A reported “leak” of a new Harley-Davidson model on an internet forum has turned out to be a hoax, with a Dutch motorcycle dealer admitted that it the photos were released as a PR stunt.
Harley web forums were buzzing at the apparent leak of the “new” Harley-Davidson FXDX, which was “due in 2013” after photos of a seemingly unpacked machine were posted on the Facebook page of the Dutch dealership, West Coast Motors.
But more than a week after the images were posted, and after receiving numerous calls and emails from customers hoping to place orders, the dealer admitted that the leak was a hoax, as part of an April Fool’s Day publicity stunt, although later claimed on the XR1200 Owners Group forum that he believes that a real FXDX could be a success if the Harley decided to make it.
In the post, he claimed “I applaud this big effort to build a one of special that – in a way – was intended to be as less of a special as possible. It would have been very easy to dump the whole enchilada of obvious bling parts on it and the result would have been just another Dyna special. This is something else. A bike that Harley could build tomorrow.”
Based on a brand new Street Bob, the bike used real Harley parts wherever possible to help give the impression it was a factory effort. The front end comes from an XR1200, as does the swingarm, which is modified and bolted to the Street Bob’s Dyna frame. An original 2005 FXD fuel tank features a one-off paint scheme designed to look like a factory finish, while a huge amount of attention has been paid to getting details like warning stickers right to give the impression this is a production bike rather than a special.
