Roland Sands has just completed this mean looking high performance Harley Davidson XR1200. Needless to say this RSD creation is loaded with a long list of features including a single-sided swingarm with Ohlins shock and Ducati linkage, GSX-R front fork and Turbo wheels with a black on black Tuxedo finish. Those pipes look like they'd pack a serious bark, this is what Roland says about them "Vance & Hines gave us this cool exhaust tip to work with so we fabbed up the rest of the exhaust using stainless tubing with a hand tweaked two into one and our own head pipes. One could consider this an updated cafe pipe. We also moved the oil cooler from the side of the bike to underneath the neck and installed crash sliders. Not that we plan on crashing or anything...but you never know!". The project has been well documented over the 30 day build period, including many great shots of each process on the Roland Sands Blog. [Thanks to Andrew for the tip]

Tramp Cycles are based in Osaka, Japan and deservingly received lots of praise for their stunning XR1200. Although we are big fans of the SR it's refreshing to see a Japanese shop creating great looking cafe racers from Harley-Davidsons. Not sure if we can truly call this 2002 XLH1200S a cafe racer, it has the cafe seat but it is missing the all important clip-ons or ace bars. Whatever the case, it's still a great looking ride. Tramp Cycles also love racing Harleys and just by looking at their bikes we have a feeling they do quite well. The Tramp gallery is worth checking out to see various angles of this bike and more. 

This Harley WLA is owned by Mr Nishida of the Posh Factory in Tokyo, Japan. The Posh Factory make high performance parts for a range of motorcycles but specialize in Harley Davidsons. This WLA was built to race in the AVCC (American Vintage motorcycle Competition Clubman road-race) in Japan and has had some great wins over the years. Nisheda says he loves circuit racing more than anything else, and enjoys meeting people and learning more about vehicle parts through racing which helps them make better motorcycle products.
The HD 42WLA was originally built around World War II to US army specs, and apparently were very popular amongst young soldiers who would come home hoping to get a Harley-Davidson like he saw or rode in the war. Not many original WLA's exist today, most of them being turned into choppers and extensively modified over the years. To check out loads more pics visit the Posh Factory Gallery or to see their huge range of products hit the link to their catalogue. Amazingly their website and catalogue are both in english.

Christmas has come early this year, thanks to a reviewer's copy of the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Archive Collection landing on my desk. This coffee table book is the most comprehensive record of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles ever assembled (it also weighs about the same as a Fat Boy). With over 600 exquisite studio photographs by Randy Leffingwell and an interesting story of every Harley-Davidson made over the past 100 years, including the rare bicycles and snow mobiles they briefly manufactured. Fortunately the founders of Harley-Davidson had the foresight to keep examples of all their motorcycles. Although some of the collection were only acquired recently, like this immaculate 1965 CRTT Road Racer (pictured). The HD archives apparently purchased this rare motorcycle in 1998. With only 35 of these CR models built in their Italian factory for competition in 1965. The company sold them for $650 in 1966, and we are pretty sure HD would have paid a little bit more for this one 33 years later.

Overall this book is amazing and I hate sounding like a salesman, but it's a must have for any Harley or motorcycle enthusiast. You can purchase the book in Australia at The Pitstop or through Amazon if you reside in America.