Sykes Harley Davidson’s Speed & Custom entry in this year’s Harley Davison’s Battle of the Kings was built by the super talented Tom ‘Winnee’ Winchester. I was fortunate enough to be invited down to the unveiling of this radical little beauty.
The Battle of the Kings competition has been running since 2015 and is a chance for Harley-Davidson dealers to display their creative powers and engineering mastery in a custom bike build-off. This is to be the final year of the competition and as such, it’s all about finding the King of Kings. Where only the winners from previous years will compete against each other in what is billed as “the world’s biggest custom bike competition”.
The rules are simple…
- The build must use a Harley Davidson Sportster with an Evolution engine, with no restriction on the year of construction
- The main frame of the bike must not be changed
- The swingarm must remain functional.
Sykes’ Tom ‘Winnee’ Winchester built Choo Choo around a 1200 Custom Sportster. The hard to miss killer feature is the Holset turbo which gives this custom build its name, due to the sound it makes. However, thanks to Tom’s mastery the turbo looks right at home on this board tracker inspired build.
This is definitely one custom build that has the ‘just looks right’ attitude. There’s nothing to fault on this bike. There are so many details that you can’t take it all in at once, from all the custom brass fittings (all machined in-house) to the iconic WL-style fishtail exhaust and matching wastegate.
You can help choose the winner of the 2020 King of Kings competition by clicking the big red button below. Voting closes on 31st March, and the winner will be crowned on the 8th April.
I didn’t shoot the video below, but watch it and listen to Tom explain the story behind King of Kings build Choo Choo MF.
I have to say many thanks to Tony the Biker for the invite, Steve Willis for making feel so welcome and Tom ‘Winnee’ Winchester for taking time to talk me through the build and giving me the ‘factory tour’, I appreciate your time.
Based just outside of Brighton, Speed & Custom is part of the Sykes Harley-Davidson dealership which has been around for 14 years. During this time the team has built a reputation for outstanding customer service and excellence. If you’ve got a hankering for a Harley then give the team a shout and they’ll be more than happy to help you out. Oh, and tell them Von Dirk sent you.
