Harley-Davidson Big Force Is a Slim and Fit Fat Boy, Begs to Be Ridden in the Wild

The latest Fat Boy conversion to join the pack is called Big Force, and was recently put together by one of Europe’s largest Harley customizers, the Germans from Thunderbike. It’s the bike we’re here to look at now, a model that remains recognizable as a Fat Boy, yet is as different as it can be from both stock and modified versions of itself.

To make sure people don’t mistake this two-wheeler for something else, Thunderbike kept the original fuel tank and fork fairing. It did however change pretty much everything else, and the list of added hardware the crew provides is no less than 25 items long.

The most obvious additions are, of course, the wheels and the fiberglass fenders that wrap over them. The wheels, in a five-spoke design, are sized 23 inches at the front and 21 inches at the rear, enough of a difference to give the ride a most interesting stance.

The slightly larger wheel at the back is supported by a single-sided swingarm that allows for its right side to be exposed to view in all its glory. It is also a tad wider than the piece at the front, although the exact dimensions are not known.

Sitting on an air ride suspension system, the Big Force has a front fork lowering kit installed. That, combined with a forward-mounted footpeg system and a custom apehanger create, at least visually, a very interesting riding position, one that clearly should be put to the test on some open mountain roads somewhere.

The visual impact of the custom bike is ensured by a wealth of other smaller but equally important bits. Contributing to a sight to remember are the custom covers in all the right places, and of course the paint job, which comes as a combination of black with orange and grey accents.

As far as we can tell, the engine was not modified in any way, and it comes with a custom exhaust system attached pretty much in the same position as in its stock form. There is however a disconnect between what we’re told and what we see: technically, the bike is a Fat Boy 114, yet the cover on the Screamin' Eagle heavy breather air cleaner reads 117.

As for the cost of the build, the total price is hard to guess. Unlike other shops out there though Thunderbike does list some of the parts used on its builds, and in the case of the Big Force the 25-item long list amounts to about 16,000 euros ($17,200). That’s not including the base bike, the paint job, and the man-hours spent on giving birth to it.