Daily Slideshow: Tin Shack Restoration Builds Street Tracker Sportster
Everything flows so smoothly on this Sporty tracker with Mule influence that it'll be hard to imagine this bike as anything different.
Can you get any cooler than that?
Inside of a very cool and old aircraft hanger in Shelburne VT is Tin Shack Restoration. Once your eyes adjust to the dark of the hanger you'll notice that there are more than just bikes taking up space there, as vintage Land Rovers also await new life as custom creations. This bike, a Sportster XL1200, is one of the projects that have come from the shop's owner Colby Morris.
We're glad the Triumph didn't pan out
“I’d been looking for an old Triumph to turn into a bobber,” Colby tells us. “But I kept running into basket cases: Early 70s Triumphs, literally apart and in boxes, which owners thought were worth five to ten thousand dollars. Very frustrating.”
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Go with what you know
However, Colby began to notice the plethora of good condition Sportsters for sale at low prices. The final star was when a 1998 model was traded in at his local Ducati dealer and that's when he struck. Faced with a different platform of the HD than he was used to he turned to a friend for help. “So I reached out to Richard ‘Mule’ Pollock for parts, guidance, and advice. He has been amazingly gracious with his time and knowledge.”
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Barely broken in
The Evolution engine on the Sportster had barely been broken in at just 8,400 miles on the odometer and would be a great base for the next step Colby would take. So, a power boost was sourced and installed in the guise of a Mikuni HSR 42 carb that upgraded the horsepower output by 12 ponies. Things were further improved via a Dyna 2000 ignition module, a Dyna Twin Fire coil and Sumax ThunderVolt plug wires. At the rear of the bike, the gases now exit from ceramic-coated exhaust pipework that Colby fabricated by hand.
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What's going on up there?
The front of the bike may look a bit odd to some due to the forks being that of a Suzuki GSX-R750 supplied by Mule and attacked with a gull-winged top triple from Tri-Angle Metal Fab. Mule also supplied a set of sparkly polished stainless bars with a street tracker bend, while the headlight and mounting system are a mix of Mule and Jaker Machine production.
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ROunding out the mods
For the sake of symmetry, Colby has moved the rear shock mounts forward three inches and installed a set of custom G3s from Race Tech Suspension. The aluminum tank comes from Storz and there's a whole new subframe supporting the First Klass Glass tail area. Underneath that is a very cool and modern Lucas-style LED taillight. The seat pad is now a very OEM appearing Saddlemen unit while the oil tank is a 3-quart Mooneyes model.
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Built for speed
After fitting all of the components together the bike was sent off to Autobahn Body Works who applied a simple monochrome scheme using BMW's Jet Black and Mini's Pepper White. A splash of gold provided by the chain that replaces the belt drive is the only color that really jumps out at you. The hand lettering was done by Charlie Decker of Bandit Pinstriping.
“Unlike the bobber I’d planned to build, I wanted this Sportster to be a bike you could ride for more than thirty minutes,” says Colby, “and push a little hard on Vermont mountain roads.”
>>Join the conversation about this Sportster from Tin Shack Restoration right here in HDForums.
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