Following an intense global competition, including national and international heats, Laidlaw’s Harley-Davidson has today been crowned Global Custom Kings and overall winners of the 2019 Battle of the Kings.
Laidlaw’s Harley-Davidson’s winning entry, the stunning “FXGTS Coast Glide” is based on a Harley-Davidson Sport Glide model and has been extensively customized to create a truly unique ride. The bike is a throwback to FXRT styling with a Southern California twist, paying tribute to the Pacific Coast Highway and the Southern California influence on modern performance cruisers. As a concept, it covers a lot of ground. As a design, it’s far more than the sum of its parts. The team wanted full functionality but with a strong California flair.
Battle of the Kings is the world’s largest dealer custom build-off competition. The competition showcases the very best in customization capability and the creativity of the Custom Kings who can be found at every Harley-Davidson dealership globally. In 2018, the Custom King crown was taken by debut-entrants Harley-Davidson Bangkok with their Street Bob-based build “The Prince”.
For 2019 any model in the Harley-Davidson range could be selected as a base for the build (excluding Trike and CVO models) meaning dealers had more choice than ever before in order to create a title challenger. To further inspire the competition dealers had to choose from three style categories – Dirt, Chop and Race – for their build. The rules for the build were simple – 50% of the parts used must be genuine Harley-Davidson accessories and the customization budget was a maximum of 50% of the donor bike retail price.
The United States dealers added an extra dimension to their competition, inspiring the next generation of custom builders by teaming each build with a trade school, with students working alongside the dealership team to create and build their machine.
Grand final runners-up were Warr’s Harley-Davidson, The Crook (United Kingdom), Thunderbike Harley-Davidson, Roar (Germany), Calgary Harley-Davidson, Moonshine (Canada) and Harley-Davidson Queretaro, Joe Tracker (Mexico) – whose machines were all on display at EICMA for the tense final voting.
“Once again the global Harley-Davidson dealership community has excelled at demonstrating their custom leadership. This expertise is accessible at any Harley-Davidson dealership, allowing riders around the world to truly make their ride unique. Huge congratulations to all of our over 300 entries, the regional winners and finalists – and especially to our 2019 champions Laidlaw’s Harley-Davidson. A truly stunning build – and a worthy champion,” said Steve Lambert, International Marketing Director, Harley-Davidson.
