Custom Harley-Davidson – Ardent Motorcycles
Michigan is dead, Detroit is dead, U.S. manufacturing is on life support and nothing is created here anymore. Curtis Miller from Ardent Motorcycles in Milford, Michigan apparently doesn’t read the newspapers and wasn’t informed of these “facts”.
Curtis didn’t grow up riding motorcycles, in fact he didn’t own a motorcycle until he was 56 years old. Like many riders once he’d thrown his leg over a Harley Sportster there was no turning back and no stopping his creative side from coming out. Curtis holds one of the only Bachelor of Fina Arts degrees I have ever heard of being used to create something I actually enjoy. Curtis has been self-employed his whole life. Always a craftsman he built furniture, created computer animations and a photographer. When the motorcycle bug one thing was for sure, Curtis was going to build a custom. It has been his nature his whole life after all. “The Grand Prix”, powered by a 2009 Sportster, engine is his latest full custom creation.
From the mouth of the builder: “I was reading everything about motorcycles that I could get my hands on. The exhibition catalogue from the famous Guggenheim Museum show The Art of the Motorcycle was a big influence, as was the book The Art of the Racing Motorcycle. It was a particular influence on the Grand Prix build.”
He also enrolled in community college to learn frame building and metal shaping. He earned his mechanics license, taught himself to weld and is oh by the way e’s taking an advanced program in engine building. With all that newfound knowledge of course the frame is entirely his own creation.
Filler was applied the old school way with silicon bronze and all the welds have been ground down for a perfect finish. The frame was painted metallic grey with heavy metal flake the body was left raw alloy. The metal body work is inspired by small capacity GP bikes of the ’60s and shaped by hand. Because the finish is polished and not painted the hand work of the metal was time consuming and tedious. Clearly it was worth the effort as you can see from the pictures.
Curtis has created other cafe racers and made some updates on this design from what he had learned previously. Knee cut outs on the tank to narrow it for more comfort, the seat is also narrower at the front to give a more comfortable riding position. The seat itself is generously padded without taking away from the hand stitched brown leather is the exact combo we would have chosen. The tail section is hand shaped and doubles as an oil tank with beautiful copper lines running underneath. The fairing is another custom piece that once again just plain works. From the smooth shape to how it wraps around the motor truly connects it to the race bikes he was emulating. “The finishing is the hardest part. Getting the aluminum smooth enough to polish without a lot of bumps and waves is very challenging”.
There are two large vents at the front of that fairing and the flowing lines of the body work wrap their way around the air filter and exhaust. The engine is a 2009 fuel injected Sportster unit bought from a salvage yard off eBay. Curtis pulled the engine apart, using that newly found education, and gave the top end a rebuild. The new filter gives a sweet induction roar but the sweet sweet sound that is a Harley V-Twin always sounds the best out of hand-made pipes in a classic 2 into 1 system. All the electrical components are hidden in a custom box under the seat and is neatly tucked behind the two black painted side panels wearing the number 11.
Curtis of course built the custom swing arm to match the frame. With shock mounts built-in and finished in the same heavy flake paint work as the frame. Twin adjustable shocks fitted with remote reservoirs, a Honda CBR1000RR rear caliper is under-slung like a modern race bike and clamps a wave pattern rotor. The front end is came from a Suzuki GSXR600 with two large wave rotors working in conjunction with Tokico calipers from the Suzuki. Besides the motor they are the only large part he didn’t make himself. There are somethings you just can’t improve on. The rear sets, covers, and other components were milled by Curtis as well. As if we expected any less.
Clip-ons wear seat matching brown leather grips, style matching bar end mirrors with a single instrument and idiot lights in a custom housing. The small headlight wears a hand formed wind screen surrounded by barely visible LEDs front and rear and a set of Ardent badges so you know who is responsible for this build. “The Grand Prix” is now for sale but you can expect more beautiful builds from Ardent Cycles. Tell us what you think in the comments below.
