2003 Harley Sportster - Maindrive Cycles

Harley-Davidson motorcycles. You either love them or hate them. They may have a reputation for poor build quality but let's leave that debate at the door for a moment. Why? Because when it comes down to it, when they are done right these bikes can make you want to trade in your Japanese metal for some good ol' American iron and to hell with the consequences. Like this clean Sportster, built by Cory from Maindrive Cycles in Texas, USA. Corey specializes in Harley's but the last bike he built for the same client Andy Hines was a Kawasaki KZ400. So when Andy approached him to turn his Sportster into something a bit more bespoke, Corey was much more at home this time around. Even though he had never worked on a Sportster before. Over to Cory for the whole build story.

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2012 Harley Davidson 883 Iron - Review

We recently tried to get our greasy little hands on a Harley-Davidson 883 to review. Unfortunately due to a long list of rules (who would have thought Harley was into rules?) we didn't meet their criteria - and no it wasn't because of our lack of pony tails. It was mainly due to the fact we hadn't had years of experience on heavy bikes. Anyway, as luck would have it, one of our good mates Laurence Cronin recently purchased his very first Harley. He is no newcomer to riding, just hung up his riding boots for a few years while he raised a couple of kids. Now they are all grown up, he decided to fulfill one of his lifelong dreams - own a Harley. And like many, he fell for the 'man magnet' they call the 883. This is Laurie's review after riding the Sportster for a few months....

Having only ever ridden Japanese bikes before, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect picking up my first ever Harley. Could Harley’s entry level sportster, really be all that different from any of the Jap cruisers? The thing that initially attracted me to the 883 was the look. It appears tough, sleek, stripped down and old school. It’s about heavy metal, not lightweight plastic. In fact everything about the 883 snarls through gritted teeth: “Milwaukee Iron”… Except perhaps for the shipping container delivery note the dealer gives you as a memento which tells you it’s now made in California, not one of the famed Milwaukee plants. It’s only then you start to notice the 883 has a few odd Hollywood touches.

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Abnormal Cycles - Sportster 1200 Nightster

Back in black. And green

Vespas. Pizza. Mafia. Alfa Romeo. Ferrari. Spaghetti. Gelato. Armani. These are all Italian things you will commonly find on the streets of America. But would you find as many American things on the paved lane ways of Italy? You might find the odd McDonalds restaurant in the major towns. You'll also find loads of people wearing Chuck Taylors and Levi's jeans, but you wouldn't think you would find a lot of Milwalkee Iron. Or would you? "You actually do see lots of Harley's being ridden around the streets of Milan" says Samuele Reali, one of the owners of Abnormal Cycles, which is based in a town called Bernareggio, not far from Milano. Abnormal Cycles are quite famous in Europe but recently received worldwide exposure when their 'Union' H-D Sidecar took out the 2011 AMD World Championships Modified Harley-Davidson Class. Well, this Harley cafe racer was built before the 'Union' and has also picked up its fair share of trophies in Europe. But as I soon found out, there's not a lot of infomation about the bike anywhere - so I attempted to create find some.

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Blown '40 Harley Davidson Side-valve - 'Cojones'

Last time we featured Evolution on these here hallowed pages, there was a general consensus that the CB 750 they came up with was pretty freakin' fine. After an effort like that, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Paul and the boys might have rested on their laurels and just popped out a straight-forward cafe SR or W650 while they basked in their well-earned limelight, right? Wrong. See, while I was shooting that CB, Paul made me swear on my mother's frilly white undies that if he told me about his next project, I would keep my mouth shut. Of course I agreed (the joke's on him - everyone knows my mum doesn't wear any underwear) and he cautiously revealed that his new effort was a blown 1940 side-valve Harley. Then he smiled a smile that instantaneously redefined the term "shit-eating grin." After I picked up my jaw off the floor...

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Harley Sportster - DK Motorrad

If someone asked me to recommend a bike that would make a great cafe racer, a sportster wouldn't be high on the list. Actually, it probably wouldn't even be on the list at all. A young German bike builder living and working in Switzerland is trying to change that. Christian de Kant from DK Motorrad has been building bikes since he was 17, which might sound like a long time until you find out he is now only 22 years young. In this relatively short time he has built some very impressive bikes. He usually builds custom bikes based on old-school frames from the ’40s and ’50s. But his love of Harley's and cafe racers has led him to develop his own mass produced bolt on kits for 2006 and up Sportsters. Christian was inspired by the many 'bolt on' parts that can be found on Japanese bikes and thought: "why not do the same for sportsters?"

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Video: Bike of Bolts

This unique HD Sporty has been cruising around the intertubes for a while now but we could never find out much about it. Now Jeremy Jones and Seth Huot have released this sweet little film which gives us pretty much all the details we were craving. It stars the bike's owner Jake Hobbs and features him riding his "Harley dirt bike hybrid" and then chatting candidly to camera about his vision and the specs of this one-of-a-kind creation. The standout feature on the bike is a 1972 Harley Aermacchi Rapido tank which was kindly donated to him by Photographer Steven Stone. Enough words - take a look and tell us what you think.

Directed by Jeremy Jones and Seth Huot. Video and Edit By Seth Huot. Canon 60D/FCP 7

[Spotted on Moto Mucci] 

Garage Company Customs - Negro Pantalones

It takes the average man around 30 days to grow a beard. Not a silly hipster stubbly beard, but a fully-blown Unabomber jobby. American Morgan Spurlock gained 11.1 kilos or 24.5 pounds after eating nothing but McDonald's burgers for 30 days in his 2004 documentary "Super Size Me." And it takes 30 days to grow a carrot. Um. Ok, so we ran out of more 30 day things, but it also took Garage Company Customs (GCC) just 30 days to build this rad bike named Negro Pantalones – or Black Pants in English. They don't usually build their bikes in such a hurry but this one was a special case. "We got a letter inviting us to build a bike for the Artistry in Iron Master Builder Championship in Vegas back in March of 2010" says GCC owner Larry Pierce. "I thought that maybe they had fucked up and sent the invite to the wrong shop but turns out they didn’t. So we were stoked but broke and really didn’t have the cheese to build another shop project at the moment. So we just went about our business hoping to win the Lotto to fund this thing. In the meantime one of our good customers named Randy Dow hit me up on building a new bike. He wanted something vintage-style but with newer components."

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Garage Company - Michael Schimdt Video

There are so many great videos floating around the interweb these days. It seems like every second day we receive one in our inbox or we stumble upon one on another motorcycle blog. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, especially when they are all so unique and of such a high standard. This latest film was shot by photographer Michael Schmidt and features the legendary Yoshi and Kiyo from Garage Company. Schmidt shot this vid to promote the upcoming Born-Free 3 Show which is happening on June 25, 2011 in California. If you want to see what happened at Born-Free 2, hit this jump. 

[Found on ThrottleFMC]

CR&S DUU

As a concept, the 'DUU' caused quite a stir when it was launched back at the 2009 EICMA. Now two years later and CR&S (Cafe Racers and Superbikes) are taking orders for this macho Italian. Thanks to the impressive write ups by moto journalists around the world, the entire 2011 production of 130 bikes have already been sold. So even if you had the $29,000 needed to buy the DUU, you would still have to wait till 2012. Now that price may sound steep for a production bike, but these are no ordinary plain Jane motorcycles. Each DUU is bespoke built to the buyers specifications in the small CR&S factory in Milan, Italy.

The bike's engine isn't one we come across too often in an Italian built frame. The Amercian 1916cc 50th anniversary X-wedge V-twin engine by S&S sits perfectly inside the CR&S sporty rolling chassis. "One look at the engine’s fins is enough to be seduced by such a pure shape, devoid of radiator. And for a lot of motorcycles fans, the air cooling system and the pushrod distribution are elements issued from a rich historical past" says CR&S. And if by that they mean that v-twins kick epic ass, then we'd have to wholeheartedly agree.

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