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 running model and will celebrate its 60th anniversary this summer so just having a heritage like that certainly takes it out of the Sportster insult of the month club to me. Same goes for Robert Newman.
When it came time for his latest custom build, it’s no surprise he chose a 2009 Sportster as his vehicle to customize. It’s also no surprise he turned to a friend, Mark Cheek of Little Rebel Customs in Swan Creek, North Carolina, to build it for him. Robert had such faith in Mark that his only requirement was that “It’s gotta be in the Gulf GT40 paint scheme.” I’m sure there was some kind of budget, but getting to build the bike exactly the way Mark thought it should be for Robert had to be a pleasure all builders would love to have. Freedom of expression has to be at the top of the list for any builder.
You can’t help but notice there’s a lot of pop and polish coming directly out of the engine bay. The XL1200 Evo engine looks like it was dragged through a river of chrome.
There’s a buncha new bits on there too that add to the performance like the large mesh bell mouth air cleaner lets the EFI breathe like the EPA never intended. The lovely 2-into-1 GT40-style bundle of snakes exhaust tucks in nicely in almost a ‘70s street scrambler style and delivers quite a bit more snarl that the DOT never expected. It doesn’t take much to wake up a Sporty and it’s something you can feel on the street in everyday use. Besides, once this Sporty’s awake, you’re really gonna know it with just these two changes alone.
The stock chassis was left as is from the factory, but all the suspension bits attached to it were changed. Up front, the stock Sporty front end is gone and replaced with something shinier and sleeker. All the better to hold the new 23-inch swirling five-spoke wheel with big speed holes in every spoke just to add a bit more dazzle. The barely visible tire sidewall and wheel is covered in a fat fender that encompasses a good half of the front wheel, but doesn’t look the least bit out of place. A single six-piston caliper grabs a wheel–emulating rotor and gives a full view of the big wheel on the right side. Other than the fender and tire, everything else took a bath in chrome.
Same goes for the fat 18-inch rear wheel bookending the engine room and all that chrome provides a wild backdrop for the Gulf GT40 paint scheme to come. Not surprisingly, a chain final drive conversion slims things up and provides the necessary room for the fatter Avon rear tire. Mark kept the swingarm suspension, but with what are probably the shortest shocks possible that still qualify as suspension. Somehow I can’t help but feel that with a big guy’s weight on their there’s not a bit of travel left. Maybe it’s technically a suspended rigid or something like that. It does look pretty cool, though, and that’s what custom bikes are all about ─ the cool factor.
Mark then turned to the bodywork and matched the front fender with a similar full-width, but fatter rear fender. It’s held in place by stock-style fender struts that have been run through the chrome vat until they matched the show quality of the other shiny bits. The XL1200C fuel tank was cleaned up a bit and smoothed over while fitted with a custom gas cap for a different than stock appearance. An OEM oil tank still does its thing, but there’s just a patch or two of chrome to bring it in line with every other bit on bling on board.
As far as the rider goes, Mark elected to run a tidy set of apes that would have to appeal to a big guy rider. Obviously the hand controls and grips got the chrome dip too. Same goes for the forward controls whose foot and control pegs end in points just like the grips on the bars. Between the points and the chrome, there’s a lot of good design continuity going on here. Butch Watson of HighRollers Cycle Seats stitched up another of his fabulous rider perches, this one in the style of a racing seat cover that also happens to look pretty comfy too. I’m sure it helps with those shorty-shorty shocks sitting just below it. All in all, it looks like a very rideable bike that could also be entered in shows on a whim.
The final piece to this puzzle came courtesy of Peter Weber of Weber’s Custom Art in Statesville, North Carolina. Peter was responsible for laying down the iconic Gulf livery made famous on Ford’s 24 Hours of Le Mans winning GT40 race car. One thing I can’t help but add is that it’s also associated with the King of Cool himself, Steve McQueen, and his 1971 film Le Mans where he drove a Porsche 917 in Gulf livery. Somehow this Gulf paint scheme has been popular for a good 50 years now and there appears no stopping to its ongoing popularity. Some things just look timeless and apparently that’s exactly what we’re looking at here.
There’s a number 11 on the fender that appears to correspond to the 1968 Gulf Ford effort where three GT40s, #9, 10, and 11 were entered. Unfortunately #11 was a DNF after the car went off a turn and ended up completely in a sandbank on the course leading to its withdrawal after the driver alone heroically dug it out using his hands and a mirror or something. They don’t tend to carrying a shovel in a race car now or then. Maybe a race fan threw him one from his campsite along the track.
Robert Newman was thrilled with the final result Mark Sheet presented him and entered it in last year’s Easyriders Charlotte show that was basically snowed out. In Charlotte, North Carolina, of all places. He signed up for this year’s show and hardly rode it so as not to put a bite on a brand new bike. Unfortunately, Robert passed just before the 2017 show, but that didn’t stop his dream Sporty from being there. His good friends, Mark Cheek and Rocky Bryant, brought it there and displayed it in a show of respect to a good friend. Just like #11 at Le Mans, it didn’t win, but it sure was there. Sometimes that’s all you got and that’s all that counts.