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From Harley Cross Bones To Ol’ Bone

Published by Cyril Huze March 17th, 2011 in Builders, Customs and Editorial.

Harley-Davidson, like many competitors, has embraced the look of days long gone promoted by independent custom builders with their one-off machines. The Cross Bones model is a perfect example of a manufacturer trying to recapture the old school look while offering today’s technology and reliability. Put this model in the hands of a reputable custom builder and with a few magic tricks and well chosen parts inspired by the past you get a Cross Bones…the way the factory should sell it. Andreas at Thunderbike Germany is convinced, like me, that the classic and vintage look will remain the hot theme for quite a few more years, an opportunity to market new bolt-on parts with a pre WW2 designs.

Featuring a Harley Cross Bones from the show floor turned into an Ol’ Bone doesn’t require many technical explanations. Just pick the right parts and right colors (outside of matte black) and bolt-on with precaution. It took Andreas only one month to do this very nice conversion, paint job included. So, do it yourself to have your bike look much, much better than the ones of all your friends from your HOG chapter and knowing that you will not void your warranty, if any remaining on your Cross Bones, and without the hassle to justify to a DOT department that your bike is road legal.

Most of the range of custom parts used on this project are from and sold by Thunderbike Germany. By the way, Ol’ Bone is now for sale…Tell Andreas I sent you. It may help get a good deal. Thunderbike Germany. Short tech sheet is below.

Front wheel: TB Vegas drilled (3,50 x 21) with Avon 120-70-21 tire. Rear Wheel: TB Vegas drilled (6 x 18) with Avon 200-60-18 tire. Exhaust system: TB Blackfish. Air filter: TB Classic Brass. Rocker Boxes: TB Ribbed. Handlebars: TB Hollywood. Headlight: TB Alkatraz. Taillight: TB Alkatraz. Grips: TB Base-Brass. Risers: TB Old Style. Footrests: TB Base-Brass. Rear fender: Heckfender. Seat: TB Fellow Large. Front fork: HD/TB lowering. Swingarm: HD/TB lowering

27 Comments

27 Responses to “From Harley Cross Bones To Ol’ Bone”

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  1. 1 les Mar 17th, 2011 at 8:14 am

    I like this bike a whole lot. It sits well, has nice lines, and none of its features take away from riding like Pipes that exit under your thigh, or spikes on your handlebar pointing at your face.
    However, following in the “classic” inspired retro theme, why did they choose drilled 5 branched drilled rims? I’d think just some simple spoked rims like on an old flatty would look 10 fold better.
    Also, the choice of color? The rocker covers seem so close in color to tank decals, but just slightly off? its kind of 1-dimensional.

  2. 2 Seymour Mar 17th, 2011 at 8:37 am

    I’m going to agree with les, this bike is much improved but the wheels don’t make it for me. Great job!

  3. 3 hddave Mar 17th, 2011 at 8:53 am

    Beautiful bike, this is the Crossbones the motor co. should of built!

  4. 4 Kirk Perry Mar 17th, 2011 at 8:54 am

    Everyone wants a Panhead. Even Harley-Davidson®

  5. 5 SportsterMike, England Mar 17th, 2011 at 9:00 am

    Nice looking bike
    Its tough I know in Germany to build pure custom bikes, the English bikers used to hardtail old BSAs etc, change the engine for a Kawa 900cc, get the paperwork in order and sell the bikes to their brother club members (paperwork would say 1963 BSA 900cc! etc) ..
    So doing this with a ‘stock’ rolling chassis is probably the best way to go..

  6. 6 DUHL Mar 17th, 2011 at 9:16 am

    Well Done Maestro!

  7. 7 Knucklehead Mar 17th, 2011 at 9:23 am

    Looks good. Like back in the 60’s.

  8. 8 Gas Man Mar 17th, 2011 at 9:24 am

    I must disagree with les. Respectively. I think the rims are an excellant choice. The machined wheels will give it a much more custom look. The color choices are great. I simply love this bike threw and threw.

    I would love to know if those parts are anadized or powder coated.

  9. 9 les Mar 17th, 2011 at 9:27 am

    but i must say its still sexy and i’d drive the hell out of it.

  10. 10 Larry R Mar 17th, 2011 at 10:22 am

    Me likes.

  11. 11 1550tc Mar 17th, 2011 at 1:26 pm

    cant wait till these cross bones get down to the 6-7K range in price on ebay……great look with a 2000’s drive train

  12. 12 Dylan Mar 17th, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    Very cool. Hey HD take note!

  13. 13 Woody Mar 17th, 2011 at 10:15 pm

    Very nice. Usually a sprung seat looks out of place on a softail but I think it works well on this bike.

  14. 14 Quint w/HogRadio.net Mar 18th, 2011 at 12:37 am

    The theme I see is a straight forward, hard-nosed, heavy-duty chunk of steel; nothing extra , nothing wasted, and the wheels fit right in there. It looks better than bolt-on. I like this style.

  15. 15 Wiz Mar 18th, 2011 at 3:06 am

    SWEET! Nice job! Wiz

  16. 16 baddad Mar 18th, 2011 at 5:16 am

    Very sexy. 🙂

  17. 17 Freedomlaw Mar 18th, 2011 at 10:51 am

    I love this bike. It looks like a bike that you would actually ride for miles and miles instead of bar to bar. Go for it.

  18. 18 maroco Mar 18th, 2011 at 2:45 pm

    like it alot. Simple incredible.

  19. 19 Bigalyts Mar 18th, 2011 at 6:41 pm

    Great Looking, like the HD Branding still Bleeds through. That’s a good thing. Nice to see accessories that are unique, to this Bike. If you held your breath 1550tc, You would have a new Handle, it would be “Blue Boy”.

  20. 20 gina woods Mar 21st, 2011 at 5:26 am

    Nice – very nice!

  21. 21 shadetreekyle Mar 21st, 2011 at 8:34 am

    I dig it! Thats why I’ve been building that fender kit, Exhaust ,and Handlebar setup since the x-bones came out! Come on guys, I didn’t see my name in the tech sheet!

  22. 22 Chief Waldo Mar 21st, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    “Harley-Davidson, like many competitors, has embraced the look of days long gone…”
    So who are these “many” competitors? Indian doing it for sure, but they’re small numbers. Victory? Well, with one bike. The High Ball. Who else?
    Triumph? Honda? Ducati?

  23. 23 JP@MyEvilTwinChoppers Mar 21st, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    Love it!

  24. 24 Freddy Apr 17th, 2011 at 4:39 am

    Great bike,love those rockerboxes!

  25. 25 ZZ May 8th, 2011 at 7:19 am

    Did you have any issue with finding a hub to fit the bones front end?

  26. 26 Hunter Jun 1st, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    I am building out my crossbones and was wondering where you can buy some of the parts used in this theme?

  27. 27 Martin Jun 15th, 2011 at 5:49 am

    Hi Hunter,
    most of the parts we used are taken from our Thunderbike Custom Book #2

    You can download it for free (~91 MB / zipped PDF):
    http://www.thunderbike.de/downloads/custombooks2011/TB_HD_Katalog_Komplett.zip

    Thanks for all the cool feedback.

    cheers, Thunderbike

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Cyril Huze