56º North March 2018 | Page 21

The raw, stripped back machine was on display alongside its fellow finalists from Guildford Harley-Davidson, Maidstone Harley-Davidson, Shaw Harley-Davidson and West Coast Harley-Davidson this weekend at the MCN London Motorcycle Show for the final judging.

Enlisted, built by West Coast Harley-Davidson came in 3rd.

A panel of judges, made up of MCN’s Deputy Editor, Richard Newland, Built magazines Editor, Gary Pinchin, Bike Social’s Publishing Editor, Steve Rose, American V magazine’s Editor, Andy Hornsby and motorcycle racer and Harley-Davidson enthusiast, Shane ‘Shakey’ Byrne, awarded the top honours to Alley Rat.

Custom Softail Street Bob, Ottaway, by Maidstone Harley-Davidson scooped second place, while West Coast Harley-Davidson’s Enlisted completed the top three.

2018’s Battle of the Kings competition took the form of official Harley-Davidson dealerships creating a road legal Dark Custom machine within a strict budget of £5,500 (€6,000) and from a select list of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.

The list of base models for dealers to choose from to compete in this year’s BOTK was Sportster® Dark Custom® models Iron 883™, Forty-Eight® and Roadster™; plus the Street® 750 and Street Rod®; and also from the exciting line up of nine all-new Softail® motorcycles for 2018, the latest Street Bob® and Fat Bob®. The Street Bob was clearly the popular choice with the public, with four of the five finalists choosing this machine as their Dark Custom canvas.