There are few Harley-Davidson motorcycle families as appreciated by custom garages around the world as the Softail. The old range of bikes has had over the years a lot of high-profile members, many of which still are being reinterpreted today, despite some of them being off the market for some time now. The Blackline however seems to be the exception.
Produced by the Milwaukee company between 2011 and 2013, this particular type of Softail is so rare in the custom world that when one does pop up, it’s bound to get its fifteen minutes of fame here on autoevolution.
The one we bring before you today was born back in 2012 and got modified at the hands of Polish garage Nine Hills. It’s a type of bobber built with modern twists, officially called Contrast, and described by its maker as a new age interpretation of this old custom style.
The shop started modifying the Blackline in the usual fashion, by giving a new interpretation to the wheels. The narrow frame is now supported by the stock, 21-inch wheel at the front, but the one at the rear is now more muscular-looking, not in small part thanks to the fitting of a fat type of rubber around the rim.
We’re not told its exact dimensions, but the effect it has on the overall styling of the ride is more than obvious and enhanced even more by the complicated fender that was slapped over it – by comparison, the small fender at the front is almost non-existent.
Photo: Nine Hills
The most prominent body parts of the stock Blackline were dropped for the purposes of this build, making the ride look much simpler. The fuel tank now seems longer, and short handlebars adorn the front end. A simple Biltwell seat can be seen further back on the frame to support the rider.
As far as we can tell the stock engine of the Blackline has been left largely untouched in the Contrast, enhanced only by means of Roland Sands Design air filter, and a custom exhaust system of undisclosed make.
The name of the custom Blackline has been inspired by the play between black and white on the bike’s body. Although it adopts the dark hue for most of the body parts, the Contrast makes perfect use of white highlights, including in the form of markings on its body, like the number 13 written on its sides for reasons that were not explained.
You can generally find a used and unmodified Harley-Davidson Blackline for prices both south and north of $10k, bud sadly Nine Hills does not reveal how much more the changes it made to the Contrast add on top of that.
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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