It?s that time of year again! And once again, it?s been a year we?re glad to see the back of. The pandemic didn?t seem to put a dent in the custom scene, though: for every larger workshop experiencing a slowdown, there seemed to be an amateur builder taking up the tools.
This list is a purely data-driven exposé of the most popular bikes of 2021. It?s calculated via our website stats, with a focus on page views and social engagement?which went through the roof this year.
Healthy global interest in the custom scene sent our Facebook reach rocketing by 89% over 2020, and our Pinterest channel alone delivered over 329 million impressions.
There were some big surprises for us when crunching numbers for this list, and a couple of bikes are very different in style to our usual big hits. Two electric machines made the cut; we average around one EV bike profile a month these days, so interest is obviously rising there. Enjoy the selection, let us know if you?re surprised too, and happy holidays.

10. CT Newman?s turbo Harley It?s been a good year for Harley-Davidson on Bike EXIF, with no less than three bikes in our annual Top 10. The first is Christian Newman?s scratch-built turbocharged chopper: it?s far from our usual fare, but readers lapped it up.
During the day Newman is a mechanical engineer, and he poured all his skills into this machine. Power comes from a 1939 Flathead motor, but it?s been modified almost beyond recognition.

The most visible mod is the pair of Gar...