Photo: Thunderbike
Motorcycle fans always know how to appreciate a good custom Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and thank God, there are plenty of them to go around these days. But even the most diehard enthusiasts have to admit that seeing re-interpreted Fat Boys and Breakouts can get a bit tiresome.
That's why the rare instances when we stumble upon a true classic custom become even more special. And as it happens, thanks to an older and favorite garage of ours, stumble we did.
Many of us were still newborns back in the days when Harley-Davidson pulled the plug on the Shovelhead engine, replacing it with the Evolution. Yet even to this day, bikes powered by it, especially the ones in customized form, manage to impress.
The shop I mentioned earlier is called Thunderbike. It's based in Germany, and rolls out custom modern Harley almost on a weekly basis. They also release full customs based on their own frames from time to time.
The Harley-Davidson Pauki is none of those things. In fact, it's not even something Thunderbike but together, but something it now owns. Yet the bike still is worthy of a short stint under the spotlight.
The motorcycle is a Shovelhead of the last model year, 1984. It was put together back in the mid-1980s by another German giant of the custom scene, a man known as Reinhold Paukner, or Pauki.
The thing resurfaced recently after the guys over at Thunderbike, more specifically the company's top shot, Andreas Bergerforth, purchased it from a local collector. It is presently used as a sort of fun ride for the shop's crew.
Not much is known about the build, and even Thunderbike says "there's a lot about the bike that's impossible to research." We do know it was built around a high frame that holds the Shovelhead engine that spins wire wheels, and a highly-decorated western-style seat is there to support the rider.
The flames painted on the fuel tank help give it that true old-school style, and are perfectly accented by chrome and brass carefully placed on some of the bike's elements, including the exhaust.
Thunderbike presented this bike as a means to say we're not to expect it to be modified in any way. We're told that "apart from the necessary maintenance work" nothing was done to this piece of German custom motorcycle history, and nothing will, despite the crew's habit of giving all its rides "our Thunderbike line."
Given how this bike is not meant to be sold, it's impossible to say how much it could be worth, and Thunderbike does not say how much it paid to get it from that German collector.
Some things are best served with a touch of mystery, and the Harley-Davidson Pauki sure fits that description.
Many of us were still newborns back in the days when Harley-Davidson pulled the plug on the Shovelhead engine, replacing it with the Evolution. Yet even to this day, bikes powered by it, especially the ones in customized form, manage to impress.
The shop I mentioned earlier is called Thunderbike. It's based in Germany, and rolls out custom modern Harley almost on a weekly basis. They also release full customs based on their own frames from time to time.
The Harley-Davidson Pauki is none of those things. In fact, it's not even something Thunderbike but together, but something it now owns. Yet the bike still is worthy of a short stint under the spotlight.
The motorcycle is a Shovelhead of the last model year, 1984. It was put together back in the mid-1980s by another German giant of the custom scene, a man known as Reinhold Paukner, or Pauki.
The thing resurfaced recently after the guys over at Thunderbike, more specifically the company's top shot, Andreas Bergerforth, purchased it from a local collector. It is presently used as a sort of fun ride for the shop's crew.
Not much is known about the build, and even Thunderbike says "there's a lot about the bike that's impossible to research." We do know it was built around a high frame that holds the Shovelhead engine that spins wire wheels, and a highly-decorated western-style seat is there to support the rider.
The flames painted on the fuel tank help give it that true old-school style, and are perfectly accented by chrome and brass carefully placed on some of the bike's elements, including the exhaust.
Thunderbike presented this bike as a means to say we're not to expect it to be modified in any way. We're told that "apart from the necessary maintenance work" nothing was done to this piece of German custom motorcycle history, and nothing will, despite the crew's habit of giving all its rides "our Thunderbike line."
Given how this bike is not meant to be sold, it's impossible to say how much it could be worth, and Thunderbike does not say how much it paid to get it from that German collector.
Some things are best served with a touch of mystery, and the Harley-Davidson Pauki sure fits that description.
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