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Harley-Davidson Viking Is a Violent-Looking Ride Ragnar Lothbrok Would Have Loved

Despite its coldness, Scandinavia is an enchanting place. Comprising the present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden, this northern portion of Europe is home to wonderful scenery, beautiful cities, and peaceful people. But a few hundred years ago, that last part was not so true.
Harley-Davidson Viking 10 photos
Photo: Bundnerbike
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Scandinavia is the place where the Vikings came from. Not the History or Netflix TV series, but the warrior kind that liked to pillage neighboring nations (mostly England) and gave birth to so many legends.

Vikings loved water and sailing, and used for their travels a variety of ships that took them to faraway lands - some say even as far as North America, half a millennium before Columbus reached it on his way to the East Indies.

On land they traveled just like all people of their time did, either on foot or on horseback or on some type of horse-drawn contraption. They didn’t have motorized vehicles back then, of course, but if they were to see the customized Softail we have here, they would most definitely have approved.

The bike is the work of Swiss custom shop Bundnerbike, and has a number of Viking references on it that almost make you believe this is something Ragnar Lothbrok rode into battle.

The fuel tank, for instance, is the place where a violent scene unfolds, with a grinning Viking driving a knife through the head of an nondescript enemy. Then, at the back, the sissy bar is not your average piece of motorcycle hardware, but a small Viking sword caught between two support bars like Arthur’s Excalibur was caught in stone.

Harley\-Davidson Viking
Photo: Bundnerbike
Then, you have the position of the handlebar and the seat, which forces the rider to adopt a position worthy of a warrior riding into battle. The wheels of the Softail, including the rear one, have been kept narrow on purpose as to send across a message of speed and unforgiveness.

The Harley-Davidson Viking is an older Bundnerbike build, so it lacks pretty much all of the official details we’re used to getting when looking at one of their projects - meaning we have no info on the provenance of the extra hardware that went into the build.

Yet, with images so strong coming from the black body of the two-wheeler, we almost don’t feel the need to know any more about what’s been done to it. Almost…

We can clearly see the extent of the modifications made to the Softail, with the fat rubber wrapping around custom wheels of undisclosed diameter, the new and bulkier headlight fitted up front like some sort of Viking fat lamp to lead the way during night charges on enemy positions, and of course the thin custom seat that blends perfectly with the lack of a front fender and the flimsy one fitted at the rear, like some sort of minimal armor.

The engine of the Softail is most likely stock, but the exhaust clearly is not, with the tailpipes now pointing upward instead of straight out to the back as on the usual ride.

Bundnerbike does not say how much the Harley-Davidson Viking cost to make, but that’s a detail that doesn’t stop us from enjoying the ride in the slightest.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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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.
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