During a Harley-Davidson media ride in
Antequera, Spain, on the riding menu
were a dozen custom Sportsters built by Sykes Harley-Davidson in the UK. The 12
Sportsters were actual customer bikes, road registered and built to
specification.
Styling for the Sykes custom Sportsters
covered a range of styles, from the, compared to the other bikes, somewhat
“normal” bobber to dragster style, ape hanger and flat-tracker. Each Sykes
Sportster was unique, some having intricate paint jobs, others finished in bare
metal.
Others sported a variety of handlebars
styles, from the aforementioned “ape hanger” to flat bars and everything else
in between. Engines were similarly dissimilar, with the V-twin configuration
adorned with cut-off exhausts, shorties, open pipes and the like.
What was common amongst all the Sportsters
that were ridden by the assembled media to dinner was all exuded that Harley
sound. After two days of riding stock standard Harley-Davidson Softtails and
another totally silent machine in the mountains around Antequera, was something
of a welcome change.
With the admonition that the bikes we were
riding belonged to someone else and would have to be returned in the condition
in which we received them, the ride progressed through the old part of the town
of Antequera. Replete with cobblestones, steep inclines, pedestrian traffic and
slippery manhole covers, the gaggle of journalists had a whale of a time
cruising the streets.
