I loved everything about the early Sportys from the size and the power and the experience. That’s something I’ve always carried right up to the rubber-mounted Sportys of today in all their various and lovely itinerations. Whether it’s the currently-hip blacked-out or the fat front tire versions of Harley’s do-all XL model that’s put it back up on its rightful pedestal is not as important to me as just not having to come up with reasons why I like Harley’s smallest air-cooled V-twin. It’s a great all-round bike that’s a six-speed tranny away from being just right. The latest Evo-engine 883 and 1200 models are damn near perfect as far as reliability goes and they just love to have mods thrown at them too.

 

   Recently displaced to the USA (by his own choice) German customizer, Eric Vauth of House of Thunder USA in Miami Beach, Florida, likes his Sportsters too when you check out the nice job he did bringing a 2009 883L from beginner’s bike to cool café racer. Actually, it’s worth checking this bike out if you’ve got an 883L hanging around in your garage and you’re trying to figure out what to do with it. Even the most basic of bikes can become quite charming and personal with the right mods and by the looks of Eric’s bike, this is definitely a cool café way to go.

 

   Eric’s selective choice of Harley OEM pieces, aftermarket parts, and tasteful use of color gives his café racer version of Harley’s venerable XL series a look and style all its own. Using an 883L as a basis gave him a classic raw finish engine to which he added black engine covers for contrast and the look of vintage black enameled tins. Making the 883 perform and sound about as well as it can is possible without involving internal modes with Eric’s choice of a stain black Vance & Hines Shortshots staggered exhaust and a free-breathing air cleaner was a wise choice. You can always drop in a big-bore kit and a cam later if one felt the need and most would appreciate it once it was modified.

 

   Dropping the forks a bit through the trees quickened up the handling while the always tasty addition of pleated rubber fork gaiters adds the right amount of charm with blacked-out style. Personally, I would have liked to see some slightly-taller, high-quality aftermarket rear shocks to enhance the road handling while providing a little more useful travel for comfort. I’m probably the only one here that feels that way so I’ll give him a pass on that one as low is how you go with a custom for most people.

 

   Maybe it’s just the low clip-ons and the mid controls that lead me to believe that a café racer is meant to go quickly from point A to point B, but I like the style just standing still. It’s a clean, tight look that’s as basic as you can build, but it does hit me where I live so to speak. Even the single freestanding speedo has a touch of a Vincent to it and that’s not a bad thing. Making the one instrument a style point has totally worked in Eric’s favor and you’ve got to give him points for not eliminating it somehow for something hidden or strictly digital. He used what he had and in this case, embraced it.

 

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   Where he took a nice turn, in my opinion, was in his color palette with an elegant yet simple orange and black paintjob with an always beautiful simple Bar & Shield logo on the tank. Same appreciation goes to his minimalist front fender that barely fends off anything but DMV inspectors. I do like that he just didn’t exclude the front fender totally, but used enough to hold the paint together nicely. Again, same goes for the now-gold stock mags. Just changing the color took them out of OEM land and bringing it together with the headlight’s gold trim ring was a nice hoop-dee touch. All the colors lend a nice warm feel of togetherness to the whole design while definitely looking upscale.

 

   All in all, Eric did a great job of making a bare-bones Sportster Low much more special. It’s a really neat-o looking finished build that looks like it cost a lot more than was spent and will never get lost in a crowd. Hopefully this got a couple of you to at least start thinking about what you can do to your Sportster over the long winter months we’ve got ahead. If you don’t have a Sportster and live in the Miami area, this baby’s for sale at a $10.5K asking price.

 

   For more information on House of Thunder USA, check out their website at http://www.houseofthunderusa.com/.