The Cafe Sportster is inspired by the Norton Manx from 1962. It uses the Manx's famous featherbed style twin hoop frame.
It's powered by a Harley-Davidson Sportster engine, hence the name. The Cafe Sportster has a tough, no nonsense, racy look. This bike draws a crowd everywhere you go. I'm not kidding. I've been surrounded at gas stations and on street corners, even had people come up to me in restaurants to rave about the bike.
The gleaming hand made aluminum tanks are the key to this design. Nothing compares to the beauty of hand formed and polished aluminum. We wouldn't built a bike without it. The front tank is fuel, the rear is oil. If you look closely, you can see the four oil lines running down behind the electrical box.
The Sportster engine is showcased beautifully in the frame. You can't beat the build quality, the durability, the reliability of the Sportster engine. It makes lots of torque, pulling strongly from 2,000 rpms. Passing is effortless and instantaneous. Of course it sounds great too. When you fire this bike up, people will notice. There are hidden baffles in the exhaust so it's not obnoxious, but it gets your attention.
The frame is hand made and there's absolutely no filler used in the finishing. We weld the frame then braze with silicon bronze to build up the joints, finally grinding them smooth. The swingarm is hand made from aluminum flat stock. All the welds are left exposed and untouched for that rough and ready racy look.
Exhaust pipes are custom fabricated to enhance the lines of the bike. They're made from stainless steel tubing and wrapped with fiberglass tape to keep the heat off of your legs and lend that rough and ready look.
The rearsets are our own design. Simple and strong, the lines complement the swingarm. The shifter is particularly nice. It makes short crisp throws without any of the big ugly levers seen on commercial models.
The front end is from a Honda CBR1000RR. The wheels are a cast spoked design and the rotors a cool looking petal design. Of course you can have whatever wheels and rotors you want. The combination of modern, adjustable suspension with the torque and sound of the Sportster engine are wonderful.
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