Until then, there were several thousands of iconic motorcycles in Cuba, with even police riding them.
The owners of a Harley-Davidson vintage model participate in a parade of classic motorcycles in Varadero, Matanzas Province, Cuba, on February 11, 2023. “It was more difficult before, you had to improvise to create everything. Now it’s easier to import parts, but we still make a lot by hand,” said Sergio Sanchez, a mechanic from Pinar del Rio, 300 kilometres away.As a teenager, Sanchez used to borrow his father’s Harley, but “it is impossible to find a 1947 piston nowadays.
Thanks to the 2014 restoration of diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana that sparked an explosion in tourism, it was possible once more to source parts that used to be out of reach, said Sandy Leon, 46, who helped restore the white Harley in 2019.succeeded Barack Obama in 2017 and gradually ramped up sanctions that hit tourism.