{"id":43088,"date":"2015-12-16T10:34:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T10:34:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.influx.co.uk\/?p=43088"},"modified":"2022-06-22T17:54:56","modified_gmt":"2022-06-22T16:54:56","slug":"cherrys-hawgholic-harley-goes-kabuki-and-knievel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adrianflux.co.uk\/influx\/features\/cherrys-hawgholic-harley-goes-kabuki-and-knievel\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawgholic: Harley Goes Kabuki and Knievel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Somewhere deep in the south of Tokyo is a tiny little workshop that is forever Milwaukee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hawgholics<\/strong> is the passion child of Gaku \u2013 one of the nicest fellahs you\u2019re likely to meet and purveyor of some of the most nonsense-free Harley-Davidson based motorcycles you are ever likely to see.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first motorbike was a Shovelhead from\u00a01984,\u201d he tells me as we look at his amazing creation, a bike I\u2019m calling the Kabuki-Knievel. \u201cEver since then it has just been Harley-Davidson for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The bike stood out at 2015 Mooneyes Yokohama show – mostly because of its simple sense of fun and purposefulness. \u201cThe Desert Sled style is more popular in Triumphs, of course,\u201d he tells me, “but this is based on a 1937 Flathead engine with a small K style frame.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe frame was made in Tokyo,\u201d he says. It is adorned with a beautiful red white and blue paint job that fuses a Kabuki style look with the bonkers stunt rider who made Harley-Davidsons desirable for a generation of English kids growing up in the seventies. \u201cI\u2019ve never thought of the Evel thing with this bike before, Gaku says. But now you mention it.\u201d Kabuki is a Japanese dance and theatrical form that emphasises skill and precision – and of course the colourful makeup worn by the practitioners.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

The thing that sticks in the mind about the Kabuki-Knievel Sled though, is that great tank work. \u201cIt\u2019s very simple,\u201d he tells me as he grabs a bag full of colourful magazine cuttings and shows me the lacquer that he renders the images with. \u201cIt is simple but effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

There are subtle little touches of humour and aesthetic gestures all over the bike – some that are functional, but most that just make the bike saturated in a sense of joy that is far away from that unreconstructed machismo that so many Harley-Davidsons encapsulate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe clips are just for show, but would really help with cooling,\u201d he says. There are those pretty but less than functional countersunk drill things in the<\/p>\n

There are those pretty, but less-than-functional, countersunk drill things in the crank case\u00a0and a custom exhaust that looks like it has been hammered out on the back of an old rock somewhere in the desert near Barstow.<\/p>\n

So many show bikes, especially Harleys, are so precious, coming across like gleaming museum pieces that should never perform an active function.<\/p>\n

This is one stunning show bike that you want to open up on the beach.<\/p>\n

Never mind the consequences.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t