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That impact was to provide an environment in which non-traditional V-twin platforms could compete effectively against the custom industry ’ s default ‘ legacy ’ look and concepts - a legacy that was shaping the custom market away from its primary ‘ raison d ’ etre ’ of showcasing the new , the bold , the innovative and the daring . Instead , show classes were sealing custom design orthodoxy away in aspic and damning with stentorian righteous indignation anybody who dared even explore the edge of the box , never mind actually think outside it ! Which was , and remains , excellent - excepting of course that while radical and innovative custom design and engineering excites and attracts consumers , nine of every ten riders have a stock or near stock bike in their garage , not a radical custom . The mission of the Freestyle concept is to advance design and engineering and the popularity of riding ( on any kind of platform ) in equal measure . That was why we teamed up with Harley-Davidson on our Lazelle Street , Sturgis lot in 2008 , to provide impetus and profile to the creativity and individualism that consumers could still embrace working on a factory platform . Sadly , Motor Company apathy and bureaucracy made that a short lived , disappointing and ultimately dispiriting experience from our point of view - one that made us feel like we were rolling a stone uphill . Ultimately Harley ’ s “ couldn ’ t care less ” attitude was one of the factors that made us decide to take the World Championship to Europe and reassert its independence . Fast forward some more years , and we all now find ourselves in a very different world - one where that explosion in platform diversity has now itself become the orthodoxy of a market in which the child really has eaten the parent - individuality truly is king and contemporary authenticity is as far removed from the cookie cutter customs of the factories as its possible to get . So , with that foundation of justification well and truly laid , this year ’ s thirteenth AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building ( AMD XIII - Cologne , Germany , October 3-7 ) will be the last to feature a Modified Harley-Davidson class in its purist sense , and from the ashes of what has been will be born a new Modified Production class for 2020 and beyond , that sees all custom projects where the design and
2013 Modified Harley-Davidson World Champion ‘ Stealth Bullet ’ by Winston Yeh , Rough Crafts , Japan
2014 Modified Harley-Davidson World Champion ‘ Brougham ’ by Julian von Oheimb , One Way
Machine , Germany