Upon my walkings-around, I came upon what seemed to be the "moto district" of Zurich. There was a Triumph dealer on the corner and then this small Harley Davidson sign next to a small alley. Naturally, I walked down to explore.
I first noticed the Buell outside of his shop windows and Markus invited me inside to chat. He was working on a few cone shovel builds. One of which the owner took a spill on and dented the tank, so instead of replacing the tank, Markus rounded out the dent and added a cool logo to the tank. He used to build mostly pro street style Harleys, but these days it has been more service than anything else. We spoke about how hard it has been for the old bike building market in Switzerland because of the emissions laws and the relatively high labor rate. Much like most of the US guys, he makes more money and deals with less hassle doing oil changes, tune ups and bolt ons than full builds (unless its for a friend, then the work is worth it).
After a little while he pointed out back to another door outside of his shop where he keeps his bikes and told me that I "should see his personal favorite". We walked outside, down a bit and then back in through a different set of doors. Lo and behold, there was a pristine '47 Knucklehead. He bought it from a german guy he met in San Diego when he was over there visiting his girlfriend and had it shipped back to Zurich. It was a full on chopper and Markus went through the whole process of restoring it back to stock. She's a beauty.
Motorcycle City http://www.prostreet.ch/
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