Harley Davidson expands its range for the year 2012 with the addition of two new motorcycles, which follow the recently unveiled Dyna Switchback: they are called Sportster Seventy-Two and Softail Slim. The Sportster seventy-Two somewhat retrieves the legacy of the old Sportster Custom, with a large old school metal spoke wheel at the front and specifically dedicated paint job, whereas the Softail Slim loses the chrome bits in favour of the black color, keeping the frills down to a minimum in order to retain that wicked look that was typical of the 1950s bobbers.

Describing the Seventy-Two, Harley-Davidson emphasizes that the model is inspired by the chopper’s pioneering years, when the bikes used to come with flashy colors and loads of chrome bits, but were also deprived of all the superfluous parts in order to make them sleeker and lighter. In fact, looking at the motorbikes of that period, one cannot help but notice how stripped they were, almost like pushbikes: that style of custom bikes is typically American and was originated in California. One of the most distinctive features of the Sportster Seventy-Two is its Hard Candy Big Red Flake paint, which can be found on the small fuel tank, tail and front mudguard, which covers the big 21″ Dunlop tyre with white side (typical of the custom bikes of the 70s). The model is powered by an air-cooled 1200 cc V-Twin Evolution engine - which we have already seen on all the latest Sportster models - and provides a peak torque of 96 Nm at 3,500 rpm. Besides, it makes use of the advanced Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI), which waves goodbye to carburettors and boasts increased reliability and less routine maintenance.

With its big, fat tyres and the minimalistic design, the Softail Slim instead is a real ‘bobber’. It uses certain elements that are more reminiscent of a Sportster (i.e the fuel tank) but everything on this bike seems to underline its essentiality. After all, this is exactly what H-D had in mind when they got started with the project: taking a Softail and put it on a diet. The Softail Slim has a smaller rear wheel with a shorter mud guard, and leaves an empty space between saddle and tank that allows riders to admire the upper side of the engine while traveling. The bike is powered by an air-cooled 1,690 cc Twin Cam 103B unit with Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection (ESPFI), which is mated to a Six-Speed Cruise Drive transmission and produces a maximum torque of 132 Nm at 3,250 rpm.

View the full Harley Davidson Softail Slim 2012 photo gallery

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Harley Davidson is recalling more than 300,000 motorcycles from its Touring, CVO Touring and Trike line, produced between 2009 and 2012. HD clarified that the massive operation is due to a malfunction of the rear brake light switch. It seems that the problem is the excessive heat generated by these models’ exhaust systems, which may cause the rear brake light switch not to activate the lamp when pulling the brakes, or even to activate it when no brake is applied.

Initially it was rumored that the issue could possibly even involve rear brakes themselves, but HD denied such reports, confirming that all of its dealers will fix this problem through the installation of a new rear brake light switch kit, obviously free of charge. Out of all the models subjected to the recall, 250,000 are in the US alone while the remainder is spread across the rest of the world. To see the full list of the models affected, click on the ‘Continue reading’ link below.

Continue reading: Harley Davidson recalls over 300,000 motorcycles

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Bartels Harley Davidson (Harley Davidson dealer to the stars) in Marina Del Rey, California, finally unveiled Jack Armstrong’s, $1,000,000 “Cosmic Starship Harley Davidson” paint job. For those of you unfamiliar with this artist’s work, his unique painting style is called “Cosmic Extensionalism.”

This one off Harley will be the only motorcycle that Armstrong will ever paint, and even if you’re a lucky and rich mortal and have a million bucks as pocket money, you probably be snubbed because the sign next to the bike says: “If you are not Lady GaGa, Scarlett Johansson or Sylvester Stallone DO NOT TOUCH THIS HARLEY!”

After the jump you can watch the video of the unveiling with actor Lorenzo Lamas riding the Cosmic Starship on the red carpet.

Continue reading: Million dollar Cosmic Starship Harley by Jack Armstrong

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Captain America: The First Avenger, is the next feature movie based on the Marvel comic hero that is currently being filmed in the English countryside near London.

The movie bike is supposedly a WLA replica based on an FLSTSB Cross Bones, but we must say that this Harley looks very similar to the Liberator ‘Warboy 883 XWL’ built by Milwaukee Belle.

Source | dailymail.co.uk via motorcycles.about.com

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Harley Davidson will be releasing three new models in 2011 by Harley Davidson, the XR 1200X, the Sportster Superlow and the Road Glide Ultra and four CVO’s ( Custom Vehicle Operations) limited-production motorcycles and with this commercial the Milwaukee manufacturer is obviously trying to target the younger generation of riders.

The commercial isn’t bad, but they could have spared us the amount of money that Americans spend on botox and male pedicures.

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It was in the air for sometime that Harley Davidson would be selling MV Augusta back to Claudio Castiglioni, just two years after the same Castiglioni sold the company to HD, and today the deal was finalized and the iconic motorcycle marque has now returned to Italian hands.

During the Harley-Davidson ownership, MV Agusta repaid its debts ($70 million) and received new equipment and the company released three new models, the 2010 Brutale 990R, the Brutale 1090RR, the F4, and were working on the new mid-size three cylinder F3 prototype.

Terms of the sale were not released but the ownership change is effective immediately. MV Agusta and Harley Davidson press releases after the jump.

Continue reading: Harley-Davidson finalizes sale of MV Agusta to Claudio Castiglioni

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Take Harley-Davidson’s recent addition to their 2010 Sportster 1200 lineup, the Forty-Eight and pit it against some very tough looking Roller Derby ladies from Toronto, that go by names like Demolition Dawn, Harlot Johanssen, Sinead O’Clobber and you’ll end up with a video that looks like something from the 2002 Rollerball movie.

Source | passionperformance.ca

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Six is the magic number on this handcrafted custom Harley Davidson by Horst Dzhangmen. Everything but the engine, a HD Shovelhead 1340 cm3 and the frame, has been cut and built into perfectly shaped hexagons and this exceptional work took its creator three years of hard work to achieve this perfection.

Check out the details, simply amazing.

Source | bikepost.ru via automotto

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They often say revenge is a dish best served cold and this funny video, which was probably filmed by a Buell fan, really lays into the Harley Davidson mystique and will probably royally piss off H.O.G. owners, but it is quite good for a laugh, so check it out.

Source | motorbiker.org

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Marisa Miller is back for another great looking ad campaign for Harley Davidson which was shot at 4 Aces in Palmdale, California by Tom Munro.

Ms Miller may be considered the ’sexiest women on the planet’ but posing on so many Harley’s made her take the Rider’s Edge (Harley-Davidson Academy of Motorcycling) course and now the young lady is a full fledged biker and she also does her own burnouts.

Beautiful and a biker, what else can a guy ask for.

Source | topspeed.com

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William Shatner, best known for his portrayal of Star Trek’s Capt. James T. Kirk, is donating his 2005 Harley Davidson FXDC Dyna Super Glide to be auctioned off to raise funds for the Roddenberry Foundation who supports education, children and the enviroment.

The auction will be held on June 27th at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas and besides Shatner’s motorcycle there will be other Trekkie memorabilia from the private collection of the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry that will be auctioned.

Shatner has been a motorcycle fan since high school, when he “borrowed” a neighbor’s motorcycle for rides. Watch “Kirk” tell his story of how he learned to ride.

Source | motorcycle.usa

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This is how Jordan Harris and Matt Freund from UCSB perceived how a Harley Davidson commercial should be. Funny, outrageous and different from any other Harley commercial we’ve ever seen.

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