Heavy-hitting Flattery: Shaw X Rough Crafts Harley 48
Daily Slideshow: This clean-looking Harley 48 is the brain child of two of the best builders in the world.
Flattery
If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, then Winston Yeh of Rough Crafts gets praise in triplicate. Shaw Speed & Custom, in collaboration with Rough Crafts, built the Shaw X Rough Crafts Harley 48 for a customer lusting over Rough Crafts' 2010 build, the Iron Guerilla (one “r”). The Shaw Speed & Custom and Rough Crafts partnership started when Steve Willis, head of Shaw Speed & Custom and Shaw Harley-Davidson UK, hooked-up with Rough Crafts to distribute their parts and accessories. With that little bit of exposure of Rough Crafts' offerings in the UK, Shaw Speed & Custom soon received the order for the Iron Guerilla replica.
A Source of Inspiration
In fact, the Rough Crafts Harley 48 is not the only inspired copy to roll out of Shaw Speed & Custom. The Harley 48 is joined by the Spoked Sportster, with both bikes borrowing their design cues from the Iron Guerilla. To round out the triad of copies, Bad Land, a Yokohama, Japan-based custom shop, built their version of the Iron Guerilla as the Bad Land Sportster 48 Custom. Winston Yeh, speaking with Roland Sands Design about the predominance of copy culture, states in a 2012 interview: “Even I’ve gotten copied already within this super small circle, where everyone knows everyone.” To their credit, Bad Land pays respect to Yeh, stating that he is “breaking new ground in the creation of a whole new genre.”
Keeping Within the Lines
Perhaps 'homage' is a better term for the Iron Guerilla-inspired replicas. The Shaw and Bad Land bike builds also pay tribute to what Rough Crafts represents — an expression of freedom. Winston Yeh started the award-winning Rough Crafts in Taipei, Taiwan in 2010 after studying at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. During his college years, Yeh also had the opportunity to work with Roland Sands and other top builders. As a Taiwanese custom motorcycle shop, Rough Crafts faces strict vehicle modification laws and, as Yeh states, “a crazy regulation that all bikes bigger than 250cc have to pass an annual exam.” The Iron Guerilla is a bit of political resistance, crafted to look stock but with enough modifications to set it apart.
Ben McGinley
Billed as a retro machine with a modern twist, the Forty-Eight, in Harley-Davidson's own words is “heavy-hitting.” Ben McGinley, an industrial designer at the Harley-Davidson styling studio, likens the Forty-Eight to an urban-assault machine — minimal, stripped back, but muscular and tough. McGinley, in San Diego Harley-Davidson's two-minute YouTube feature, The Story Behind the 2016 Harley-Davidson Sportster 48, goes on to say that the Forty-Eight has a “real honesty and authenticity of materials, a connection to what used to be cool about bikes but still brings it forward.” Despite regulations and design constraints, creating a connection while delivering authenticity with a contemporary twist is what Rough Crafts has also delivered for close to a decade.
Forty Eight
Unlike the Iron Guerilla, that was based on a 2009 Sportster Iron 883, the Shaw Harley 48 uses an XL1200X Sportster Forty-Eight as the donor bike. With displacement out of the way, Shaw Speed & Custom held true to Rough Crafts' build limitations by making subtle but effective modifications. Every component on the Shaw Harley 48 build, shy of the fork sliders, has been blacked-out, creating a slick but sinister look that goes one step beyond Harley-Davidson's Nightster styling. Next came a concerted effort to tidy up the factory design. Steve Willis wanted to “concentrate first on the front end and machined an XL883R cast back wheel to fit the cleaned up lower fork legs.”
Clean Look
In keeping with a clean front end, the original headlight bucket was modified to sit further back in the forks and a signature Rough Crafts headlight grille fitted. The speedometer was exchanged for a small Motogadget digital unit that was nestled into the top of the headlight bucket. To fit Rough Crafts risers and bars, Willis “machined the top of the fork yoke to lose the original integrated risers.” The Rough Crafts bars were internally wired for the electronics along with the smoked indicators. Performance Machine Contour Grips with knurled rubber sleeves and machined billet tubes finish off the bar ends. To achieve more of a brawler stance, the Shaw Harley 48's suspension was lowered in both the front and rear. With a striking resemblance to the timeless Cycle Standard Blackbird Legacy Tank, a Rough Crafts gas tank, emblazoned with the company's crest, caps off the front end.
Chopped
Along with the fender rails, the OEM Sportster Forty-Eight rear fender was chopped, although Rough Crafts now sells a chopped and flared rear fender. Crime Scene Chopper rear lights with grilles resembling the headlight setup were fitted to the fender rail stubs. A Rough Crafts diamond-stitched seat was fitted to the shortened fender. Continuing with the blacked-out theme, in-house fabricated pipes with drilled shields and a finned air-cleaner takes care of the air supply and exhaust gasses. A set of 5.10×16″ Coker Classic Cycle Tires supplies road contact and adds a vintage bobber touch to the Shaw Harley 48.
Winston Yeh says, “Ignore all the critics ...
The Shaw X Rough Crafts Harley 48 is a unique reminder that persistence of vision is key to achieving dreams, even if they are a bit dark and brooding. The Bad Land Sportster 48 Custom reminds us that a good idea is worth repeating even if the end goal is slightly sinister and mean-looking. As Winston Yeh says, “Ignore all the critics ... believe in your vision and prove them wrong with your work.” Best yet, Yeh reminds us that “It still gets back to riding,” and The Shaw X Rough Crafts Harley 48 is just that — a solid proven riding platform. Harley Davidson also believes in riding. The Sportster has done it all for over sixty years — won races, set speed records, and perhaps most importantly, enabled epic road trips. With that legacy and the innovation of companies like Rough Crafts, it looks like the Sportster's future is bright, or matte black and dark. The choice is all yours.
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