Staged at Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, the European swing of Harley’s 115th anniversary celebrations (July 5-8) saw more than 100,000 riders from over 77 countries arrive for an event that included the “Prague Custom Gallery” - a unique exhibition of 50 custom Harley-Davidson projects from around the world selected especially for the event by a jury consisting of motorcycle builders, designers, engineers and Harley-Davidson executives, including Bill Davidson (Director of the Harley-Davidson Museum in Milwaukee) and Karen Davidson (Harley’s Creative Director).
The top prize was awarded to the U.K.’s Rocket Bobs Cycle Works whose lightweight, compact street racer ‘Pressure Drop’ is said to have stood out in a strong field. The bike features a custom ultra-strong race frame which wraps around a JIMS 135” race engine and uses the Baker Grudge Box to put the power down through Rotobox (Slovenia) full carbon wheels.
The rear end is controlled by a race monoshock custom built in the UK by Nitron; braking is handled by British made HEL race calipers at the end of the German made HC3 Magura hand controls. The bike weighs 420 lbs wet and “with a no compromise riding position, it’s quite a handful and not for the fainthearted”!
Pete ‘Rocket Bob’ Pearson took a year to design and plan, and three months to build the bike. “I was honored to be asked by Harley-Davidson to showcase one of our custom motorcycles at the 115th anniversary celebrations in Prague, and to take the ‘World’s Best V-Twin 2018’ award amongst such strong competition is an overwhelming experience”.
