Photo: GS Machin
Somehow, some of the most astonishing custom bike builds come from people with rather little expertise in the field, and whose business usually lies in a different field. It's the case of Tom Mosimann, the fellow behind the Swiss workshop GS Mashin.
Now, Mosimann is a sign painter, but three years ago he decided to give custom bikes a try. The first bike he bestowed his unbridled creativity upon was this 2000 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, and wanted to make it stand from the crowd.
For starters, Tom succeeded in full, as there is almost nothing left to tell the original bike to the world. The entire bodywork is Mosimann's creation and design, and building this bike took him a whopping nine months. Still, the result is stunning, and what's even nicer, he also managed to keep the bike street-legal. And with the strict noise regulations in Switzerland, this achievement adds more value to the build.
The metal work and all the rivets also bring in a dab of steampunk attitude, doubled by the strong rectangular shape of the front cowl window through which the dual headlights shine at night.
Tom crafted a new tank that follows both function and shape and takes the build further away from the H-D territory. We asked Tom to name the hardest part of the build, and he replied that the toughest job was providing this radical look to a Harley bike and losing the MoCo aesthetics.
A bigger front wheel was sourced from another Harley and was accented in bright green to match the lively livery, while the rear white-walled tire was kept on the full metal disc rim.
On the tech side, the forks were lowered and received Progressive Suspension elements, while Performance Machine sourced the foot controls and primary cover. The bars are LSL and are equipped with RSD grips and Beringer controls, whereas the instrumentation was changed to Auto meter hardware, bikeexif tells us.
Finally, the seat was covered in diamond-stitched leather and thanks to the ample rear fender, it also gained a lower backrest. The GS Mashin was complete with a metal chin spoiler and an aggressive custom air filter cover with GS lettering in metal mesh.
Maybe not the bike of choice for crossing the entire Europe, but definitely well-worth a weekend ride to turn ALL the heads.
For starters, Tom succeeded in full, as there is almost nothing left to tell the original bike to the world. The entire bodywork is Mosimann's creation and design, and building this bike took him a whopping nine months. Still, the result is stunning, and what's even nicer, he also managed to keep the bike street-legal. And with the strict noise regulations in Switzerland, this achievement adds more value to the build.
Flat-track DNA meets the steampunk-ish approach
It's hard to fit a label to the GS Mashin's Fat Boy, as the bike blends in several styles in a very pleasant way. While the presence of the flat-track DNA is unquestionable, the horizontal pipes and bulky, yet cool-looking silencer at the end hark back to the scrambler days.The metal work and all the rivets also bring in a dab of steampunk attitude, doubled by the strong rectangular shape of the front cowl window through which the dual headlights shine at night.
Tom crafted a new tank that follows both function and shape and takes the build further away from the H-D territory. We asked Tom to name the hardest part of the build, and he replied that the toughest job was providing this radical look to a Harley bike and losing the MoCo aesthetics.
A bigger front wheel was sourced from another Harley and was accented in bright green to match the lively livery, while the rear white-walled tire was kept on the full metal disc rim.
On the tech side, the forks were lowered and received Progressive Suspension elements, while Performance Machine sourced the foot controls and primary cover. The bars are LSL and are equipped with RSD grips and Beringer controls, whereas the instrumentation was changed to Auto meter hardware, bikeexif tells us.
Finally, the seat was covered in diamond-stitched leather and thanks to the ample rear fender, it also gained a lower backrest. The GS Mashin was complete with a metal chin spoiler and an aggressive custom air filter cover with GS lettering in metal mesh.
Maybe not the bike of choice for crossing the entire Europe, but definitely well-worth a weekend ride to turn ALL the heads.
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