Daily Slideshow: This Harley Scrambler is a Cohn Racer Masterpiece

Cohn Racers

This is one of those custom builds that grabs your attention in so many ways, you just don't know what to focus on. It comes to us courtesy of Cohn Racer, which is located in Coral Gables, Florida. The shop is run by a two-man, father and son team. The generational gap between John and his son JP means their builds have a unique mix of new and old-school in style. The lucky owner of the bike pictured here is a local restauranteur, and this writer can't say he's not the slightest bit jealous. 

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Harley-Davidson XR1200X

The guys at Cohn Racer started this build with a stock Harley-Davidson XR1200X, which is already a fantastic bike. JP and John had toyed with the idea of using a Dyna or a Sportster but eventually settled on the XR1200X. The problem was that they found it difficult to get their hands on a good used XR1200X, especially the later models with a black engine. Eventually, they managed to pick this clean example up in a Suzuki dealership a few hours north of Miami. But JP and John plan on building 10 of these beauties, and this is just the second. Hopefully, they won't need to travel too far to find eight more XR1200Xs in good condition. 

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Inspiration from the 1950s

This bike is unmistakably modern with its Ohlins suspension setup and Brembo calipers sitting on dual 320mm rotors. But there's also something very old-school about this bike, from the wire wheels to the headlight grill, this bike screams 1950s. According to JP, "We find that vintage race cars are always a good source of inspiration for our builds; their wire wheels, loud exhausts, and headlight grills are timeless". Even the leather feature on the tank was done to emulate leather hood straps on race cars from the 1950s. 

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Stripped Down

To kick the build off JP and John stripped the XR1200X down, cut the frame and welded their own subframe. Then, they put on the Öhlins suspension setup but needed to install custom-machined triple trees so the forks could be fitted. Not that there was anything wrong with the standard XR1200X's wheels, but the custom wire wheels suit this bike down to the ground. And the Shinko Adventure Trail tires let you know that it means business. Another eye-catcher is the seat which, according to JP, was upholstered "with the best leather we could find" - it shows! 

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Mostly Stock

Some things just don't need to be messed with and, apparently, the XR1200X's engine is one of them - well almost. JP says, "To keep it reliable, we left the engine mostly stock but we did tweak the engine management system for better engine response and added smoothness.". To be fair, the bike, which the guys named the 'Muscle R', gets to 60mph in just 3.9 seconds. That's more than enough for the streets. Electronics-wise, the guys fitted a custom speedometer and LED indicators and brake lights. Finally, JP said the exhaust was given a lick of "our top secret coating", and it really does show against that black engine. 

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