Thundering into The Future- Andreas Bergerforth speaks out!
Founded 40 years ago by Andreas Bergerforth- a former AMD World Champion Custom Bike Builder- German Harley dealer Thunderbike( Hamminkeln) is one of Europe ' s most innovative and progressive authorized Harley dealers in Europe. Its prodigious output of complete custom bikes and high-end inhouse parts and accessory design and manufacturing would be the envy of many in the global aftermarket, and wins them friends and business from all over the world …
' a major reason for the decline in sales '
Every spring Thunderbike gets its peak season underway with a massively well attended annual ' Kick Off ' party and celebration of all things Harley and custom. This year that coincided with the Thunderbike team having completed a 3-month product re-design, homologation and production re-tooling marathon to adapt many of Thunderbike ' s parts for fitment on the 2025 / 26 EURO 5 + models. The process also included a new wheel design( premiered on the 40th Anniversary Chopper) and a complete design upgrade for their GP-Performance Series parts- all in addition to their dealership dayjob as one of Europe ' s largest and most successful authorized dealers. Then again though, redefining exactly what that day-job can look like and mean has been one of their primary drivers of success. " We ' ve been focussed on the new 2025 / 26 models, so everything that came with Euro 5 + was, of course, a challenge that had to be handled- and quickly. Responding to all the model changes- especially with the air intake and exhaust systems- was a huge undertaking. " As of April this year, we finally had all our parts redesigned, manufactured and approved. Many components and details- like the handlebars and everything that goes with them- have changed as well: grips, switches, and so on. That meant every Thunderbike custom handlebar had to be updated and, of course, re-certified by TÜV.
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Andreas Bergeforth, Artie Starrs and some of the 170-strong Thunderbike crew.
" This affected everything related to the electronics and the exhaust system. The rear fenders were an issue too, because the new shock absorbers are a different fitment." The Thunderbike program is big. Really big. " The shock adjustment is now located under the seat- even on the ' Breakout ' and the ' Fat Boy '. That area is now completely packed with electronics, so we had to come up with design mods so we could that allowed us to still install our signature rear fenders. Retrofitting a high number of essential parts for the 25 and 26 models was a huge challenge. Having shared his perspectives with Harley-Davidson
CEO Artie Starrs when he made his first European Grand Tour in January, I visited with Andreas for AMD some months later to hear his take on how things need to change at Harley. " It is clear that we definitely are one of the bigger Harley dealers in Germany. However, being a one location shop in the far north-west of Germany, there are certainly dealers in Germany and Europe in general who sell significantly more motorcycles than us. That is why our core business is still custom motorcycles and that is where I want to stay- it ' s our best segment in business terms. " The margin on stock motorcycles has gotten
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