Recycled Twin
Recycled Twin
No animals were harmed in the making of Roland Sands' Café Sportster, but the author used up a few brain cells writing about it
MARK CERNICKY
ROLAND SANDS WAS SURFING ELECTRONIC INTERNET PULSES WHEN THE BEAM screeched to a halt at www.sataricvcle.com. That's where he saw a somewhat salvageable crashed 2008 Harley XL 1200N Nightster selling for just $4000. Striving to perform a custom-bike build while incurring minimal budget ary starvation—the goal here in this economic jungle we've all been hacking our way through—Sands bought that machine and embarked upon the Café Sportster.
Unlike waiting on the latest model to arrive for use as a project bike, this low buck approach to a "new" bike build was more like waiting for paint to dry. Literally. After Sands fixed the dented tank, trimmed the front fender and chopped a bit off the back one, off went the goods to painter extraordinaire Chris Woods at AirTrix. A special mix of olive-drab green and semi-gloss black laid onto those parts ate into the budget by just $800-cheap when you consider the quality.
After Sands bolted select pieces from his RS Designs product line onto the Harley, some of the Nightster's stock parts took on a new color: The derby, cam gear and rockerbox covers were sent to Olympic Powder Coating for a semi-gloss black treatment ($100). Meanwhile, the bent bars, the stock exhau~t and other ex traneous pieces were pitched into the recycling bin.
Waiting for parts delivery is not a handicap at RSD: Prototype pieces as needed emerge fully formed from Sands' own fabrication facility in La Palma, California. Performance Machine is right across the parking lot, and Progressive Suspension is just next door; so, a short stroll acquired a pair of Progressive's new 970 series shocks ($900). Such centralization of critical mass proved very convenient, and Café construction was completed in a week.
Over the top triple-clamp, the view is uncluttered, a clean perspective achieved by losing handlebar clamps and fitting 50-buck-each triple-tree stem bolts. LSL Engineering 7/8-inch clip-on bars ($200) were modified with 1-inch bar-stock aluminum to work with OE Harley hand controls fitted with RSD Tracker grips ($120). An RSD relocation mount ($250) lowered and centralized the speedo and headlight for a sleeker look. In the process of clock cleaning, though, the instrument cluster lost the Nightster's original high-beam, neutral, turn and low-engine-oil indicator lights.
An KS!) prototype Nostalgia ignition relocator ($220) moved the key from the right-side front downtube to below the RSD ignition-coil cover ($150) on the left side, between the Twin Tec plug wires ($21). The right side of the XL1200N showcases a Vance & Hines 2-into-i Tracker exhaust ($780) and RSD velocity stack ($370). Hey, I thought this was a budget build!
Now down to the stock wire-spoke wheels: The 19 x 2.15-inch front now wears a Performance Machine Turbo 13inch single floating disc ($430) paired with a six-piston PM caliper ($500). The volume of fluid required to operate this anchor necessitated using a Harley FLHX `1/16-inch master cylinder ($135); and all that added braking grip provided a good excuse to use an RSD fork brace ($130). PM'S four-piston rear caliper ($500) requires just a slight push of the pedal to pinch the 11.5-inch matching Turbo disc ($330) floating on the 18 x 4.25-inch rear wheel.
Have an RSD Café seat ($380) and put your feet up on the Sands-designed moto-pegs ($99 each), then screw on the Café gas cap ($70) and let's go for a ride.
Finally, I had a chance to cinch the strap of my trusty Bell open-face! I wasn't into going green `til I got out on some tree-covered twisty roads, tucked in and started feeling the V-Twin beat and clip-on ergos. By the end of the day, my chin skin bouncing off the tank had broadened my smile Cheshire-wide.
As I rode into the sunset, I could imagine why someone would spend the time to build a bike like this. It's dif ferent, yes, but it's also a blast to ride. And when you stop for coffee, you can tell `em all it's $10,634 of (mostly) recycled materials. And positively no animals were harmed, though my heart was smitten.
"I could imagine why someone would spend the time to build a bike like this. It's different, yes, but it's also a blast to ride"
