Sportster Cafe Racer Mashup: Is it a ‘Sporton’ or a ‘Norley’?
Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia, is not where you’d expect to find a 1960s-style cafe racer. But this Sportster-powered machine would look…
Read more »Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson is an icon of American culture and the most popular marque for custom builders. Shortly after the company was founded in 1903 in Milwaukee, customizers started bobbing, chopping and dirt tracking the famous V-twins.
After WW2 Harley motorcycles were at the center of the bobber craze, and kept their lead as Californian bikers turned to choppers in the late 1950s. The 45-degree engines have their own nicknames and folklore: from flatheads, knuckleheads, panheads and shovelheads to today’s Evolution and Milwaukee-Eight motors.
The Sportster is the basis for more Harley-Davidson customs than any other model. Originally fitted with an ‘Ironhead’ motor, it turned 60 years old in 2017. It’s probably the single most customized motorcycle on the planet, and certainly has the largest supply of aftermarket parts.
Harley Cross Bones by Warr’s
The latest build from Charlie Stockwell of London-based Warr’s Customs is this Harley-Davidson Cross Bones built at the behest of a former…
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Custom Harley Sportster 1200 by Atom Bomb
Atom Bomb’s Clay Rathburn is known for his beautifully crafted custom Triumphs. But the latest bike to roll out of his Richmond,…
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Harley-Davidson WR racer
Racing motorcycles often have perfect proportions; they’re almost like the bikes you’d doodle in the corner of a schoolbook as a child.…
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Dirty Work: Burly Brand’s Harley Scrambler
Think of a scrambler motorcycle, and most folks will picture a modern Triumph or a vintage BSA. Not a Harley. But David…
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Harley Sportster by Asterisk
There may be better cures for jetlag…then again, maybe not. Hideki Hoshikawa had flown over from Japan with his latest build in…
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Harley Flathead snow motorcycle by Ehinger Kraftrad
Ehinger Kraftrad is a small German workshop based in Hamburg that builds intriguing vintage Harley-Davidsons. Run by Uwe Ehinger and Katrin Oeding,…
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Harley XL1200 by CRD
Cafe Racer Dreams have made a name for themselves with classy Triumph and Honda customs. They’ve resisted the lure of Milwaukee so…
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Fat Boy Harley: “Shadow Rocket” by Rough Crafts
Winston Yeh has only been running Rough Crafts for three years. But in that short time, he’s become one of the world’s…
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Harley XL883N by Roland Sands: The ‘Technics Sportster’
‘Theme’ bikes have a bad rep these days, and rightly so. Most are little more than a train smash of disparate elements…
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Customs From Jamesville Evo
Just round the corner from the Wrenchmonkees’ workshop in Copenhagen, Denmark, is one of Europe’s top independent Harley builders. James Roper-Caldbeck builds…
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Shinya Kimura’s Cafe Sportster
There’s a certain blacksmith shop feel to Shinya Kimura’s motorcycles, and I mean that in a good way. Looking at the bare…
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