Dining at the Sportster Cafe

It's recently hit me like a ton of bricks: I want to give a Harley-Davidson Sportster the cafe treatment.

For so long, Milwaukee's small V-Twin has been victimized by choppers, bobbers and other people with a welder and too much time on their hands.  And when it's not being cut-up and ruined, the Sportster is passed off as a "girl's bike".  It's a shame, really, because the Sportster really isn't a bad bike.  It may not be the fastest, the most agile or the lightest bike in the world but it has history and character in spades.

As someone who has ridden a few Sportsters, I can say they aren't the most refined motorcycles on the road.  They have a heavy, industrial quality to them that isn't found on other motorcycles.  Everything feels solid, like the gear change, which has a nice thunk to it.  Sportsters are also heavy, weighing in at around 500  pounds or more, depending on model and year.  That weight shows itself in the corners where the Sportster's respectable, if not sporty, handling is displayed.  At it's heart, though, the Sportster is loud, crude and mean.  That's exactly what it should be, even if HD's marketing department is trying to sell the bike to women.

And after 54 years of drag racers, choppers, bobbers, customs and chrome, there really isn't any new ground for the Sportster to cover.

Oh, but there is.

Hiding beneath the chrome is a brilliant cafe bike just waiting to be unleashed, spewing the patented Harley sound on some unsuspecting rockers.  Let's have a look at some cafe'd Sportsters from around the Internet:

This Norley is a nice variation on the Triton theme.  A Triton is a Triumph twin mounted in a Norton Featherbed frame, combining the era's best powertrain (Triumph) with the best chassis (Norton Featherbed).  Norley means it's a Featherbed frame (Nor) with a Harley Sportster powertrain (Ley).  The Manx-style alloy tank and bum-stop seat make it look very period.  I like it.

Another very classic-looking Sportster cafe.  The green is a nice color and I dig the Vincent-style tank badge.  I could ride this and be happy.

I really like this Sportster.  The Manx tank is perfect and the badging is an homage to Vincent/HRD.  Beautiful, I love it.

Willie G. Davidson saw the Sportster's capacity as a cafe bike over 30 years ago when The Motor Company released the XLCR in 1977.  Unfortunately, nobody else saw that capacity and the XLCR was dropped after a two year run due to poor sales.  Now the bike's a collector's item.  Figures.

Roland Sands Design is even getting on the cafe Sportster train with this bike based on a wrecked Nightster.  I like the bike overall, but a few items like the exhaust, the lack of a front fender and the number 3 on the oil tank put me off.