At the beginning of April, Harley-Davidson announced the winner of this year’s King of Kings competition, a mashup of the best 15 previous winners of the Battle of the Kings. Its name is Apex Predator, and with it, we’re kicking off a series that will bring all the participants to light over the following days. AMERiders has the story.
Known in the industry as BOTK, Battle of the Kings kicked off in 2015 as a custom build competition for Harley dealers worldwide. It is, if you like, a competition of ideas Harley itself was incapable of having, but recognized by the bike maker as possibly game-changing for the custom industry.
The rules of the competition are simple: the base motorcycle needs to be a Harley-Davidson bike, the customization must not cost over €6,000 ($6,500) and it must have at least half of the parts used taken from the Harley inventory, and the final bike must be road legal.
Over the years, many competed in the Battle of Kings, but in April 2020 Harley crowned one of them ruler of the pack. And as fate would have it, that King of Kings is the Apex Predator.
Built by a dealer in Mexico called Harley-Davidson Queretaro, the Apex is based on the Sportster XR1200 with the stock engine, and it is supposed to be a “retro-futuristic XR-based track monster meets street fighter.”
Peralta and his team were inspired by their motto “Born to attack without a challenge. Born to live without rival,” as they made the one-off custom hand and foot controls and Alcantara seat.
The Predator appears to use stock Harley calipers combined with wavy rotors for stopping power. Inverted Showa Big Piston Forks provide suspension in the front while twin shocks handle the rear. The team borrowed an LED Daymaker headlight from a Harley-Davidson Breakout to light the way. The control center of the bike is a high-tech, full color, TFT, Bluetooth instrument panel, which doesn’t detract from the lines of the machine.
Peralta and his team, made up of Agustin Anguino, Luis Fernando Perea, Rodrigo Perez, Eduardo Trejo, and Yeyo, chose a deep sterling green powder coat to finish the bike. They then chose to contrast the dark green with Amarillo Intenso highlights on the calipers, rear springs, and seat.
As for the Sportster line, it was introduced by Harley back in 1957 and has been produced continuously ever since. The XR1200 has been around globally since 2006. We reckon not many would mind if it were to sell in the Apex Predator configuration.
~And as always…
~Live Free Ride Hard~
~AMERiders
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Let AMERiders keep you up to date with information on The Apex Predator: One Bad Mama Jamma and a King of Beasts.
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