Harley-Davidson Battle Of The Kings Finalists Announced

Harley-Davidson's Battle of the Kings is a massive custom build-off, pitting more than 40 dealerships against each other to assemble their best custom build in one of three categories—Dirt, Race, and Chop. If you've been keeping up with our coverage here on Cruiser, you most likely saw those builds online and hopefully cast your vote for the bike of your choice. Now with 42,000 votes cast, the results are in and 21 custom builds reign as People's Choice winners.

While this isn’t the first year of the Battle of the Kings competition, it is the first year that trade school students have been invited to partner with their local dealerships for hands-on experience in the field.

“With this competition, we are seeing firsthand the passion and drive these students have not only for motorcycling but for leaning into new experiences that teach them how to think big,” said Heather Malenshek, Harley-Davidson chief marketing officer. “Battle of the Kings allows these students to apply their creativity and funnel this passion into real-life applications that will ride with them for generations.”

Baggers, race-ready trackbikes, and full raked-out chopper-style builds—18 winners of the Peoples' Choice vote are a diverse group with base models ranging from touring bikes and the Softail platform to Sportsters and the Street 750. Meanwhile, the next round of finalists will be judged by actor and motorcycle enthusiast Milo Ventimiglia as well as top journalists from three outlets, including sister magazine Cycle World. It will be up to these four judges to pick one build in each of the three categories to move on to the final judging. These three finalists will head out to the Harley-Davidson annual dealer meeting in Milwaukee in August, where a US winner will be crowned! But that’s not the end of the road for the winner, not yet. That final bike will then be shipped over to Milan, Italy, with four other global finalists for the ultimate title of Global Battle of the Kings Champion.

Click the link to see the 18 bikes that made it past the People's Choice vote and stay tuned for more info as the competition progresses!