Robert Newman of Elkin, North Carolina, is one of those big guys who loves small(er) things, in this case, Harley-Davidson Sportsters. Being a big guy, I doubt anyone ever opened their mouth to tell him his Sportster was a girl’s bike or a beginner’s bike or whatever stupid insult people still sometimes say about Harley’s beloved Sportster. Hey, the Sporty is Harley’s longest...

   But, things still aren’t what you’d expect even after you got rid of the style points Harley worked so hard to do on the Seventy-Two. Oh, you know things like the ‘70s attitude enhancing apes or the extensive chrome and especially the vintage thin stripe whitewalls made just for this model. Then, you mix up a new retro custom concoction chucking the complete OEM front end and...

   The easiest way to that goal that I’ve seen is a custom Harley-Davidson Sportster for any good number of reasons. One, they’re a damn fine bike no matter what derogatory stuff you may have heard especially the later rubber-mount ones. I’m a huge fan of rubber mounting as riding a pre-2004 Sportster over 60-65mph for any length of time is pretty numbing at least to me anyway....

   Erik was a very good engineer at Harley and the bikes bearing his name had some innovative engineering like rubber-mounting, good brakes and suspension and a hot rod Sportster engine, but they unfortunately lacked panache ─ Harley-Davidson panache. Erik almost single-handedly made “mass centralization” a term that other manufacturers across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans...

  Take this lovely little piece called the LC Speedster for instance, it’s a completely practical motorcycle that looks like it would be a fantastic blast to hop on to and ride until the tank hits empty. And, that’s exactly what I wish I could do as it just looks so road-right from axle to axle in a barrel-chested way. Compared to a couple of previous Barnett’s Magazine Online...

   Erik was a very good engineer at Harley and the bikes bearing his name had some innovative engineering like rubber-mounting, good brakes and suspension and a hot rod Sportster engine, but they unfortunately lacked panache ─ Harley-Davidson panache. Erik almost single-handedly made “mass centralization” a term that other manufacturers across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans...

      So what makes it so special that I’m declaring my “love” for this Sportster custom known as Animal? It’s not what you might think as nothing so special like it’s never been done before in all honesty, but it’s a dandy piece of combining all the things that pull at my custom bike heart strings in jus the right way. It’s light, fast, loud, sharp looking with a nice stance, and...

  The builder of this bike, Dave Cutler of C4-Revolutions in Orlando, Florida, comes as a surprise, but then when you think about it, it shouldn’t. You see Dave’s a big-time stunter and his business reflects that. He makes a line of products geared to hardcore stunters that are made to take the abuse a stunt rider can dish out without even trying hard. Yeah, it’s probably of not...

Justin Del Prado of DP Customs doesn’t mind budget being used in association with his shop’s mantra of building cool bikes that are affordable. To him, budget just means using imagination, skill, and patience to make a kick-ass bike that will not only make its new owner thrilled, but keep Justin’s passion for building one-off bikes as his day job. If DP Customs or Justin seems...

Justin Del Prado of DP Customs doesn’t mind budget being used in association with his shop’s mantra of building cool bikes that are affordable. To him, budget just means using imagination, skill, and patience to make a kick-ass bike that will not only make its new owner thrilled, but keep Justin’s passion for building one-off bikes as his day job. If DP Customs or Justin seems...