The Harley-Davidson Street Bob is not a bike to be taken lightly. In its 2023 model year incarnation, it is one of the most alluring cruisers in the American bike maker’s lineup. With a price tag of $16,599 and with a Milwaukee-Eight 114 V-Twin engine in its frame, it comes across as a solid Softail proposition ready to deliver “a responsive ride unlike anything you’ve felt before.”
Yet some people (not few) choose not to go for the brand new two-wheeler when they need a fresh motorcycle and decide to spend more than half of the 2023 Street Bob’s MSRP on converting some older iteration of the motorcycle they already have in their possession. As we've seen time and again, if the custom project is handled by an experienced crew, we’re left with unique, impressive and at times expensive builds. Kind of like the so-called Grey Hawk we’re featuring here today.
The bike was originally part of the Street Bob generation that still had the Milwaukee-Eight 107 engine in its frame, and its transformation into a more modern beast was handled by German garage Thunderbike. The project was born at the request of one of the shop's customers, who wanted a thrill machine like no other out there.
The bike was completed and shown for the first time two months ago, and required at least 20 custom parts to be fitted, an undisclosed amount of labor to be performed, and the spraying of a grey color on most of the body parts (hence the bike’s name) to make it stand out without becoming flashy.
In all, the 20 custom elements that were added to the stock Street Bob amount to around $8,500. That makes it not the most expensive Thunderbike build we’ve ever seen, but also not the cheapest.
Photo: Thunderbike
The list of added and replaced bits includes anything from a fork lowering kit to a solo side bag, but the most expensive elements, which amount to more than half of the total spent on parts, can be found elsewhere.
One of the most visible changes is the replacement of the original fuel tank with an aluminum one, welded by hand. Visibly longer than what Harley itself installed there, it alone costs over $1,600.
Then come the wheels. Both are custom bits in a multi-spoke design and are sized 21 inches at the front and 17 inches at the rear. The cost of the former is of about $1,200, while the latter is listed by Thunderbike at $1,400.
Add to all of the above the $1,500 spent on the custom forward controls, and you already get to a total of $5,700 on these modifications alone, without taking into account the man hours spent on performing them.
Not cheap, right? Then again, who puts a price on thrills?
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
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