Photo: Nine Hills
It's not uncommon in the custom motorcycle industry for a certain project to be nod to a person, some other object (most often cars and other wheeled contraptions), or event. And we've seen that happening plenty of times over the years, enough so to be pretty certain no custom two-wheeler we know of has ever referenced in one way or another a yacht. Until this one.
What you're looking at is a bike put together by Polish custom crew Nine Hills. It was made starting from a 2016 Sportster Forty-Eight, and reshaped to look like a mean, bad, and stubby ride for one. Unlike what Nine Hills usually makes, this one takes not after some other kind of road vehicle, but a boat that so happens to be eerily close, name-wise, to one of America's most famous spy planes.
The yacht is called SR52 Blackbird, and it's the work of Scandinavian builder Windy. It was first shown in 2010, during the Cannes Yachting Festival, and needed just five years to be rated best chase boat in the world by Superyacht Magazine.
The SR52 is a monster of a machine. Powered by a trio of Volvo Penta diesel engines, it can reach a top speed of 53 mph (85 kph), with three occupants enjoying the ride in separate racing seats. There's extra room for passengers to sit in additional three standing sport seats at the rear. The thing does allow sleeping in a double berth, showering below deck, and all the other things a tender of its kind offers.
None of the above is something a Harley-Davidson Sportster can do, so going for a custom build inspired by a boat is a bit strange. It's even stranger considering the fact that aside from the black paint (with a worn out look), there's nothing really apparent tying boat and bike together.
If you can go past that, you're left with an otherwise impressive build, a bobber with a fresh new fuel tank on top of the frame, sinking right under the custom seat, an altered fairing, and reworked fenders. Riding on the stock wheels, the Forty-Eight makes use of a modified swingarm and full LED lights.
As usual with custom Nine Hills projects, the engine is the stock one, only it breathes in through a Rough Craft air filter and out through a Bassani exhaust system.
We don't know the total cost of the build for the Harley-Davidson Blackbird, but most definitely it doesn't come even close to the almost $1.7 million the namesake boat last sold for. Just to get a taste of things, just consider how a present-day Sportster S can be had for just a little over $16,000. That's more than 100 times less that the yacht...
The yacht is called SR52 Blackbird, and it's the work of Scandinavian builder Windy. It was first shown in 2010, during the Cannes Yachting Festival, and needed just five years to be rated best chase boat in the world by Superyacht Magazine.
The SR52 is a monster of a machine. Powered by a trio of Volvo Penta diesel engines, it can reach a top speed of 53 mph (85 kph), with three occupants enjoying the ride in separate racing seats. There's extra room for passengers to sit in additional three standing sport seats at the rear. The thing does allow sleeping in a double berth, showering below deck, and all the other things a tender of its kind offers.
None of the above is something a Harley-Davidson Sportster can do, so going for a custom build inspired by a boat is a bit strange. It's even stranger considering the fact that aside from the black paint (with a worn out look), there's nothing really apparent tying boat and bike together.
If you can go past that, you're left with an otherwise impressive build, a bobber with a fresh new fuel tank on top of the frame, sinking right under the custom seat, an altered fairing, and reworked fenders. Riding on the stock wheels, the Forty-Eight makes use of a modified swingarm and full LED lights.
As usual with custom Nine Hills projects, the engine is the stock one, only it breathes in through a Rough Craft air filter and out through a Bassani exhaust system.
We don't know the total cost of the build for the Harley-Davidson Blackbird, but most definitely it doesn't come even close to the almost $1.7 million the namesake boat last sold for. Just to get a taste of things, just consider how a present-day Sportster S can be had for just a little over $16,000. That's more than 100 times less that the yacht...
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