Photo: Thunderbike
Harley-Davidson’s Battle of the Kings competition usually doesn’t amount to much. Held annually for the past few years, the build-off challenge is open for the bike maker’s international dealers. While it sure does create some unique builds, most of the time that’s all they remain: one-offs, with just 15 minutes of glory and fame.
There is one shop out there, though, which manages to create entire families of custom bikes, including off-shoots of its own Battle of the Kings (BOTK) entries, for the simple reason that for the past quarter of a century, they never stopped making them.
The shop is called Thunderbike, and back in 2019, they entered Battle of the Kings with something called Roar. It is an FXDR 114-based build, supposed to be “a deep and evil dragster conversion.”
Also based on an FXDR, and inspired by the Roar, is the bike we have here. Called Red Rocket, it carries over a lot of the elements of its inspiration source but also adds a few more of its own.
What sets it apart from the Roar, visually speaking, is the paint. Then, more mechanical in nature, we have the Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust system with upward-pointing mufflers, a custom manifold system, and the air ride and fork that bring the entire thing closer to the ground.
Last but not least, the custom builders slapped a Stage IV kit over the engine to bring its displacement up to 117 ci (1.9 liters). These are exactly the same hardware and modifications made for the Roar. For good measure, special mapping has also been devised for the Red Rocket.
All in all, some 30 custom parts and bits were fitted on this, amounting to roughly €10,000 (about $12,200 at today’s exchange rates). That does not include the base motorcycle, the paint job, man-hours, and exhaust system.
The shop is called Thunderbike, and back in 2019, they entered Battle of the Kings with something called Roar. It is an FXDR 114-based build, supposed to be “a deep and evil dragster conversion.”
Also based on an FXDR, and inspired by the Roar, is the bike we have here. Called Red Rocket, it carries over a lot of the elements of its inspiration source but also adds a few more of its own.
What sets it apart from the Roar, visually speaking, is the paint. Then, more mechanical in nature, we have the Dr. Jekill & Mr. Hyde exhaust system with upward-pointing mufflers, a custom manifold system, and the air ride and fork that bring the entire thing closer to the ground.
Last but not least, the custom builders slapped a Stage IV kit over the engine to bring its displacement up to 117 ci (1.9 liters). These are exactly the same hardware and modifications made for the Roar. For good measure, special mapping has also been devised for the Red Rocket.
All in all, some 30 custom parts and bits were fitted on this, amounting to roughly €10,000 (about $12,200 at today’s exchange rates). That does not include the base motorcycle, the paint job, man-hours, and exhaust system.
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