FXR wins Harley-Davidson Custom Kings 2025 competition

Harley-Davidson’s Custom Kings 2025 competition has been run and won, with John Cage from the ACT making it back-to-back victories in the factory-authorised custom build competition that’s open to Harley owners and builders from Australia and New Zealand.

Cage won last year’s ‘Number One’ competition with an FXR-based build. His Custom Kings winner was also based on an FXR, this time featuring a Twin Cam engine conversion amongst many other changes.

Following on from the Breakout Boss custom competition in 2022-23, the Number One competition expanded the entry criteria from the Softail Breakout power cruiser to include Dynas, FXRs, V-Rods, Sportsters, the big Touring models and trikes. Custom Kings took this even further, opening up the competition to any model of Harley-Davidson from any era in The Motor Company’s 122-year history. This open timeframe meant anything from the oldest single to the newest Milwaukee-Eight v-twin and everything in between was eligible, as long as it was customised.

Entries for Custom Kings were accepted across four categories based on generations of Harley-Davidson powertrains - Milwaukee Eight, Twin Cam, Evolution and Vintage (anything pre-Evolution). The Top 10 finalists and winner in each of the four powertrain categories were decided by public vote. Those winners then went into the grand final to be judged by an expert panel made up of Dan Lesnock (Technical Lead, Harley-Davidson ANZ), Mick Withers (Owner/Editor, Heavy Duty magazine), Miles ‘Pugs’ Rangeley (Editor, Live To Ride magazine) and Yaniv Evan (Powerplant Motorcycles, West Hollywood, USA).

Round 1 of Custom Kings, for Vintage Harleys, was loaded with choppers and mostly Shovelhead engines, although a couple of bobber-style builds, along with Panhead- and Knucklehead-engined creations, made the Top 10. The winner was Sean Connolly’s FX-based chopper with a Shovelhead engine, custom exhaust, peanut tank, two-up seat with sissy bar, mini ape hangers, detailed fork legs and lots of polished brightwork to enhance bold blue paint with pinstriped panels on the tank and rear mudguard.

Round 2 for customs using the Evo engine saw a broad range of styling themes make the Top 10 – from café racers and rat bikes to lowriders and street trackers. There was even a custom trike in this round.

The public vote went to Mark Herbert’s lowrider, which despite appearances to the contrary, was based on a 1990 Fat Boy. Heavily customised, with an oversized front wheel and fat rear under close-hugging mudguards, Herbert’s creation eschewed lowrider tradition with its low, flat ‘bars instead of sky-high ape hangers. Tiny mirrors, a lush blue-over-silver paint job and polished everything were other features.

Round 3 for Twin Cam-engined creations saw six traditional lowriders make the cut, with a couple of baggers and a “lowrider lite” in the Top 10, too. As such, it was somewhat ironic that the winner in this round, John Cage’s 1988 FXR, was the only one without any lowrider or bagger styling touches.

In the same “club style” as his Number One winner from 2024, the key change on Cage’s custom this time was the Twin Cam v-twin transplant. The build also featured a custom 2-into-1 exhaust, Brembo brakes on petal discs, a Saddlemen two-up seat, handlebar risers, a headlight fairing and lots of blackout parts. Deep purple metalflake paint on the tinware was complemented with selective use of magenta anodised fasteners.

The fourth and final round of Custom Kings, devoted to the Milwaukee-Eight powerplant, had perhaps the most diverse range of entries, with baggers and lowriders, an old-school chopper and one build that really defied categorisation. Winner of Round 4 was Dave White’s lowrider, finished in eye-seating metallic green paint and with an abundance of chromed parts. Based on a 2018 Softail Breakout, this build also featured a black frame, forks and bars to offset the polished custom wheels, with a custom-trimmed seat and white-stripe tyres amongst its other notable features.

After the Top 10 and winners in each round were decided by more than 10,000 public votes back in February, the four finalists were presented to the judging panel in April. Finalists were vying to win the main prize - a trip to this year’s Mooneyes Hot Rod Show in Yokohama, Japan. Along with VIP entry to one of the world’s best custom car and bike shows, the prize also included return flights to Japan for the winner and a guest, airport transfers, four nights’ accommodation and AU$500 spending money.

Ultimately, the judging panel decided that Cage’s Twin Cam FXR was the best of the best, making it two years in a row that he has taken out the award for the top custom Harley in Australia and New Zealand.

“It's been awesome to witness the incredible craftsmanship that we have seen in this year's Custom Kings competition, truly the best I've seen from our market,” said Nigel Keough, Managing Director for Harley-Davidson ANZ. 

“A truly worthy winner in John Cage's FXR custom masterpiece. Well done to all our category winners and all those Harley-Davidson enthusiasts that make something great into something incredible”.

Some of the features on Cage’s FXR custom that may escape notice at first glance include Fly handlebars, a lightened swingarm, custom pegs, an S&S air cleaner, Bassani muffler, and rear indicators incorporated into the mudguard brackets. Forward controls from V2 Speed Co in NSW, a Laminar ‘lip’ windscreen extension, Powerplant M/C fuel cap, digital fuel gauge and Motogadget digital dash are some of the other features that make this build unique.

“It’s an absolute honour and privilege to be judged by the public and the panel to become Harley-Davidson’s Custom Kings 2025 winner,” said Cage. “Congratulations to all the awesome bikes and finalists in the competition.”

To see all the finalists from Harley-Davidson’s Custom Kings 2025, go to: biketorques.com.au