It’s been less than a month since American bike maker Harley-Davidson announced the return of the Breakout on the American market. That makes the two-wheeler particularly fresh in its new incarnation, and you’d think anyone with an interest in such things would be all over the bike, discussing it, admiring it, and generally analyzing anything and everything Harley changed on the ride compared to previous incarnations.
Yet, it seems that after the initial few days of excitement, it’s still the older Breakouts that are stealing the show, and to be honest there’s a good reason for that: the new version is too… well, new, so it has not yet taken that big bold step into the world of custom motorcycles, the place where the true potential of a Harley motorcycle can be unleashed.
So, until that big bold step is taken, we’ll have to make do with older Breakouts wearing custom clothes, but still very relevant on the market today in some respects. Like the 2017 example we have here, put together over in France by a crew called Melk.
We’ve been featuring these guys extensively here on autoevolution over the past few months and, despite their portfolio of modified Harleys not being that extensive (there are just 32 custom bikes in their lineup), they are quite effective in making a lasting impression.
The 2017 Breakout we have here is the 16th bike Melk modified in its existence, and the shop’s experience with handling paint jobs is more than evident: the bike is mostly black (Vivid Black), but that beautifully fades into Candy Blue on the fuel tank, fenders, and body panels, creating a visual pattern the likes of which we’ve seen before from these guys, but not so often from others.
Photo: Melk
The paint job is of course not the only modification made to the Breakout. A wealth of custom or aftermarket body parts have been included in the build, while some of the existing ones, like say the fuel tank or fork tubes, have been modified and left on.
We’ve got an overall lower stance for the ride, thanks to the inclusion of an adjustable lowering kit, the stock wheels wearing Metzeler tires (260 mm wide for the rear one) and shielded by modified fenders, and LED lights front and rear.
The engine is still the factory one, but as usual it comes with new breathing apparatus for both inhaling and exhaling, in the form of a Rick's Motorcycles and a Bassani exhaust.
As you’d expect from such a modified two-wheeler, it does not come cheap. Whereas Harley, for instance, is asking a little over $20,000 for the brand new model, Melk can have six year older ones made like this for a little over $30,000.
Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies. Full profile
Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?
Google News