Ok so here is my Café build. I am terrible at taking build photos but will try to get better.

As I said in my introduction post my name is Chris Owens and I am an Air Traffic Controller by trade but love to work in my garage (usually with wood) This is my first real “wrench turning” project.


I was inspired to do this by a bike on the Roland Sands Website. The bike was done by Shaw Speed and Customs. It was very simply done and I fell in love immediately especially with the rear section


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Now I must confess I was not always going to go with a Harley. I love the café look of a bike, I am no purest so I am not hung up on the type bike or the authenticity of a Café Racer. I simply love the style of it.

Originally I was going to either get a Ducati Sport Classic 1000 or a Triumph Thruxton, both of which are stock Café themed bikes. While I really like both of them, outside of a couple minor mods there was not much to be done. I really wanted something more custom then a friend at work told me to look at Roland Sands. I did and I was amazed. The idea of taking a Harley and turning it into something it is not born to be….that was what I wanted.


So there it is and now here are some pics and progress updates.
Thanks for viewing!

 

Ok so first I had to find the right bike. After a lot of searching I found this one.





I bought this girl and rode it as is for only about 3 weeks before tearing it down.


Now originally I was going to figure out how to do the rear section, add a Roland Sands seat, some chainsikle rear sets, and some clip ons and call it a day. As you will soon see…..that has completely gone out the window.
I came up with a paint design and home and found a painter to do it. Here are some pics of the design that will be one the bike.









My wife and I came up with the custom logo for it.





The outer gold ring represents an "O" for Owens. The next gold ring is split, the left side represents a "C" for Chris and the right a "D" for Diana. The inner gold ring is an "A" for Ashton. Diane came up with it in like 5 minutes and I really like it.

 

Ok so now here goes nothing.


Here is where we started






Tank and side covers removed and taken to the paint guy. BTW been 17 weeks and still not back…nightmare.






RSD clip ons going on….FYI don’t take the upper tree and stem bolt out with the bike on a lift…not a smart idea….Thankfully the wife was there to save my *** lol.








I then mounted the headlight eyebrow from under the upper fork clamp and installed Burly Brand short cable kit.

 

I then installed RSD lever, stem bolt, Fort preload adjuster, Tracker grips, and bar hole plugs





Next was the RSD clarity line derby cover, HD wrinkle black inspection cover and some Chainsikle rearsets, with RSD tracker pegs (since removed and are for sale by the way)








I removed the patriot exhaust and the pulley cover. I then did a half chop on the primary cover just to soften the edges and match the arc of the RSD Pulley guard and belt guard. I installed the brake side of the chainsikle rearset.










Next I installed the RSD slant 2 into 1 exhaust. Which I think is a beautiful design.

 

looking good. That thing is gonna be a blast to ride thru the twisties. On a side note let me know if your getting rid of those extra parts, im looking for a fender bib like the one you have there.

 

Looks great, I will be watching this build.

 

Cool project. Thanks for posting, looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

 

+1, I can't wait to see it with tins.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calavera Negra

looking good. That thing is gonna be a blast to ride thru the twisties. On a side note let me know if your getting rid of those extra parts, im looking for a fender bib like the one you have there.

Thank you. I hope it will be. Yes I will be selling or getting rid of all the stock parts. I will let you know when I get everything together and cleaned up for selling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Ficken

Looks great, I will be watching this build.

Thanks a lot. I will be posting more today.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DK Custom

Cool project. Thanks for posting, looking forward to seeing how it turns out!

Thanks I have a few DK parts on here. The ignition relocation, tank lift and coil relocation.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jester 08 Nightster

+1, I can't wait to see it with tins.

Thanks a lot. I will be posting till completion. Should be soon.

 

Ok so next I installed the RSD Turbine air cleaner and installed the Burly Brand Slammer kit for front and rear.