Custom Harley-Davidson Breakout Has Ferrari Cues Where You Least Expect Them

There is however a sort of movement among custom bike builders in Europe to associate Harleys with Ferrari more than with anything else. I’m not entirely sure who thought first of mixing the quintessential American two-wheelers with one of the most renowned Italian luxury sports car makers, but the reality remains these builds work just as intended.

The latest Ferrari-related Harley-Davidson we stumbled upon is this one here. It doesn’t have a name of its own, but it started life as a 2020 Breakout and it stayed so until it crossed paths with French custom garage Melk.

These guys are first and foremost a paint shop, and that’s visible in the way colors have been sprayed over the body of the Breakout. It is through paint that the association with the Prancing Horse is made, and not through some other design element, like say strategically placed Ferrari badges.

For this Breakout, Melk used the standard Harley-Davidson Vivid Black, but mixed that with two Ferrari hues, Girgio Silverstone Satin (that’s grey) and Giallo Modena (that’s yellow). The result is a bike that’s mostly dark in appearance, but beautifully highlighted by yellow elements on the fuel tank, wheel rims, fenders, and even the engine itself.

Although it mostly specializes in paint, Melk does not limit itself to gifting bikes with these visual enhancements alone, and the Breakout is no exception - it, too, received a wealth of custom bits and pieces fitted here and there.

The elements that first come off on custom builds, the wheels, are still the stock Breakout ones, but they are shielded by custom fenders on both ends. The wheel at the front is supported by a fork wrapped in a Cult Werk cover, while the one at the rear is wider than stock, measuring 260 mm.

The fuel tank has been modified so it’s now longer than it used to be, and it sits above a largely unmodified, yet remapped 114 engine (unclear how that changed the performance of the ride). The powerplant was also gifted with a new air filter, sourced from Harley itself, and a short Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust system.

Propped on an air suspension system supplied by Platinum, the relatively young Melk build (bike number 29 in the shop’s 36-bike-strong portfolio) can be yours for 35,000 euros, which is almost $38,000 at today’s exchange rates. Much more expensive than a stock Breakout, but a hell of a lot cheaper than any Ferrari out there.