Custom bikes are enjoying a renaissance at present. Shows and events are taking place in major cities the world over, bringing a new enthusiasm for taking something that originated from years of proper research and development, then making garageland changes that often enhance the form of the motorcycle - at some cost to its function.
But what happens when the motorcycle manufacturer sets out to build a model that looks custom right from the moment it leaves the factory, instantly nipping any need to meddle with the original design and engineering elements in the bud? Enter the 2025 Harley-Davidson Breakout 117.
The Breakout 117 has similar eye-candy appeal to any moto made by a reputable custom bike builder, yet riding it isn’t an instant entry ticket to the nearest Accident & Emergency ward because compromises were made to its riding dynamics.
The Harley stops when you really need it to, tracks into corners obediently, and meets all the existing regs and rules of transport bureaucrats. It’ll also serve its owners faithfully, provided the 8000km service interval schedule is followed and comes with a 2-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.
Good luck getting similar consumer protection for your potential custom bike wreck, whether the custom parts you added have been properly engineered or are merely things that your 3D printer spewed out.
The Breakout 117 has similar eye-candy appeal to any moto made by a reputable custom bike builder, yet riding it isn’t an instant entry ticket to the nearest Accident & Emergency ward.
A custom bike takes hundreds of hours to create, and to do it properly you often must pay expensive skilled artisans to do the mahi, placing a severe drain on your reserves of disposable income. Whereas the turn-key Breakout is instantly accessible from your nearest Harley dealership, where it costs a comparatively paltry $38,750 to ride away.
This Harley really looks badass, especially in the latest White Onyx Pearl livery, which looks like little flecks of opal have been scattered over a background of glacial ice.
As the name implies, the long, low look of a drag-racing bike is the design template for the Breakout.
A fair chunk of the dosh needed to secure ownership of the Breakout’s key remote obviously went towards paying the model’s large final finessing bill. There’s so much expensive-looking chrome and paint all over the bike, it’s easy to wonder how the model sits with the motor company’s present business plan of increasing profit per unit rather than building and selling more bikes.
As the name implies, the long, low look of a drag-racing bike is the design template for the Breakout. Cue the raked-out 43mm front forks and the 26-spoke, 21-inch front wheel attached to them. At the back, a humungous 240/40R18 rear tyre takes care of any worries about finding launch traction.
Allow for the limitations of the modest maximum lean angles before things bump n’ grind, and you’ll soon be grinning like The Joker.
The Michelin Scorcher rubber is tacky in the best possible way, and the low profiles, stiff sidewalls and generous widths of both tyres are key to the way the Breakout looks like a strip-ready dragster, yet can still be readily coaxed into performing changes of direction.
All that’s needed is some extra effort at the handlebars to overcome the inertia of the fat back tyre and the Breakout arcs accurately through corners. Just allow for the limitations of the model’s modest 26.8-degree maximum lean angles before things bump n’ grind, and you’ll soon be grinning like The Joker.
Emissions-reducing hardware has hardly wearied Harley’s 1923cc (117 cubic inch) air-cooled V-twin engine, which huffs and puffs its way past all the recently added exhaust plumbing to develop healthy maximum outputs of 76kW (103bhp) at 5020rpm and 163Nm at 3500rpm.
The bike feels unruffled by vibration thanks to the isolation provided by the Softail cradle frame’s rubber engine mounts, and the big V-twin delivers potent shoves forward throughout the rev range. Imagine that the Breakout’s rider is a golf ball that’s just been driven by Ryan Fox to get some idea of just how potent.
Harley’s six-speed gearbox can’t quite match the refinement of the engine however, nosily crashing through the ratio changes on the downshifts and the initial selection of first gear from neutral. Not that these breaking-glass sound effects herald impending mechanical doom; rest assured that this transmission has a proven history of reliability and that the shifts are now more audible due to Harley hushing down the engine to a level that will now be socially acceptable to all who hear it.
About the only physical challenge to riding a Breakout is the way the bike folds you into a position where all your weight is on the seat, with the arms stretching out to the bars and your legs slightly folded towards the forward footpegs. You therefore get to ride like you’re constantly trying to touch your toes in a headwind, adopting a bent back pose that can only be comfortably sustained for an hour or so.
But it’s worth enduring the mobile yoga to admire the Breakout’s stunning custom bike visuals when you park it up again.
