Harley-Davidson to unveil custom-built X440s at India Bike Week 2023

Harley-Davidson is all set to unveil custom-built motorcycles based on the X440 at the 2023 India Bike Week (IBW) biking festival. The Harley-Davidson X440 made its global debut earlier this year as the brand’s most accessible offering and is built in collaboration with Hero MotoCorp in India. Harley has partnered with the country’s top custom motorcycle builders and will showcase several new X440s at IBW 2023.

Harley-Davidson India has teased the special builds on its social media handles. The American bike maker has joined hands with Bombay Custom Works from Mumbai, Rajputana Customs of Jaipur, as well as TNT Motorcycles and Old Delhi Motorcycles from Delhi.

Rajputana Customs plans to build a scrambler based on the Harley X440. The bike will get a more off-road look with extended forks, knobby tyres, and a lighter aluminium subframe. Meanwhile, Old Delhi Motorcycles is building its iteration of the X440 on the theme of an outlaw. The custom bike builder is bringing a retro touch to the roadster complete with a sidecar.

At Bombay Custom Works, the chop shop is building a Harley X440-based flat tracker with a custom-made fuel tank, handlebar, exhaust, and new dual-purpose tyres. The frame has been altered to suit the needs of a flat tracker. Lastly, TNT Motorcycles is building a cafe racer based on the X440 with a lot of customised parts. The frame has been extensively reworked, while the bodyline will be “slightly curvy" with old-school fat balloon tyres.

Apart from the professional builders, Harley-Davidson India will also host the Bike Build Off that will see finalists build the X440 into something unique. The builders were given 50 days to transform the roadster into something different.

The stock Harley-Davidson X440 is underpinned by a trellis frame while power comes from the newly-developed 440 cc air and oil-cooled, single-cylinder engine tuned for 27.6 bhp and 38 Nm of peak torque. The motor is paired with a 6-speed gearbox. The bike gets KYB USD forks at the front and dual shock absorbers at the rear, while braking performance comes from disc brakes at either end with dual-channel ABS. The bike rides on 18-inch front and 17-inch rear alloy wheels. The kerb weight stands at 190.5 kg.

Watch: Harley-Davidson X440 Review: Can it pose royal challenge to Enfield?

The idea of custom-built motorcycles is to show more customisation or personalisation options that customers can later adapt. Deliveries for the Harley-Davidson X440 began in October this year and the first batch saw 25,000 units being booked. Bookings for the second batch are currently open. A positive response to the custom X440s could see Harley-Hero consider them for production.