Harley-Davidson Bad Guy Is Like a Chihuahua Trying to Be Mean, But Not Knowing How

These creatures are lovable by nature, and that’s why they accompany anyone from young kids to old ladies wherever they go. But do remember they’re still animals and, at times (pretty often, actually, especially when faced with strangers), they can be pretty mean.

Well, at least they try to be, as their tantrums most often end in a shape of their face so funny humans laugh their a**es off, and their bites are in most cases more of an inconvenience than something really painful and dangerous.

So, a tiny little dog that wants to appear deadly, but doesn’t quite know how to do that. For some reason, that’s exactly the image that popped into my head as soon as I set eyes on and heard the name of this custom Harley-Davidson Low Rider, modified by a crew over in Europe.

At the time of writing, the Low Rider is offered by Harley as part of its cruiser lineup of motorcycles in two versions, the S and ST. They’re decent-looking machines and decently priced, too, at $18,199 for the S and $22,199 for its sibling. But that’s not what Europeans want, so from time to time, old and new Low Riders end up on custom shops’ workbenches.

So did the one we have here, which arrived as the same decent-looking machine we know and love only to come out the other end looking like this.

The garage responsible for the build is based in Switzerland and is called Bundnerbike. We’re used to seeing real head-turners coming from them, and the Low Rider displayed here is a lot of that.

Draped in black all over, it was treated to the usual complement of custom touches, from the in-house made handlebars to Harley-supplied aftermarket bits like the grips and footpegs. A large fairing at the front separates it from the stock Low Riders, and two cases have been installed at the rear on each side.

The engine is the stock Milwaukee Eight 117 unit, which in this application is rated at 106 hp and 168 Nm of torque. It sits in a slightly modified frame to allow for a raised seat to be fitted (now at 720 mm when not occupied) and uses a Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust system.

The thing looks more than interesting as a custom build, but to my eyes, it is nothing like a macho bike, as the crew behind it tries to sell it. Not even the name chosen for it, Bad Guy, doesn’t seem to be the right fit, making the entire build appear as if it’s trying to bite more than it can chew.

Because of its proud stance, at least when viewed from the side, the Harley-Davidson Bad Guy looks more like a black Friesian horse, proud, beautiful, and imposing, but by no means mean or bad. So once again, a great build, but poor choice of name...