Harley Davidson XR1200

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]

Harley Flat Tracker

This is another unique Flat Tracker that is owned by Flat Track racer and enthusiast Bob Neilson. The Harley Sportster motor is housed in a legendary Trackmaster frame that has been highly modified, stretched 8 inches and all new mounts added. Trackmaster frames were built by Ray Hensley and were synonymous with track racing. Since Ray's death these frames have been well sought after. Some other specs Bob mentions on a long list include "the rear frame loop is Champion style with changes every where you look. Body work is a one off Trackmaster tank, Champion seat and custom number plates made into a one piece body. It has strocker cylinders, flat slide pumper Mikuni and custom header. Other features include Betor fork clamps with Harley fork legs and S&W shocks. Classic KIM-TAB Magnesium snowflake pattern wheels. The amount of braided stainless lines and AN fittings is amazing, every line and hose is done to perfection". Some serious hours have gone into building this bike and Bob has no idea who originally built it. If you can shed some light on it I'm sure Bob would be grateful. 

Pony Express

This beautiful machine named 'Pony Express' was built by brilliant Israeli industrial designer Amir Glinik. Unfortunately he didn't build it with a wrench but in 3D with his computer mouse. Amir's artwork is some of the best we have seen, his bikes look so real you can almost smell your jeans burning on the pipes. This is what Amir has to say about his creation "There are not any high performance parts on this bike, its all just an experiment with some retro lines and technology, using as much HD stock parts as possible except a custom single down tube racer chassis which still relay on HD stock swingarm and forks". This is just one of many motorcycles Amir has 'fabricated', if you want to see more of his incredible handy work check out his gallery. [Found on Rockefeller Customs]

Mojo Rising

We were sent this fantastic Harley Sportster Café Racer by Nolan Woodbury from Vintage Motorcycles Online, if you haven't visited his extensive site you've been missing out. This stunning Ironhead is owned by Ron Gee who is a photographer from Iowa. Gee has always been a big fan of British and Italian motorcycles so the thought of creating a Harley Café Racer wasn't really on his bucket list. “I didn’t wake up one day and say ‘I’m gonna’ build a Harley!” remembers Gee, “I was looking through Benjie Flipprbo’s café racer site and while admiring one of his fiberglass tank and seat kits, the idea of fitting that over an old Sportster popped into my head.” After looking around for a while, Gee eventually found the perfect donor bike, a 1976 XLH which was mechanically sound and ready to accomodate his radical plans for it. He decided to take a more humble approach when it came to the pipes: “I wanted the exhaust to disappear. After a good search I found this two-into-one muffler system offered by J&P Cycles. If I find one that’s even less conspicuous, I’ll buy it”. The seat and tank are obviously from Benjes Cafe Racers, although the seat has been slightly modified from the original BCR fiberglass tank and seat combo. Overall it's a great looking Sportster and hopefully will inspire more people to use Milwaukee iron for café racer projects. To read the full article and see some more tasty pics of this classy bike visit VMOL. 

Tramp XLH1200S

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. 

1942 Harley Davidson WLA

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.

1965 Harley-Davidson CRTT

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. 

H-D Streetfighter

Joey Silvestera the owner of this beast is no newcomer to motorcycles. He grew up racing dirt bikes as a kid, so when he moved to New York to start his business Blackstones (great website) he decided it was time to get a bike for running around in traffic. He decided to call Duncan MacDonald at Lucky Charm Choppers to discuss a brief. Joey really wanted a Harley but also needed it to be compact and tight to race around NY streets. Luckily, Duncan had the perfect C & J flat tracker racing frame that had been sitting in his garage for 15 years. After a bit of begging, Joey convinced him to sell it. Then Duncan came across a wrecked 1996 Sportster, pulled out the motor and the build began. Over the next 4 months Duncan and his team created this stunning streetfighter with a spec sheet too big to mention here. Joey has decided to put this bike up for sale to start another project so if your like what you see you can email Joey Silvestera and he'll be happy to give you all the details and price. 

Harley XLCR Cafe Racer

Webb's have announced another auction of Important and Vintage Motorcycles. One of the bikes included in the auction is this beautiful Harley XLCR, America's first attempt at a Cafe Racer. We take our hat off to Willie G. Davidson, the grandson of Mr Davidson who had the balls to start manufacturing this bike which was so different to what Harley was making at the time. We have to agree with Webb's when they say 'The all-black steel tank and fiberglass tail piece coupled with the unique black Siamese exhausts made the XLCR arguably the most attractive bike of its era'. With only a few thousand of these made over a 3 year period this XLCR should go for a handsome price. The auction is being held on November 25 at Deus in Auckland but overseas phone bidders are welcome. Hit the link to view the whole Webb's bike catalogue.