Back to basics: A Harley Fat Bob in Rough Crafts’ signature style

“Fender and Firestone police, here I come,” Winston Yeh quips, as we discuss the latest custom motorcycle to roll out of the house of Rough Crafts. Based on a 2020 Harley-Davidson Fat Bob 107, it’s a stripped-down, low-slung bobber, swathed in typical Rough Crafts finishes. And yes, it has no front fender and it wears sawtooth treads (although they’re from Duro, not Firestone).

Winston’s fully aware that his stylistic choices might irk some of our readers, but he’s unfazed. This is a special build for him; a throwback to his earlier work, and the realization of an idea that’s been marinating in his mind for the better part of a decade.

This custom Fat Bob traces its roots back to ‘Graphite Speedster’—a Harley Softail that bagged Rough Crafts a fourth place finish in the freestyle class at the AMD World Championships, back in 2014. “The bike was toured around the world and got numerous awards at different shows,” Winston tells us.

“It was well-loved, and I had many requests to build another. But due to the nature of the ‘freestyle’ class, it had an experimental billet top frame with built-in suspension, dual front heads, dual FCR carbs and more. All of those unconventional parts make it a difficult bike to maintain for your average customer.”

“I’ve been thinking about making a more ‘user friendly’ version of it for years, since I loved those lines so much. So when a customer came in with a love of our bobbers, but with an open brief, I immediately knew it was my chance to make it happen.”

One of Winston’s favorite things about Harley’s newer Milwaukee-Eight Softail, is how well its frame suits traditional bobber styling. Once this one had shed its bodywork and bolt-on rear fender struts, the build was already off to a stellar start. Winston kept the stock swingarm, but upgraded the rear shock with a new unit from Progressive Suspension.

The front-end was a different story altogether. “I’ve always liked springer forks,” Winston says, “but the old ones ride like shit; all spring and no damper.”

To solve this problem, he reached out to long-time Rough Crafts supporter, Rebuffini. “They’re such an amazing company,” he adds. “They have a full billet springer fork that looks super retro, but includes two custom-ordered Öhlins shocks. It rides super smooth—like any modern bike.”

The wheels are from Roland Sands Design, measuring 4.25×18” at the front, and 5.00×16” at the rear. Take a closer look, and you’ll spot Beringer’s absolutely bonkers Aerotec 4D braking system at both ends. With this setup, each caliper grips two discs—so this Harley is stopped by no less than six brake discs.

Beringer is another long-time Rough Crafts supporter, which is why the brake calipers are adorned with Rough Crafts branding. If there’s a more badass-looking brake system for a spring-equipped Harley bobber out there, we don’t know about it.

With the major stuff out the way, everything else started falling into place in typical Rough Crafts fashion. The Fat Bob’s new fuel tank is actually a RC production part designed for the Sportster. It was modified heavily to fit the Softail, and topped off with a billet aluminum gas cap from Winston’s own catalog.

The bobbed seat came from BT Choppers in Poland, along with a blank-off kit for the area underneath it; the upholstery was added locally. A low profile rear fender rounds out the minimal bodywork.

Most of the finishing kit on this svelte bobber is either from the Rough Crafts aftermarket catalog, or from some of Winston’s favorite companies. The cockpit wears a set of RC risers, designed with a top clamp that’s designed to accommodate the small digital speedo from the H-D Street Bob. But on this bike, it holds a matching Koso unit instead.

The bars are RC’s signature ‘Fighter’ design, fitted with plug-and-play switches from Rebuffini. The grips, foot controls, cam cover, rocker arm cover and intake are all parts from a collaboration between Rough Crafts and Arlen Ness. And the turn signals and taillights are Rough Crafts x Koso items.

The engine’s dressed with a Rebuffini hydraulic clutch housing and a Performance Machine clutch cover. It also wears brass push rod tubes, and an obnoxiously short two-into-one exhaust, done in the same style as the Graphite Speedster’s.

As always, Winston created this machine via a carefully curated network of master craftsmen. Rover Works Custom Paint handled the livery, over forged carbon inlays that were done by SFC Simon Fiber Craft. 2 Abnormal Sides made the push rod collars and tank badges, while CT-Garage handled the final assembly.

Dubbed ‘Miltown Moonshine’ as a tribute to The Motor Co.’s hometown, the final product is as perfectly proportioned as it is well judged… just as we’ve come to expect from Winston. It’s a quintessential back-to-basics Rough Crafts build, but also shows just how far the shop has come in the last decade.

And if you’d like to see it in person, just book a flight to Taipei City, Taiwan for this weekend. There, Winston will be showing it off as part of Rough Crafts’ first official Speed & Craft custom bike show.

Rough Crafts | Facebook | Instagram | Photos by JL Photography

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BOTT Bruiser: A 1983 Harley XR1000 on auction at Mecum

A Harley-Davidson with sport bike goodies either trips your trigger or crosses your wires, but in our case, it’s almost always the former. If it’s done right, there’s something plain badass about a Milwaukee missile that looks like 100 mph standing still, all without losing its leaky old iron character.

In terms of doing it right, it’s impossible to argue with this 1983 Harley-Davidson XR1000 with competition history in the Battle of the Twins. This rare racer is set to go across the block this week, as part of the Mecum Glendale auction.

Getting up to speed on this XR1000, you have to go all the way back to Harley’s sensational XR750 flat tracker, arguably one of the most successful race bikes ever built. After Harley worked the bugs out of the engine in 72, the XR750 was a dominant force in flat track racing for decades. The H-D loyal watched guys like Mert Lawill slide around the oval, and Evil Knievel launch over buses, and they couldn’t help but want a piece of the action.

While the majority of Harley’s resources were tied up in the construction of the upcoming Evolution engine, Harley’s skunkworks started modifying a regular 1000 cc XL Sportster to incorporate a bit of the XR750 flavor enthusiasts craved. The result was the 1983 XR1000.

In practice, it was little more than a XL Sportster with XR750-style cylinder heads, twin Dell’Orto carburetors and high-mounted pipes on the B-side. An XR750 for the street in theory, the XR1000 really shined on the big banks in the Battle of the Twins.

The series was born in the 1980s as a response to the increasing dominance of four-cylinders in sportbike racing, giving large displacement, air-cooled British, European and American bikes solace on pavement. Harley’s entries were the new XR1000 on paper, but could be more aptly described as overbored versions of the XRTT road racing bike.

The most successful of these entries was an unlikely hero known as Lucifer’s Hammer. After going up in flames at Daytona in 1973, the factory road racer was put into storage for 10 years before being reworked to race in the Battle of the Twins. Despite having little to no experience on pavement, flat track racer Gene Church piloted Lucifer’s Hammer to three Battle of the Twins championships.

In an iconic exchange, the Ducati factory team congratulated Church for hitting 156 mph at Daytona in 1986, but Church simply responded that something was up with one of the carburetors. Sounds like fancy talk—that is until they fixed the issue and topped 170 mph.

Lucifer’s Hammer is a well-documented machine, but the XR1000 offered here at Mecum’s Glendale auction is a bit more of a mystery. Mecum details that the bike was raced in the Battle of the Twins from 1983 to 1986, with Rick Ranno piloting. From there, it was sold to Sweden and raced by champion ice racer Posa Serenius at Linöping in 2007. Compared to the one period photo we were able to dig up, we’re assuming the bike has since been restored to Ranno’s V-Twins Cycle Shop livery.

Back in 2019, Mecum sold the Ranno XR for a paltry $6,600. For that kind of money, we should all be raising our paddles. [Via Mecum Auctions]

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Speed Read, March 26, 2023

We’ve got two very different Triumph Thruxton customs on the menu this week. One is a liquid-cooled supercharged brute, and the other a fully-faired air-cooled café racer. A tidy Yamaha Scorpio scrambler, and a skinny Harley FXD, fill the spaces in-between.

Supercharged Triumph Thruxton 1200R by Tamarit Motorcycles We’ve never thought of the Triumph Thruxton 1200R as underpowered. In fact, it’s one of the more powerful modern café racers you can walk into a showroom and buy today. But when Tamarit Motorcycles set out to create their 95th custom Triumph, they wanted something a little…more. And by ‘a little’ we actually mean ‘a lot.’

This is their latest custom Thruxton 1200R, and to be honest, from the left-hand side it looks like one of their more understated builds. It would be, if it weren’t for the huge TTS Performance supercharger bolted to the right-hand side of the engine. It’s added 60 buff horses to the Thruxton—so this 1200 now produces 160 hp. Giddy up.

Tubeless (and very flashy) Kineo spoked wheels were fitted, as was a whole suite of Motogadget electronics. The headlight is especially trick—it has a gyroscopic sensor inside and lights up the edge of the road as you lean.

The Thruxton’s clip-ons were swapped out in favor of a flat handlebar, and the factory tank was painted in a beautiful silver color. The tank proudly wears the Tamarit badge, and the engine side covers have been replaced with custom ‘San Jorge 95’ badges, which is the name of the bike.

The Zard exhaust is new, as is the whole centre section of the motorcycle. A custom airbox sits beneath the custom seat, which is stitched by hand in tan leather. We love the way the seat extends onto the tank and how the leather tank strap matches the seat. Very classy, indeed.

The bike has already been shipped off to its new owner in Texas, USA. This kind of thing lights our fire—so if someone would be as kind as to get in touch with Tamarit to build another, we’d appreciate it greatly. [More]

Yamaha Scorpio by Deus Bali We couldn’t quite figure out what this custom scrambler started life as when we first saw it. Believe it or not, this was a Yamaha Scorpio—a 225 cc commuter bike, popular in Australasia.

Owned by the manager of Deus ex Machina’s Bali outpost, this tower of power has been ridden every day for the last 10 years. The Deus team thought it was time to refresh the daily rider, so they promptly ripped into it—again. For the fifth time.

Deus Bali set out to breathe new life into the tired Scorpio, so they started by completely rebuilding the engine. No horses were left behind, especially thanks to the larger 30 mm Uma Racing PWK carb and appropriately oversized K&N air filter.

A new exhaust header was built from stainless steel, further increasing the already sky-high power figures. That supercharged Thruxton has nothin’ on this.

41 mm forks from another Yamaha bike were grafted on, as were the top and bottom fork yolks. A set of ProTaper handlebars were bolted on and finished with new grips and switches. An oversized LED headlight takes care of lighting duties, with a set of barely perceptible, but overly bright Kellerman Atto Dark turn signals fitted.

The bolt-on subframe is all-new too, and it really shows off the rear end. The alloy swingarm was donated by a Yamaha YZ250, and a box was built under the seat to house the battery and electronics. The tail light is especially nice and was custom-made by the Bengkel Boys themselves in the Deus Bali workshop.

Rossi rims and stainless spokes were laced to the factory hubs and then shod with Shinko SR428 dual-sport rubber. A pair of hand-made aluminum fenders round out the build.

Painted in metallic red paint, the custom tank was finished off with the Deus ‘Pistons-O-Power’ logo—a worthy stamp of approval from the Deus Bali head honcho himself. We love it. [More]

Triumph Thruxton by iT ROCKS!BIKES It’s big, it’s blue, and, despite its name, it’s still rocking a good old fashioned internal combustion engine. Dubbed ‘Lithium’ by its creators, this café racer is the latest build from Portugal’s iT ROCKS!BIKES.

The iT ROCKS!BIKES proprietors—Osvaldo, Ana and Luis—were approached by a customer with a request to build them a 70s-inspired Triumph endurance racer. Knowing a thing or two about building svelte, monocoque-bodied motorcycles, this wasn’t going to be a problem for the IRB team.

To make it even easier, the client specified only the classic Porsche blue color—leaving the rest of the decisions in the hands of the makers.

An air-cooled 2006-model Triumph Thruxton was put under the knife, and transformed into the fully-faired café racer you see here. Using designs that Ana penned, the team cut the back end down, then fabricated a custom mounting frame for the front.

This is what carries the beautiful classic full fairing, which was also made by hand, from steel. The stacked headlight is the only modern touch on the fairing, but we absolutely adore it. The one-piece tank and seat unit was also crafted by hand, as were the side covers.

Kineo wheels make another appearance in this week’s Speed Read, with ITB fitting a set to this Thruxton. The forks are from a Yamaha R1, and the rear shocks were swapped out for a pair of fully adjustable Bitubo units. The parts spec includes LSL clip-ons and rear-sets, and a Motogadget Chronoclassic speedometer.

Finished in classic Porsche blue, white and silver paint, with black leather on the seat, the iT ROCKS!BIKES trio has nailed the brief on yet another outstanding build. We bet the client is one happy chap. [Via]

Harley Davidson FXD by K-Speed It seems that every bike that rolls into, and then out of, the K-Speed workshop is a perfect 10. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, K-Speed has been banging out bangers since 2002—and they’re not showing any signs of slowing down.

This custom 2002-model Harley Davidson FXD Dyna Super Glide is the personal ride of K-Speed boss Eak. Nicknamed ‘Silver Sting’ (possibly because it’s long, narrow and pointy), Eak set out to create a vintage-inspired custom of yore. Suffice it to say, he and his crew have done a fantastic job.

The highlight of the build is the custom bodywork. Made from aluminum, the new tank and fender do a great job of slimming down the chunky American chop. K-Speed wanted to make the big Harley look skinnier and easier to use, and the bodywork was just the beginning.

The front end has been put on a diet too, and now rocks a classic front tire in front of a single bottom-mount headlight.

The swooping handlebars are new, as are the grips and controls. The front indicators are mounted low on the frame down tubes, right next to a Moon Equipment fuel container for emergency fuel top-ups (because whoa, that’s a small tank).

Moving rearwards, a new seat from K-Speed’s Diablo range of parts was fitted, along with new indicators and rear shocks. A side-mount numberplate and tail light bracket were added too, to keep the new rear fender clear of clutter.

The engine remained stock but was treated to a new set of exhaust headers. What they lack in length, they undoubtedly make up for in volume. Just Harley things, you know?

It’s gloriously simple, but cool as heck. It’s good to be the boss, hey Eak? [K-Speed | Images by Hipmotography]

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Game Changer: Retrorides launches an electric scrambler

Retrorides By Lourenço is well-known in custom BMW K-series circles. The Brazilian workshop has built some of the sharpest K-series café racers around, and even written a literal book on how to do it. Now, they’re looking to establish themselves in a whole new niche.

After 30 years of customizing petrol-powered motorcycles, Retrorides By Lourenço is launching its own small production electric motorcycle company. And their first offering looks pretty damn good.

Based in a town a couple of hours away from São Paulo, Retrorides is run by Gustavo and Rodrigo Lourenço, and their father José. “We always had the dream of having our own brand of motorcycles,” says Gustavo.

“But with internal combustion engines this was not possible for a small company like ours, due to the complexity of the parts and mainly due to the cost of building a combustion engine. With the advancement of technology and the arrival of electric motors, this dream became possible.”

“We wanted to fill a gap in the electric motorcycle industry. We were tired of seeing electric bikes either look like MegaBeast Investigator Juspion’s bike, or dull. We believe that electric motorcycles can indeed have the DNA of custom motorcycles, combined with performance and cutting-edge technology, but without losing personality and style.”

Retrorides’ new company is called RTR Electric Motorcycles, and this is the RTR 799e. Sitting somewhere between a neo-retro scrambler and a modern supermoto, the 799e will be built-to-order in Brazil, with a range of customization options available to buyers.

“The initial idea was for the bike to have the Retrorides DNA (custom motorcycle style), so we decided that this bike had to be a scrambler,” says Gustavo. “The style is very versatile for urban use, and allows for a super comfortable riding position.”

“With the opportunity for customization, we can preserve the spirit of ‘crafted by hand,’ while using new technologies to increase safety. We also believe that our motorcycles should be built with noble materials that do not harm the environment—so our bikes are built to last and designed to be upgradable.”

Rather than adapt an existing internal combustion bike platform to run with an electric drivetrain, Retrorides designed the 799e from scratch. The process involved a substantial amount of 3D design—including digital simulations to make sure the bike would function correctly in the real world.

“The engineering of electric motorcycles is completely different. There is no vibration, and we can change the center of gravity, among many other concepts that are different,” Gustavo adds.

The first big decision was whether the bike should have a ‘fuel tank’ or not. It’s a common argument: does it make sense to have a tank on a bike that doesn’t carry fuel, or does a tank serve a purpose beyond aesthetics?

In the end, the team decided that they’d only add one if it added to the bike’s overall practicality. So they built a seven liter glove compartment, big enough to carry a few essentials, or squeeze a rain suit into in a pinch. It, along with almost everything else on the 799e, was shaped out of aluminum.

Retrorides built the tubular steel frame and swingarm too. It’s an elegant design, with the upper frame rails hugging the ‘fuel tank,’ and the lower bits wrapping around the battery box. The battery is further protected by two custom-made guards—integrated with the bike’s sump guard, they’re covered in a military-grade anti-scratch coating.

Attached to the chassis are a set of Showa forks, with 17” wheels wrapped in Pirelli MT60RS tires. Retrorides have specced the 799e with disc brakes, with a regenerative braking system built in.

The bike’s powered by an 8 kW hub motor, with a 72 volt / 60 Ah battery. Early numbers point to a top speed of 127 km/h [79 mph], a 120 km [75 mile] range, and a five-hour charge time. The motor can be pushed to 12 kW via a boost button; Retrorides calls it ‘Road Runner Mode.’

All the bits in-between—like the motor mounts, yokes, levers, mirrors and foot pegs, were CNC-machined from aluminum. The bike features all the requisite LED lighting, and the seat is covered in a weatherproof synthetic leather.

Aiming to go into production in December, Retrorides—or, rather, RTR Motorcycles—are currently looking for investors, while working on homologation in Brazil, the USA and Europe. They’re also testing and tweaking the 799e as they go, by trying out different motors and setups.

Once it’s ready, RTR Motorcycles’ website will include a bike configurator, allowing customers to customize their build with different colors, seat materials, tires, headlights, and side cover options.

Gustavo praises the bike’s torquey feel and the fun of riding through the countryside silently. But what’s really struck him, is the feedback from others.

“We have already broken a lot of prejudices with this bike,” he says. “I must confess that many bearded men in leather vests who have ridden this bike have returned with a smile on their faces and asked about the price!”

RTR Motorcycles | Instagram

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