AMD 252 July 2020 American Motorcycle Dealer 252 July 2020 | Page 58

CUSTOM EXTRA
Celebrating
50 Years of
Custom
Chrome
Custom Chrome Europe came into
being 22 years ago in 1998, but it is
50 years since the then parent
company, Custom Chrome Inc., was
founded as Coast Cycles on West
San Carlos Street, San Jose,
California, in 1970 ...
Words by Robin Bradley
Pictures by Ben Ott
The CCI story is the stuff of custom
motorcycle industry legend. It all
started in a motorcycle shop
behind a two-car garage on West
San Carlos Street in San Jose, California, in
1970. Four friends opened a motorcycle
accessory store that specialized in
chroming and polishing anything brought
in.
With that, Coast Cycles was born in a retail space
adjacent to the garage. Within a year, Coast Cycles
changed its name to Custom Chrome Inc. (CCI) and
began to seek out manufacturers of custom parts
and accessories, collaborating with them on unique
new items built to the company's specifications.
Eventually the business moved around an hour
south to Morgan Hill, California, and the rest, as they
say, is indeed history.
Never slow to miss the opportunity for a custom
build, Custom Chrome Europe (Grolsheim,
Germany) collaborated with former AMD World
Championship custom bike builder Andreas
Bergerforth and his Thunderbike Harley-Davidson
team (Hamminkeln, Germany) and the result,
unveiled at Motor Bike Expo at Verona, Italy, in
January was one of the best so-called 'tribute bikes'
of recent years.
The start-point was a stock M-8 FXBB Street Bob,
the destination something that is somehow
quintessentially Thunderbike and Custom Chrome in
equal measure. A logical choice, Andreas and his
army of Padawan learners at Thunderbike have been
regular CCE collaborators, contributing a number of
successful custom bike designs to CCE's popular
"Bolt On And Ride" (BOAR) series - and the force
was certainly with them on this one!
Thunderbike is an authorized Harley dealer -
Germany's largest, indeed one of the biggest in
Europe - but the DNA that powers the blood around
its veins are award-winning custom bikes, a unique
styling palette, an eye for exquisite detail and one
of Europe's premier and premium custom parts and
accessory design and manufacturing programs.
The concept for the 50th Anniversary Custom
Chrome bike reflects the drive to capture the spirit
of the 1970s in customizing and merge it with
contemporary technology on road legal platforms
with road legal custom parts.
The standard 107" Milwaukee-Eight 2020 Street
Bob version of the 8-valve engine is very popular
and highly regarded in Europe - being perceived as
Harley-Davidson's response to the ever increasing
noise and emissions regulations in Europe and
California. The fact that the new M-8 powered
"Softail" is more difficult to customize in Europe
was part of the challenge.
The 'CCE 50th' is the first CCE M-8 with pneumatic
suspension at the front and rear - the pneumatic
"Springer" fork has an approval and comes with
fully functional ABS! Thunderbike had a new
"radical" 2.0" front end developed when it became
apparent that Harley itself was not going to return
to the popular style they had reintroduced for the
1988 model year with the Evo-powered FXSTS
Springer.
The demand for a functioning Springer fork has been
coming from both independent and authorized
Harley dealers - and Thunderbike has brought an
excellent design to market that combines the latest
technology with a modern retro look.
Everyone who knows Thunderbike's showbike
history will know that the European Championship
winner "Open Mind" from 2008 marked a big step
into the development of a super clean pneumatic
front wheel suspension. The rear pneumatic single
spring damper comes from a traditional "air spring"
manufacturer. Both suspensions work
independently of each other and lift the bike from
the parked position far beyond the standard "Street
Bob" ride height, and this "Softail" is a real rider!
When the Milwaukee-Eight engine was introduced,
there was the inevitable discussion about its
customization capabilities. Compared to prior Big
Twin engines from Harley, the performance of the
M-8 has been another step in the right direction.
That said, many thought it still ran too hot, still had
unacceptable (if improved) levels of vibration and
noise, and lacked the throaty roar that riders looked
for in a Harley Big Twin.
As a result, the exhaust, replacement and
performance engine, and powertrain component
sectors were all over the engine straight away, and
have been ever since.
However, it was going to take a very experienced
and particular eye to see the accessory
opportunities, a combination of experience and
contemporary 'vibe', and the Arlen Ness team
certainly didn't miss a beat.
The first to customize one of the new Milwaukee-
Eight Touring models, the Arlen Ness team literally
"tailored a brand new M-8 overnight" on August
23, 2016, when they managed to immediately get
their hands on a newly minted 2017 Electra Glide.
Within a few weeks, the Arlen Ness team had
developed a complete line-up of engine and