Check Out the Winners of Harley Davidson’s ‘The No Show’ Custom Show
Along with being totally virtual, Harley’s ‘The No Show’ stood out for another big reason — rideable bikes.
There’s a line in True Romance, Tony Scott’s masterful take on Quentin Tarantino’s outlaw-opera, which always pops into our head when we think about Harley and custom bike shows. Toward the end of the flick, the Elvis-obsessed protagonist Clarence is talking to a big-time director, and he derides highbrow Hollywood hacks for only making “unwatchable movies from unreadable books.” It’s a funny moment, and makes us think about how most of the hardware at prestigious shows has two things in common — they’re unattainable, and more importantly, they’re unrideable.
So we were beyond stoked to see that the vast majority of the entries for Harley’s “The No Show” Instagram contest weren’t either of those things. Obviously, there’s been loads of impressive work done to every bike. Mostly, that work was done in a way which didn’t mortally wound them, and turn machines which should epitomize freedom and motion into static sculptures. Overall? It’s kind of wild that a virtual show — where nobody got to actually see the competitors in person — went so far in the practical direction. But if that’s what it took, then we’re down.
Check out the winners of the Media Choice Award, H-D Styling & Design Award, and Harley-Davidson Museum Award, and head to Harley’s Instagram to check out the full slate of entries.
Since we just went off on a little tangent about how much we like bikes we can ride, we’d appreciate if the tank of Ben “The Boog” Zale’s 1963 Panhead tank held more than fumes. And we’re also pretty certain we’d burn the heck out of our right leg on the pipe. That said, this is a stunning bit of craft, and it’s no surprise it was picked by media folks as a winner. Deceptively simple, it’s a drop-dead stunner, and we’d love to see it in person someday.
The Knucklehead motor is easily one of the motorcycle world’s most gorgeous powerplants, and it looks spectacular sitting in this squeaky-clean classic chopper from Christian Newman. In our eyes, black and chrome go together like chocolate and peanut butter, and the lack of cables and levers heightens the absolute elegance of this build. This is the kind of machine we see in our head when we think about the ideal chopper.
In our opinion, Micheal Lang’s 1921 board track is the coolest of the bunch — and not because we think it’s the best looking. Nope, this baby won us over because it was born to run, and has spent the last 24 years racing. The heart of this machine was built nearly a century ago, and the fact that it’s still being ridden in anger is amazing. We’d tell Lange to keep it shiny side up, but since it doesn’t seem to have a shiny side, we’ll just wish him good luck on the track.
So which one of these bikes is your favorite? Did the judges get it right, or were there other competitors you think deserved the honors. Head into the forums and let us know!
Photos: Harley-Davidson
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