1989 Harley Sportster Cafe Racer

I recently posted an interesting Yamaha XS650 by this same shop (Loaded Gun Customs), and now they have this cafe’d 1989 HD Sportster up for sale. It’s definitely got some nice mechanical bits on it (the rear-sets and clip-ons), and it has a nice simple look to it. My own Sportster hasn’t been converted quite this far yet, but its getting there.

This bike is probably a 1200, but the seller doesn’t actually say. However, they did put new 10:1 pistons in it, and the cylinders look awfully new, so I would guess they plopped a 883 to 1200 upgrade kit on it and called it a day. It is missing the headlight adjustment nut cover, which is kind of odd given that the rider would have to look at the exposed bolthead and any pooling water every time they rode the bike.

Anyways, there are 2 days left in the auction, and the price is just over $3K. Reserve hasn’t been met, and the Buy-It-Now price is $5,200, so your guess is as good as mine as to what the reserve price has been set at. This is a pretty nice example of a Sportster cafe compared to most that we see…

1999 Buell S3T Street Fighter

I haven’t posted too many Buells in the blog, but with the assumed passing of Buell I felt like this beautiful street fighter certainly deserves to represent. And if we are lucky, Harley will find someone to sell the brand to, much like GM did with Hummer and SAAB.

I don’t really have much to say about the bike as the pictures speak for themselves. It is obvious that a lot of work went into creating this masterful example of the street fighter genre. My favorite thing about this bike is the paint, as the flat black paint with orange highlighting is a really nice execution of the traditional Harley colors while maintaining a distinct persona. The Forcewinder intake is cool looking, but isn’t the highest flowing of the aftermarket intakes for the Sportster/Buell motor.

There are exactly 2 days left in the auction, and the price is currently $1,925 with 2 bidders. Reserve hasn’t been met, so bidding will need to go higher before this bike sells. This is a beautiful bike that should make the buyer very, very happy…

Not Another XLCR!?!?!?

Alright, alright. I know that almost every XLCR is the same as the last. Black with almost no modifications (if any). What can I say? A friend of mine really likes these bikes, and for those of us who are trying to convert a Sporty to a cafe racer this is the original…

Addtionally, this XLCR currently being auctioned on eBay is very clean and low miles (just over 4K). The price pretty reasonable, but with four days left, the auction has risen over $8,000. Still a good price given past sales for these bikes. If my friend hadn’t just bought a classic beemer, I’d be rooting for him to buy this bike. Oh well…

1992 Harley-Davidson Sportster Cafe Racer

It’s been a while since I posted a Harley, and this is certainly a pretty well put together cafe racer made out of a Sportster. This has one of the fullest conversions I’ve seen on a US Sporty, and I really like it. I’ve listed below nearly all of the stuff that the seller put in his listing (The bad and the good), so I won’t go on too long about this bike. As with all Sportsters, this bike shows how hard it is to get the seat right. For some reason, these bikes always seem to have such a low seating position that it can’t be good for handling or comfortable to sit on (knees have got to be ablaze after a matter of 30 minutes or so).

Anyways, good luck to anyone who bids on this bike. It seems to be one of the better solid-mount Sportster conversions, and surprisingly, there are no bids yet with two days left. Maybe it is the $3,800 starting price? We’ll see when it ends…
The Bad

The blinkers are there but not working
The paint could be freshened up and there is a oil leak
The starter relay ($10) is out but there is a button on the starter that works well

The Good

15,500 miles
Only about 3K on the new 10:1 Wisco 1207 pistons and Andrews N6 cams
Progressive springs
Gas Charged adjustable shocks (compression and rebound dampers)
Daytona Steering damper
Rockwall clip-ons
Chainsikle rear sets with a Buell shifter
Airtech XR750 rear fender
Custom made seat
Viper fairing
7” headlight
Custom Gas tanks with billet race cap and High flow petcock
New Dunlop 205 tires front and back (still have the wiskers)
Thunder Slide kit
Screamin Eagle ECU
Crane adjustable push Rods
Screamin Eagle 2 into 1 pipe, packing removed.
New High torque Starter
New chain

Storz Sportster Gas Tank

If you own a 2003 or older Sportster, this might just be your lucky day. Up for auction on eBay right now is this Storz road racing tank. The seller claims it is new, and it really looks unused. Too bad my cafe’d sportster is a 2005, and no one really makes a tank for the newer rubber-mount bikes. Bidding is only at $207 with less than 20 hours left. This could be a chance to get one of these nearly $1K tanks for much less than retail. Good luck!!!

Harley Davidson XLCR (not stock – Yeah!)

Finally! My wish has come true. Someone selling a 1977 HD XLCR with which they valued having a ride-worthy bike more than a “collectible” museum piece. This seller claims to have a motor built out of aftermarket parts (no Harley shite as an original rebuild using those parts didn’t work out so well for the seller). Not only is the engine gone through, but it has Ohlins shocks, Progressive fork springs, and stainless steel brake lines.

Now for the bad news. The stock drag-bar was replaced with some funky chromed pseudo-superbike bars (they actually look a bit taller than that). That’s it. There doesn’t appear to be any other bad news. And the auction is currently only at $5,500 with two days left (reserve not yet met). So if you are willing to replace the bars with something more suitable, or if the higher bars are more to your liking, this might be a perfect XLCR for the discerning AMF collector or aficionado! Good luck with the auction!

The most expensive cafe racer ever posted on this blog…

Okay, I’m sure this isn’t the most expensive cafe racer ever. But it is definitely the most expensive one I’ve ever posted. And it isn’t even an auction. $25K Buy-It-Now. And it’s in England…

What we have here is a Hogbitz cafe racer that is easily one of the more expensive Sportsters I’ve ever seen. What a beautiful bike. Now that it’s spring, the bikes are coming out of the woodwork, and I get to blog about some pretty cool machines. Hogbitz, in case you didn’t know, is a British company that takes Sportsters through 2003 and converts them to cafe racers for a fee (About $12-13K USD including bike for their most basic conversion). What we are looking at here is a very nice conversion that is being priced appropriately, but perhaps out of reach for most of us. Hopefully. I can finish the conversion of my own 2005 Sportster to something like this for much less than $25K even including my original purchase price. I am intrigued to see if this sells…
(Links below are to eBay and the actual bike being sold, the link in the text above is to Hogbitz)

2003 Harley-Davidson Sportster Cafe Racer

Here’s a really well done last-generation Sportster cafe racer. Nearly everything that can be done to it has been done. Only thing missing in my humble opinion is longer shocks in the back. Something like a 13.5″ adjustable Ohlins, or the Progressive 15″ shocks.

The price is kind of high for this bike. It is up on eBay with a Buy-It-Now of $8,500, but the auction price is starting at $7,400 and it has zero bidders.

I have to admit that I wish my Sportster looked like this. I have a feeling that mine would out-handle this one, but in looks and motor this one leaves mine for dead. Oh well. Maybe I can make some progress soon…

The Detroit Brothers Sportster Is For Sale Again?!?!?

How many times am I going to find this bike for sale on eBay? About 3 or 4 apparently…

I’m a little bit suspicious of this bike being for sale again. The seller gives some kind of light-weight explanation of the reason for the resale — “I won the Detroit Brothers Cafe Racer #26 from James about a month ago on ebay. I just want to go in a different direction.” Whatever.

If you are bidding on this bike, please do some My Messaging with the seller and with James from Detroit Brothers to try and track this bike down. I would hate for anyone to end up getting scammed…

1978 Harley-Davidson XLCR Sportster Cafe Racer

Up for auction on eBay right now (and going to sell for over $13K by the looks of it) is this 1978 Harley XLCR. It is in pretty good shape with very low miles (<4K). The current owner mentions a few minor wear-and-tear scratches and dings, but no close up photos of those that I could find. Lots of extras included in the auction…

I’m starting to feel kinda stupid posting different XLCRs. As the owner of a 2005 Sportster being converted into a cafe racer, I feel a little bit of loyalty to these original attempts at the factory cafe racer. But as I download and post more and more of these, I am beginning to realize that nobody does anything interesting to these bikes, and I could just as well post a picture of any one of the XLCRs that are for sale on any of the listings and it wouldn’t really make a difference. I mean, how many black sportsters (albeit XLCRs) can one person take?

I understand that they are considered a “collectible” Harley (especially out of the AMF years), but come on! Somebody has to have modded one of these. Bueller? Bueller? Bueller? If anyone has any good pics of a modded XLCR send them my way and I will post…

Those are some foggy gauges!!!