Category: USA

The Brooklyn Invitational is one of the most prestigious motorcycle shows in the States. If you’re a builder and you’re invited to present a bike, you have well and truly Arrived.

It’s not a huge show, so it’s an elite list of builders. Within that elite is Jeff Wright: he’s received the treasured invitation an incredible five times in a row.

Wright runs Church Of Choppers and he’s a man at the very top of his profession. This beautifully balanced FXR is one of the best examples of his work: It was a project that took several years, and was the star of last year’s Invitational.

When launched, the FXR Super Glide was pitched as the Harley that separated the men from the boys, with a rubber-mounted engine and better dynamics than usual. (A certain young Erik Buell was involved on the engineering side.)

For his custom build, Jeff chose a 1990-spec FXR with a factory reconditioned 81 cubic inch Evo engine. He’s boosted power with a Keihin CV carburetor, a Dyna S electronic ignition, hand-fabricated exhaust piping and a stubby Racefit muffler.

For better control in the twisties, Jeff’s fitted forks from a later-model Dyna, plus piggyback shocks from Mach/Modified. They’re bolted to a custom swingarm, with saucer-sized Beringer rotors helping to haul the bike down to a stop.

The sheet metal is all-new. It gives the bike an elegant and lithe appearance—traits you wouldn’t normally associate with a Milwaukee product. Look closer, and the detailing is equally impressive, with immaculately machined parts, piping and brackets.

It would have been easy to finish off the FXR in subdued, monochrome hues. And I’m betting that’s what most builders would have done.

But Jeff has chosen the brightest of primary colors: red for the tank and front brake rotor, green for the tail unit, and blue for the rear brake mount. The shock springs are a vivid orange, and the clear ignition cover is yellow.

It shouldn’t work, but it does: the motorcycling equivalent of Pop Art. If you’d love to add this FXR in your own art collection—or garage—you’ll be glad to know it’s for sale at Northeast Sportscar in Brooklyn, NY.

Interested? Get in touch via email.

Church of Choppers | Build pics | Brooklyn Invitational

Flat track is where it’s at. It’s a shot of adrenaline for both fans and racers, and the ‘go fast, turn left’ bikes look terrific.

It’s also one of the few codes where Harley is still competitive. The XR-750 ruled the roost in the 70s, and today it’s the weapon of choice for stars like Brad ‘The Bullet’ Baker.

The thought of turning an XR-750 flat tracker into a street machine is tempting. And the stripped-down style is becoming real popular with custom builders. But a genuine XR-750 will set you back between $20,000 and $60,000, and in most States you can’t make the bike road-legal. Unless you weld in part of a Sportster frame—the bit with the VIN plate attached.

The solution is to inject a modern Sportster with dash of flat track style. You’ll get a bike that idles properly and doesn’t need a push-start. So Roland Sands has done exactly that with his new Ameri-Tracker build. It’s based on a 2008-spec Nightster—with a 1200cc engine pumping out a useful 80 pound-feet of torque.

“This machine is vintage Flat Track workhorse meets modern race-inspired detailing,” says Roland. “We’re showing how you can create a highly functional, dirty version of the Sportster—to use on both the street and your local hooligan short track event.”

Roland found the donor bike in a junkyard—wrecked but serviceable. He’s boosted power with a Vance & Hines Fuelpak FI Tuner, and freed up the breathing with an RSD Radial Air Cleaner and a Slant 2-into-2 exhaust system.

A heavy duty Barnett clutch gives a little leeway for abuse. Less conventional are the foot controls, a nod to the oval track ethos: rearsets on the left, and mid-controls on the right.

The biggest upgrade is the suspension, with Suzuki GSX-R forks up front and Progressive Suspension 970 Series shocks out back. Custom-built triples have shifted the geometry closer to flat tracker standards for better handling response.

The 19-inch wheels are Sands’ own drop-dead gorgeous Del Mar designs, in ‘Machine Ops’ finish. To boost braking power, the RSD crew have installed Performance Machine calipers and hooked them up to Spiegler lines. The rubber is Dunlop DT3, a classic flat track race compound.

Sands is famed for his design eye, and Ameri-Tracker is beautifully balanced. The tank is a modified version of RSD’s Softail Vintage Tank, but everything else is hand-made—from the side plates to the slimline seat and the kicked-up tail.

It’s putting the ‘Sport’ back into Sportster. And the kind of Harley we’d like to ride.

Roland Sands Design | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Adam Fedderly

It looks like 2015 is going to be the Year Of The Scrambler. It’s fast becoming the dominant genre on the new wave custom scene, and manufacturers are getting into the act too.

As everyone knows, Ducati has joined Triumph in offering a factory scrambler—and Moto Guzzi has just released a kit that converts the popular V7 into a machine capable of light off-road excursions.

Milwaukee is unlikely to join the party, but that hasn’t stopped inventive custom builders from doing the dirty on Sportsters. The latest is Benjie Flipprboi of BCR, with this heavily modified 1999 Harley 883 called ‘American Scrambler.’

“For years we had an old 883 in the shop,” says Benjie, who works out of Edison, New Jersey. “It was a small, beat-up bike with a chromed-out engine and mismatched wheels. For a long time, we didn’t know what to do with it.”

Benjie considered turning the 883 into a bobber or a cafe racer. “But we build bikes to stand out and be ridden hard. So we decided to turn the old cruiser into a bike that could be ridden everywhere.” And here we have it: the ready-for-adventure ‘American Scrambler.’

The first step was to get rid of the cruiser ergonomics—the high front end and low seat. On went a set of late ‘90s Suzuki GSX1000 forks to lower the front. “We kept the Harley front hub but machined a new front axle and an adapter to accommodate the GSX’s double disc brakes,” says Benjie.

To prop up the rear, Benjie used longer shocks (and raised the mounts by an inch). Then he installed lightweight aluminum Borrani wheels with raised-center ‘dirt catcher’ rims and fitted Shinko 705 Trail Master dual-purpose tires.

Next step was to figure out the tank. Typical scrambler-style tanks wouldn’t fit, due to the shape of the Harley top-end. So Benjie fabricated a tank that follows the curve of the cylinder heads, adding a stainless steel rack and positioning a Monza gas cap off-center. Aside from a black flame graphic, the finish is bare polished aluminum finish.

“That gave us a beautiful curve to play with when building our seat,” says Benjie. “To maintain the natural flow of the lines, we got the front of the seat to follow the tail of the tank, and then curved the seat up at the rear.” To further abandon the bike’s previous life as a cruiser, the cowhide leather seat is as narrow as you can get without exposing the frame rails.

There’s a custom oil tank slotted inside the frame midsection, with a notch to hide a gel-cell battery.

The fenders and number plate are aluminum to match the gas tank, and held in place by stainless steel mounting brackets. The front skid plate is also aluminum, with ventilation slots to help cool the voltage regulator. A small mild-steel dashboard houses the stock tachometer & warning lights.

Chrome engines do not generally look attractive on scramblers—or indeed any motorcycle—so Benjie sandblasted the side covers and the top end to get a pitted matte finish. Then the internals were treated to a 1200cc piston kit and there’s a custom air filter box with stainless wire mesh covering the inlet.

The usual Sportster belt drive was ditched in favor of a chain and Benjie’s cut out the side cover of the engine, exposing the front sprocket and gold chain.

The only thing left to fit was an aftermarket headlight bucket and taillight. But nothing seemed to look right, so BCR built their own.

“We wanted to tuck the headlight bucket between the fork legs, so we designed it to be as narrow as possible. The taillight is bare aluminum and wraps around the frame end loop.”

The defining element of any scrambler is invariably the exhaust system. “We wanted to stay true to the signature scrambler style, but as always, we also wanted to give it our own unique twist. So we fabricated our own 2-into-2 exhaust using stainless steel and mounted the mufflers high, in the vein of old school scramblers.”

With adventure in his veins and his eyes on the horizon, there was one last detail that Benjie needed to add: an all-purpose road kit. So he designed a detachable leather bag that matches the cowhide leather of the seat. There’s even a protective aluminum plate to help keep the bag clean during the scrambler’s (hopefully) muddy future ventures.

BCR’s ‘American Scrambler’ is both functional and fun. Unlike most Harleys, this 883 can handle a stretch of hard-packed dirt as well as ribbons of asphalt.

And damn, doesn’t it look good?

Benjie’s Cafe Racers website | Facebook | Instagram | Images by Ben Chan