The German motorcycle market has always had a strong "cross-over" habit. Independent custom shops there have always had a "tribal" allegiance to their air-cooled v-twin mission, but the definition of that mission isn't as blinkered in Germany as it has been, historically, in some markets.Making any bike look better, handle better, or go faster is 'righteous', regardless of the platform.
That's not to say that the custom shops there (and elsewhere in Europe) don't focus and spend most of their time on Harleys and air-cooled custom bikes, they do, but as has been seen by the evolution of customizing in Europe, ever since cross-over from
the streetfighter scene radically accelerated development in the 1990s, dealers there are quite happy to take inspiration from other markets and other motorcycling traditions.
It is no surprise therefore to find that the reverse has recently started to happen in the vendor community. With the sport and street bike markets coming under unprecedented pressure in recent years, many mainstream parts and accessory designers are now looking to leverage their reputations for race-bred track-grade sports bike parts manufacturing in the air-cooled custom parts market.
One such is ABM in Germany. When it comes to top-end precision machining, weight saving materials applications and ergonomic design credentials. Founded in 1985, ABM have been sitting at Europe's sport and street bike parts and accessory manufacturing table ever since. Last year he unveiled'WUNDERKIND' ("Miracle Child"), a line of custom parts and accessories developed with Martin Tischer, and based on ABM’s sport bike experience, and seen here on the project Dyna Streetbob that the company took on the European expo circuit last year.
The initial product line, launched last summer, includes a CNC machined aluminum dash board that takes Harley or replacement gauges; adjustable footrest with choice of detailing; replacement horn and cover kit; an air cleaner, with K&N filter, that is said to deliver increased power due to "inverted technology" that gives improved breathing without loss of suction power and low-noise due to Passive Noise Cancellation technology; and advanced triple tree systems that have been a centre-piece of ABMs sport and street bike programs for more that 25 years.
www.wunderkind-custom.com
