Café bikes, hot rods, and street fighters are the flavor of the month at this design moment of custom motorcycles. Baggers are still in, but board trackers are fading into obscurity just like they previously did. It’s no surprise that a lot of garage builders are working on something they can ride the pants off as well as talk about. This is blue collar building at its best with imagination, skill, and hard work replacing super expensive, garage queen customs that owed their existence to Visa cards or long-gone portfolios. Real people are back in their garages building bikes to ride.

Jason Spice of Green Bay, Wisconsin, makes the best of the harsh Green Bay winters in his garage building a new custom every year. His latest build is not surprisingly based on a donor Buell like just about anyone with talent and ideas (along with a typical motorcyclist’s modest budget) who wants to build a custom Harley seems to do these days. “I found a donor Buell with a low mileage engine and transmission and I couldn’t pass it up,” he said. “All the leftover parts from the Buell I sold on eBay and it almost paid for the engine and trans entirely. I think it ended up costing me only $500 and for a Sportster-based engine complete, you just can’t beat it.”

There are so many unfounded, stupid prejudices against anything involving an XL-based custom that it makes you wonder why Jason chose to start with the often-maligned Sporty. “My first Harley was a 2001 Sportster Custom. I have always wanted a Harley, but the bigger models were overpriced and underpowered to me,” said Jason. “I was totally surprised. I really liked the Sportster as it was fun in the corners and really pulled hard.”

It’s no surprise what type of bike Jason would be leaning to with his motorcycle history. “I have quite a bit of a sports bike and classic bike background. Like almost any current Harley rider, I started on a metric bike. Foolish me, I started out on a crotch rocket and that lasted about a year before I nearly wrapped it around a tree,” said Jason. “But, that was many moons ago. After that, I pretty much got into cruisers, slowed down and got used to it again.” Well maybe he did, but that didn’t last too too long as Jason said,” “You know, you get the taste for horsepower. I’m sure it’s better than any drug out there ‘cause it’s almost a free rush.” The strong hint of a Brit-style café racer come through loud and clear and gives Jason the handling, power, and speed he craves even though he says he’s a cruiser type. He currently also owns a 2008 Hayabusa which everyone knows is famous for its feet forward, slow –speed cruising capabilities.

Jason attacked the engine first and rebuilt the top end, the lower end was peachy as is. “I rebuilt the top end with 2007 Sportster heads with the bathtub, the new castings off the new model. In the early ‘80s, Harley Sportsters had the sandcast bathtub heads and I was trying to get my hands on those, but found out how ultra-rare and pricey they were so I decided to go a different route and see what was available for a performance head,” said Jason. “The top notch companies were kinda out of my budget so I jumped onto a website called Sportster.org [www.sportster.org] and they’re pretty much the go-to place for any kind of Sportster info from early Ironheads all the way up to the current models. If you’re going to build a reliable engine, you gotta plan it out otherwise the engine will be lacking power or it will grenade.” Jason teamed up the heads with Wiseco 10.5:1 pistons, a Screamin’ Eagle 536 cam, 40mm Keihin CV carb topped with a Forcewinder air cleaner, and the end result dumps out through a Vance & Hines 2-into-1 header with an SS2-R muffler. “It’s a nice mellow tone, it’s not stock quiet and it’s not an open pipe,” he said. “I can’t stand drag pipes, I find them just obnoxious and I dobn’t want that much attention from the cops. It’s got 75 horsepower at the rear wheel verified by the dyno at Appleton Harley-Davidson.” One little item of his rebuild Jason can’t say enough about are the Cometic gaskets he used. “I consider ‘em the bar to which all others are measured,” he said. “They don’t leak and they don’t weep as long as they’re installed correctly.”

That 2001 Sportster he bought had a lasting effect on him as he used a Sportster frame instead of going to an aftermarket frame. It’s an uncut Sportster frame with the exception of the shortened struts in back because I shaved the fender,” said Jason. “The front end is off an M2 Cyclone and the rear shocks are from eBay off a Big Dog. They use Progressive Suspension and I believe it’s a 440 adjustable billet shock.” The front wheel is a Performance Machine Chicane catered to by Buell brakes when needed while the solid rear is a Sturgis Wheel Co. Smoothie and in combo they give it a bit of a drag bike look. By the way, those cool rearsets Jason used are by Chainsikle (www.chainsikle.com) and in case you’re interested in a pair them for your Sporty, he’s very pleased with them.

Normally a black paint job is appreciated, but nothing to get jazzed about possibly except for Jason who raved about the work done by Williams Auto Body of Green Bay. “I really gotta tell you how much I like his painting ‘cause it’s so hard to get somebody who’s really good at doing black,” said Jason adding, “and he does it flawlessly and I really got to give him a lot of credit.” But that’s not all as Jason insisted I mention about “a couple of guys over in the Appleton H-D service department who were Sportster nuts too and helped me make sure the ’07 heads would still fit with the older Buell motor” and Jim Niehaus at Title Town Cycles in Green Bay who helped on the engine (There you go Jason, you know where to send the $20)

Well it’s been winter in Wisconsin for a while now and Jason is out in the garage working on his next project. “I’m currently working on . . . well it’s going on six years now, my dream bike. I got a standard CFL frame from West Coast Choppers at their 10th anniversary half-price sale which I couldn’t pass up and have an Ultima 127” engine sitting on the bench for it,” said Jason. It’s no surprise then that the Sportster/Buell café racer is up for sale ($5,500) to help fund (and finish) that project. If you’re interested, drop Jason an email at jason1spice@yahoo.com.