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The title of this post, Harley Sportster Café Racer is a bit misleading; it only uses the engine of a Sportster, all other parts are custom or from other bikes. This beauty is built by Ardent Motorcycles. Founder Curtis Miller has worked as “an artist” the last 30 years, mainly fabricating custom furniture. His background as artist and motorcycle enthusiast made him decide to build custom motorcycles.

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer

Let’s start on the front: this comes from a CBR1000RR with some really nice cast spokes. The big black USD fork with adjustable suspension and radial brakes are able to control the torquey Sportster engine.

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 3

This Harley Sportster Café Racer is inspired by the Norton Manx from 1962. The Sportster engine was fitted in a custom welded “featherbed” twin hoop frame.

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 2

The bike draws some serious attention regarding Curtis:

The “Cafe Sportster” has a tough, no nonsense, racy look. This bike draws a crowd everywhere you go. I’m not kidding. I’ve been surrounded at gas stations and on street corners, even had people come up to me in restaurants to rave about the bike.

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 7

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 6

The rearsets where also an own design: simple and clean. No levers here, but an internal mechanism that helps the rider selecting a gear.

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 11

Both form and function where kept in tact with a beautiful seat cowl and oil reservoir in one:

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 10

Hate it or love it, but I have to admit: the Sportster engine is an absolute beauty and is perfectly displayed in the custom frame.

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer 9

And as you would expect from an artist like Curtis, it all started on a white paper:

Harley Sportster Cafe Racer Concept

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By Published On: April 25, 2016Categories: Cafe Racer0 Comments on Harley Sportster Cafe Racer by Ardent MotorcyclesTags: 1.9 min readViews: 1187

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About the Author: Ron Betist

Ron Betist grew up with motorcycles with a father heading the Amsterdam motorcycle police force. He has been riding (legally) for over 40 years and motorcycles are his true passion. With a life-long career in marketing and sales he has a huge international network. He joined as a contributor at BikeBrewers in 2017 to spread his word about bikes with the rest of the world.

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