretty-nervous-after-harley-davidson-moves-work-from-wisconsin-to-thailand

the world’s longest-running family-owned Harley-Davidson dealership, was founded in 1914 by Dudley Perkins in San Francisco. Then, the family sold it to idiots who had no clue how to keep it in business (thank you George!)

The dealership, which survived two world wars and a pandemic, was passed along to three generations of the family, had been "run into the ground” after being taken over by new management five years ago.

It was moved to 3149 Mission St, a former O'Reillys location, that had closed in 2016. In December 2020 the above was painted onto the building exterior

https://www.the-sun.com/motors/12116485/motorcycle-dealership-closes-mechanic-decades-chaos-final/

Aaron Boss, one of the trick fabricators over at Roland Sands Designs, has built a single-seat race car powered by a 200hp supercharged 2023 HD engine

showcasing an advanced suspension, sprint car-influenced rear suspension, a Winters Performance quick change rear end with a titanium outboard brake setup, custom suspension setup that's adjustable to be streetable, trackable, and hit the flats-able, power steering, a Baker six-speed transmission all in order to break speed records at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=891916219645359&set=pcb.891916259645355

https://www.threads.net/@rideofftrack/post/C8fevnsSx89

https://www.facebook.com/reel/3904029106550968

https://www.topspeed.com/supercharged-harley-davidson-car/

a group of Harley-Davidson dealerships in Utah is getting sued by "Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment" an environmental nonprofit for installing aftermarket exhausts without catalytic converters, allowing the modified motorcycles to spew more pollution and noise. .

the judge decided that the EPA violations portion of the case would proceed, with the nonprofit having enough evidence to make a compelling case. The group's request for a preliminary injunction against those dealerships, as well as the noise violation, however, were struck down.

The original lawsuit is from 2022 and targeted four dealerships around the Salt Lake area all owned by the same LLC. According to the original complaint, "Physicians seek to enforce Defendants’ significant, repeated, and ongoing violations of the Clean Air Act and Noise Control Act, which have been and continue to be at the expense of the health and well-being of Physicians’ members and the public at large. Defendants’ violations include: 

the removal of air and noise emission control devices in motorcycles; 

the sale and installation of aftermarket parts that defeat air and noise emission control devices in motorcycles; 

and the ownership, operation, and sale of new and used motorcycles without all of their required air emission and noise controls present and functioning as designed."

https://www.rideapart.com/news/726301/utah-harley-davidson-exhaust-install-no-catalytic-converter/

the guys at Dale’s Wheels Through Time Museum in North Carolina went through a 45 Harley engine, replacing the valves, clean the carburetor, and lubricate everything before firing it up for the 1st time in 60 years

For 17 years I've been constantly amazed at the awesome work that Michael Ulman has done, and I just found a new example, in the Harley Museum for pete's sake! Wow!

This custom turbocharged 1972 Harley-Davidson Aermacchi SS350 has almost everything thrown at it from a saxophone for an exhaust and a microscope projector for a headlight to a pencil sharpener for a brake light and a juicer for an air intake.

The first motorcycle some saw when they exited the elevator of the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee, was this 1972 Harley-Davidson Aermacchi SS350. It's since been moved to the Custom Culture gallery

This Sprint is the work of J. Shia, a builder who runs Madhouse Motors in Boston, and Michael Ulman, also of Boston, he also made  the flame throwing guitar for the film Mad Max Fury Road

These ‘72 Harley Davidson Aermacchi 350s are known as “The Optical Conclusions,” were debuted on the stage of The Boston Symphony Orchestra stage to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake Op. 20 Act II. 

about 7 months after I started this blog, I came across one image of a cool model hot rod Ulman made, and I've been a fan ever  since. https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/Ulman

https://www.theautopian.com/this-whimsical-harley-davidson-has-a-saxophone-for-an-exhaust-a-microscope-for-a-headlight-and-more-amazing-repurposed-parts-you-just-have-to-see/

https://fueltank.cc/blog/michael-ulman-part-2

https://www.instagram.com/the_re_animator

http://bostonvoyager.com/interview/meet-michael-ulman-roslindale-studio-roslindale

this 1928 Harley JDH was there at the 1984 AMCA national roadrun, and Jerry Ottaway (87 years young) and his sweetheart Randi, went 160 miles on the 40th anniversary of the road run

https://www.facebook.com/groups/111664952275098/posts/7561711053937080

Raymond Motor and Cycle Harley Davidson dealership in Muskegon in 1919. When they added the second floor they broke down the shipping crates the bikes came in and repurposed the wood.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/111664952275098/permalink/7534360800005439

Jason Mamoa has a traveling adventure documentary show, on Max streaming service... and the first episode is about building a 1936 Harley, a bunch of guys focused on the early Harley's, who want to race up hills on really old Harleys.

 So, he met a LOT of hardcore vintage bikers, and vintage bike racers, and Mike (American Pickers) and bought the original stock parts of 1936 Harleys that Mike had collected, and had a 36 built. 

And he bought a Harley DH, and had it scanned into a 3D computer file, so exact replica castings could create three new 36 Harleys, so he and his bike club "The Roamers" can go hill climbing, as men once did on early Harleys. A project that started around two years ago, but just got to Max a couple months ago

Because only 12 original DHs were made, no 4 were ever together, running at the same time, and only a handful of guys have ever ridden one. Until now. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14675396/
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/on-the-roam-w-jason-momoa.2536440/
https://www.reddit.com/r/HBOMAX/comments/19b47bv/on_the_roam_by_jason_momoa_is_really_inspiring/

for a look at interesting vehicles, you can't go wrong with watching 70s tv shows and movies, like The Cat From Outer Space

 fun movie I remeber getting a kick out of as a kid in the late 70s... I probably haven't seen it since