Most people would not select Milwaukee iron as their first choice to tackle crossing the Sahara, but David Borras of El Solitario (The Lone Wolf) definitely travels to the beat of his own drum.
The story begins with three friends and an idea. A ten day road trip across the Sahara, on identical bikes, with bespoke gear, clothes and support vehicle. El Solitario was tasked with preparation of the bikes, as well as the garments and accessories needed to survive the rigors of the desert.
With El Solitario, there is often no middle ground. Love it or hate it. To categorize their bikes as unique would be an understatement. Borras says their mission statement can be reduced to four words: ‘eclectic, one of a kind, bold, and anthropomorphic.’ Further, character is emphasized over metrics.
El Solitario has a history of controversial builds, none more so than the ‘Imposter.’ Often derided as appearing to be the result of a high speed collision between a BMW RnineT and a shopping cart, it quickly earned the title of ‘World’s Ugliest Custom.’ On the other hand, this shop in Galicia, Spain, has always turned out well crafted bikes and gear, and when Borras approached Harley with this wild idea, they jumped aboard, as did a number of other high end vendors.
The process of converting an iconic 550-pound cruiser into a reliable desert sled is not a simple one. Obviously, the first issues to be addressed were ride height and suspension. El Solitario went directly to the Swedish suspension experts, Ohlins, to craft a solution. While the inverted front forks’ internals could be dealt with through with re-valving and revised springs, the Sportster’s weight and ride height presented rear shock constraints Ohlins Race Division hadn’t faced before. In the end, they modified a set of rear shocks from an off road racing ATV and the problem was solved. A custom skid plate was fabricated for the inevitable impacts.
The carbon fiber hand guards were designed by Bark Busters. Clearly, spokes were mandatory. Kineo produced the 19” front and rear rims, which were shod with Dunlop tubeless DT3 flat track tires.
The matte black 2 into 1 exhaust was designed and produced by SC projects. The custom brake discs and calipers are by the Swedish manufacturer ISR while the soft luggage is by Kriega.
The Desert Wolves accomplished their mission and were recently presented to the public at the 2017 Wheels and Waves in Biarritz, France. Appropriately, they were housed in six foot steel cages.
Bike Shed Moto Show: Round 4-It’s time for another round of coverage from the 2025 Bike Shed Moto Show, which boasted more than 250 custom bikes and 20,000 visitors. As in recent years, the show took place at London’s East […]
Mushman Runner: Yamaha XS650 Desert Sled-What if Steve McQueen aka Harvey Mushman decided to build and race an XS650? In a strange twist of fate, the Yamaha XS650, introduced in 1969, took up the standard of the British twins […]
One Moto Show 2025: Best Scramblers, Trackers, & Fighters-Straight Outta PDX: Scramblers, Trackers, Streetfighters, and more! The 2025 One Moto Show was the biggest yet, featuring more than 300 custom, rare, vintage, and just plain strange bikes from all over the world. The […]
Spitfire-like Howl: Kawasaki W650 “The Last Sled”-The Last Sled from Dirty Dick’s Motos — For Sale! Several years ago, Rick Hannah of Walton-on-Thames, England, picked up a pair of Kawasaki W650’s for a good price. He soon fell in love with […]
Desert Sledding: Scram Africa 2024-Scramblers travel 1500+ miles across Morocco… For more than a decade, Fuel Motorcycles has organized and led the annual Scram Africa, a 2500-kilometer ride across the breathtakingly epic landscapes of Morocco. Participation is restricted to […]
50 Years in the Making: Rickman Metisse Scrambler-James Russell’s Triumph Trophy-Powered Metisse… In the natural world, they call it imprinting — when a young animal comes to recognize another animal, person, or even a thing as a parent or prime figure of […]
Desert Shred: Custom Ducati Desert Sled-Scram Africa Sled from Cid Motorcycles… When the new Ducati Scrambler hit the market in 2015, it received a warm reception as a retro street bike, but it was no off-roader. As with many of […]
’49 Big Bear Scrambler: Triumph TR5 Trophy-A Spring-Frame, Square-Barrel TR5 Trophy from Ton Up Classics… In the 1950s, Triumph dealer Bill Martin designed a spring frame for desert racing in Southern California. Production began in 1952, while Triumph wouldn’t offer […]
El Jalapeño: Suzuki GN125 Desert Sled-A 125cc Desert Sled from BCKustoms, perfect for the Spanish desert… The quintessential desert sled is a post-war British twin stripped to the barest essentials with a high exhaust, skid plate, metal fenders, fat […]
City Sled: ’71 Triumph TR6R Tiger “Black Bike”-From Freeland Motorcycles: “The clean cut brother of a desert sled”… The Triumph TR6R “Tiger 650” was the single-carb version of the mighty Bonneville twin — a bike that had become synonymous with power […]
Handbuilt Show: More Scramblers & Trackers-#HBSATX2024 photos from our man on the ground, Kody Melton! Last month Revival Cycles hosted the 2024 Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin, Texas in conjunction with the MotoGP races at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) […]
Handbuilt: Yamaha “XSTT 750” Street Tracker-Big-Bore Yamaha XS650 “Steeplechase Champion” by Will Bastas… From April 12-14, our friends at Revival Cycles hosted the 2024 edition of the Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin, Texas, paired as always with MotoGP weekend at […]
Knievel: Honda CB360 Scrambler-If You Build it, They Will Come: “Knievel” from Freeland Motorcycles… The Honda CJ360T appeared in 1976 as a stripped-down bare-bones version of the CB/CL360 twins. It had a five-speed transmission instead of six, no […]
Desert Bonnie: Triumph Bonneville Black-A “Bonnie Desert Sled” from Old Tops Garage x Atlantic Custom Studio… For many of us, the golden days of 1960s California desert racing remain one of the most romantic and defining periods of motorcycling […]
Top 10 Scramblers and Dirt Bikes of 2023-Here at BikeBound, we’re big fans of scramblers, desert sleds, dirt bikes, rally bikes, and adventure machines — anything with knobby tires, skid plates, and an appetite for dirt. So are you, our readers, as […]
Swiss suspension experts? U know Öhlins is swedish, right?