While a Harley-Davidson may not sound like the most ideal platform for a cafe racer, these American V-twins make surprisingly solid cafe bikes — both in style and performance. The Sportster is the popular candidate for a conversion, as it has long been the lightest and most agile platform in the Harley stable. We are now starting to see newer liquid-cooled Street 750 cafe racers, as well as builds based on the smaller sibling, the Street 500. FXR and Dyna builds are less common.
Vintage Thunder: Harley-Davidson XR1000 BOTT Racer - Battle of the Twins Veteran: 1983 Harley-Davidson XR1000 Race Special… Launched in 1983, the Harley-Davidson XR1000 was conceived as a road-going version of the mighty XR750 — the most successful race bike in the history […]
Speed Train: Harley-Davidson Dyna Café Racer - Big Twin Café Racer from Black Cycles Australia… The Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide (FXD) boasted a monster 1450cc Twin Cam 88 V-twin that cranked out 67 hp and a stump-pulling 86 lb-ft of torque at […]
Stop Rules: Harley-Davidson Sportster S “Revolution” - AC Calella Custom x Stop Rules customize a Sportster S… In 2021, Harley-Davidson introduced the Sportster S (RH1250S) — a seismic shift for the Sportster platform, which can trace its heritage back to 1957. Many […]
Black Owl: Sportster 883R by Hidemo - Hide Motorcycle builds a KR-inspired street and circuit Sportster… Introduced in 1953, the Harley-Davidson KR would come to dominate motorcycle racing in the United States. A year earlier, Harley had introduced the Model K, a […]
Porsche Tribute: Sportster “Speedster” by LDK - For Sale: Sportster “Speedster” by Lord Drake Kustoms The 356 Speedster is one of the most desirable models that Porsche ever produced. Developed for the American market at the behest of the US importer, the […]
“Stormbringer” Harley-Davidson Sportster Café Racer - In 1972, English illustrator Paul Sample created Ogri for Bike magazine, a cartoon whose leather-clad star — Ogri himself — wears a set of Thor-like wings on his helmet and rides a self-built 1000cc Norvin […]
“Indie” Harley XG750 Custom by Milwaukee Moto - “I decided to put the XG on a diet and make it as cool as possible…” In 2014, Harley-Davidson introduced their first new lightweight motorcycles in 40 years, the Street series. The Street 750, also […]
Big Twin Cafe Racer: “The Flying Duck” - Sometimes a motorcycle becomes so deeply involved and entangled with our personal history that it becomes a part of our life story — an integral part of who we are. Such is the case with […]
Softail Cafe Racer: Harley-Davidson “Gnews” by Mr Martini - The Harley-Davidson Fat Boy is a softail best known for its solid-cast wheels and massive presence. The Evolution version, built from 1990-1998, featured an 82 cubic-inch (1340cc) V-twin and quickly earned a firm place in […]
XL1200 Sportster Cafe Racer by Bull Original - Last year we featured the Harley-Davidson “MX1000,” a 1000cc Ironhead dirt bike built by Takuya Yonezawa — “Yone” — the founder of Japan’s Bull Original (www.mc-bull.com). That bike was no mere showpiece — as the […]
Turbo Sportster Street Tracker by Bryce Schmidt - “I figured if it was called a Sportster, I might as well make it a little more sporty.” Such were the words of 34 year-old machine/fabricator Bryce Schmidt, who does all of his own work […]
Harley Ironhead Cafe Racer by Redonda Motors - Redonda Motors is a workshop in Portugal building custom street bikes, race and off-road bikes, and even has a division dedicated to electric bike builds. Recently, we featured this incredible Yamaha XT600 street tracker. Now […]
883 Sportster Cafe Racer by Get Lowered Cycles - Today we’re proud to showcase one of the prettiest Sportsters we’ve ever come across, and the story of the build is even better. This is the personal bike of Meg, who is the co-owner of […]
Harley XR1200 Cafe Racer by Shaw Speed & Custom - Shaw Speed & Custom continues to turn out amazing Harley customs, well over 100 to date. The ones that light our fire are the kick ass Sportster builds, like the CRXR. Shaw Harley-Davidson has been […]
Sportster Cafe Racer by Ardent Motorcycles - Today, we’re proud to feature one of our favorite Sportster builds of all time: The Cafe Sportster, built by Curtis Miller of Ardent Motorcycles. Curtis has one of the most interesting backgrounds of any builder […]
One Mean Harley XL1200S Cafe Racer - Here we have one very cool XL1200 cafe racer by @crowsbike. How bout those pipes! And blue frame! We’ve asked the owner if we can run a feature on this bike. We’ll keep you posted! […]
Pushing Iron: 883 Sportster Cafe Racer - Chris Owens is an Air Traffic Controller by trade, and with a job that stressful, you need to have some good ways to relax. Chris has always enjoyed woodworking, but this was his first foray […]
Cross-Bred Harley-Ducati Sportster! - It is becoming quite common to customize Harley Davidson’s Sportster in a “cafe way.” It’s Harley’s best-selling bike over time and they produce a lot of them, and a few key modifications make big differences […]
