It’s been almost nine years since we featured the Rough Crafts ‘Iron Guerrilla‘—a murdered-out Harley-Davidson Sportster that flung Taiwanese customizer Winston Yeh firmly into the spotlight. It was only Winston’s second build, but it immediately established his signature style.
You’ll still find traces of the Iron Guerrilla’s DNA in Winston’s work today. And it spawned a catalogue of Rough Crafts parts that still sell well (and are frequently copied).
Now, for his latest release, Winston’s gone right back to his roots. This is the ‘Mighty Guerrilla’—an updated take on the classic Rough Crafts Guerrilla formula, based on a 2018 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob 107.
The project landed in Winston’s lap as a commissioned build with an open brief. When he pitched the idea of Softail-based Guerrilla, his client gave his blessing right away. (‘Mighty Guerrilla’ is a play on the name Harley gave the Softail’s motor: Milwaukee-Eight.)
“The goal was clear,” says Winston. “I wanted to build the new Guerrilla with the latest platform Harley has to offer, and the Fat Bob was the perfect starting point.”
“Ever since the first test ride, I fell in love with the new Softail platform. It rides so much better than the previous models Harley made for sure, and the frame makes it easy for customizers to detach things they want to change, without cutting and grinding.”
The Fat Bob has the most distinct styling of all the new H-D Softails, but Winston’s done away with most of it. It still rolls on chunky 16” wheels—but these are now matching Performance Machine Riviera items, in a finish dubbed ‘Black Ops.’ The tires are the same as the original Iron Guerrilla: 5” wide Coker Beck blackwalls.
Most of the chassis is still stock—but it’s been slammed. The OEM upside-down front forks have been lowered a touch, and there’s a shorter-than-stock Progressive Suspension shock hiding in the Softail’s faux-hardtail rear end.
Winston also upgraded the front brakes with Arlen Ness calipers and Performance Machine rotors, and added a Performance Machine pulley at the back.
The motor internals are stock too, but there’s a small power boost from the new intake and pipes. Winston used an Arlen Ness Big Sucker intake, capped off with a cover plate in the traditional Rough Crafts style.
For the exhaust, SC Project sent Winston a couple of mufflers to combine with his Guerrilla-style headers. He built two systems—one for this bike, and one to send back as a prototype for future production.
The rest of the engine mods are cosmetic, including new rocker box covers from Arlen Ness, and a set of custom push rod collars from 2 Abnormal Sides. Winston also designed new Rough Crafts clutch and timing covers, and refinished a few choice parts in black.
But it’s the new bodywork that really conveys that unmistakable Rough Crafts Guerrilla vibe.
The fuel tank’s actually been lifted from a Sportster—then lengthened, narrowed vertically and scalloped. It mounts straight onto the Fat Bob’s fastening points, and is finished off with a Rough Crafts catalogue fuel cap.
Up front is a short fender and a custom headlight arrangement. Winston already had a headlight grill for the Sportster Forty-Eight in his catalogue, so he combined a Forty-Eight headlight housing with the LED internals from a Street Bob, and slapped the grill on. It all mounts off a custom backing plate that attaches to the original Fat Bob headlight’s mountings.
Out back, Winston designed a new seat, and a rear fender that mounts straight to the Fat Bob’s rear strut mounts. The seat pan and fender were shaped from fiber-glass, using molds that were 3D printed.
For the control area, Winston picked Rough Crafts Fighter bars, Arlen Ness grips, and Rebuffini controls, complete with switches that work with Harley’s OEM CAN bus. The stock foot controls were upgraded with MS Pro pegs, and there are Rizoma LEDs doing tail light and turn signal duty.
The speedo’s a really neat setup. Winston used the tiny, riser-mounted speedo from a Street Bob—but designed a new housing that mimics his signature Rough Crafts ribbed risers.
Everything’s wrapped in a classic Rough Crafts paint scheme: flat black, with subtle gloss black pin-striping. The paint was handled by the same guy that painted the original Iron Guerrilla—and every other Rough Crafts bike since—Jeffrey Chang at Air Runner Custom Paint. Hechun seats tackled the diamond stitched saddle, and CT-Garage took care of final assembly.
All of this begs the question: will these new Softail-specific Rough Crafts parts be available soon?
Winston assures us it’s in the works…which means we can look forward to another decade of the mighty Rough Crafts Guerrilla.
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