H-D XR1200 Café Racer custom

Ex-AMA 250GP racer and now well-known tuner Roland Sands has revealed his latest creation, a hardcore Harley-Davidson XR1200 Café Racer.

Boasting a custom aesthetic that will appeal to a wide range of riders, the chain-driven Roland Sands Design (RSD) Harley-Davidson XR1200 Café Racer is guaranteed to turn heads wherever it goes. And with a two-into-one Vance & Hines exhaust system with virtually no silencing, this particular Café Racer can be expected to create a scene.

As the photo shows, there's very little of the original H-D XR1200 left in the RSD, which was built in California, with the majority of the chassis elements replaced with top shelf performance items.

Take the front end for instance – it now gets fully adjustable Ohlins forks with radial brakes bolted onto a billet aluminium front wheel from Performance Machine.

Together with a single Ohlins rear shock working with a tubular single-sided swingarm (making use of Ducati linkages) the bike RSD Harley-Davidson XR1200 Café Racer is likely to handle very well indeed.

The attention to detail is impressive, and a new rear subframe and seat combine with clip-on handlebars and new rearsets to deliver an aggressive riding position.

RSD has retained the Harley Davidson fuel tank and as mentioned earlier the belt drive has given way to a chain drive. If you look closely you'll even see crash bungs (which suggests it will be taken on the race track) and the matte black paint job is joined by pentagram RSD logos and 666 numbering to give the XR1200 Café Racer a demonic edge.

Full the full story behind the bike's creation, check out the Roland Sands Design blog.