Harley-Davidson No Show custom motorcycle winners

WITH the global COVID-19 pandemic pretty much slating all events at the beginning of 2020, motorcycle manufacturers had to get a little bit creative with ways to keep us entertained and engaged with their products.

One such event was from America’s most well-known motorcycle brands came up with the smart idea of holding the No Show motorcycle show across its social media platforms.

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Billed as everything a motorcycle show would be just all online, the event saw bands taking to the ‘virtual stage’ and builders battle it out in a virtual bike battle.

Well, the votes are counted and the winners are revealed from the three categories of the event -Harley-Davidson Museum Award (selected by H-D Museum staff), the Media Choice Award (picked by journos) and the H-D Styling & Design award, with the winner of the final prize being selected by Harley’s VP of Styling & Design Brad Richards.

Harley-Davidson Museum Award - 1940 Knucklehead | Christian Newman

At a glance, it’s not immediately clear what is so special about the bike that Newman built, although look a little closer, and the attention to detail begins to become clear. Then you learn that Newman built man of the parts for the bike by hand, modifying the stock bikes parts to suit his classic yet minimalist design.

The entire transmission has been narrowed by two inches and links to rear wheel with a sprocket mounted outside the of the bike’s frame. The rear brake disc to is mounted outside the frame with a large mono-block style caliper slotting neatly between the frame rails of the hardtail rear end.

Media Choice Award - 1963 Harley-Davidson Panhead | Ben Zales

Another homebuilt and hand-built machine took the next gong at the show, with Ben Zales ’63 Panhead impressing the judges with the flowing clean lines of the bike.

H-D Styling & Design Award – 1921 Harley-Davidson Board Track | Michael Lange

One of the oldest of the 60 or so bikes at the H-D No Show was the one that took the most prestigious of all the awards as it was Harley’s Vice President of Styling and Design, Brad Richards that picked this winner.

“The custom build stood out for its beauty,” Richards said about Lange’s bike, “but also as a pure racing machine with a re-engineered motor that keeps the bike performing,”

The engine that Richards was referring to originally began its life as a single-cam unit, with Lange turning it into a twin-cam engine to boost the performance a little. To complete the task, Lange fabricated the camshafts, cam chest and cover, gear rack, gears, and oil pump.