We would say that this time, more than a complete Harley Davidson customization, it has been a restyling, since we have kept many original parts of this 2019 Iron 883, such as the wheels or the gas tank and its beautiful candy red paint.
This transformation of Harley Davidson has turned out to be one of the simplest custom motorcycle modifications that we have made and yet it has attracted a lot of attention among our customers and followers … As we sometimes say: “less is more”.
We have trimmed the subframe to turn this Harley into a single seater and we have manufactured a new very short rear fender, which we have accompanied with another trimmed front fender.
We have installed a Biltwell seat and manufactured a new side arm license plate holder for this Sportster Iron 883. Front led indicators integrated into the handlebar cones, a drag bar handlebar, metal covers for the fork bars between the triple clamps.
Biltwell grips, a Rough Craftsy air filter, exhaust tails with the original manifolds, along with other small details such as the elevation of the fuel tank; have shaped this beautiful Harley SPORTSTER IRON RED.
Regarding the paint, we have decided to keep the original color and graphics of the penaut fuel tank … a beautiful candy red. We have painted the side covers and the two fenders in matt black powder together with other parts of the bike (this electrostaticpowder painting job has been carried out by the metalcolors company)
Finally, we haveremapped this Harley Davidson with DIAG4BIKE and we have legalized all custom motorcycle modifications made by homologating the reforms made to this Sportster Iron Red.
On this occasion, we have achieved a brutal, strong and tough looking BMW Scrambler. All this, despite the fact that the R1150R models and their little sister the R850R, are perhaps somewhat complicated motorcycles to use as a basis for a good motorcycle transformation, (due to their fuel tank and front suspension system).
MODIFICATIONS
The removal of the entire fairing has been essential to start this project, as Fran Manen himself (owner of Lord Drake Kustoms) told us. Cutting of the subframe to convert the bike into a single-seater was another essential point and of course a pair of very radical tires such as the Continental TKC80.
Continental TKC80 tires
Tracker handlebar with mirrors and turn signals on the grips and minidigital odometer (all Motogadget brand) make up the part of the manual controls.
Motogadget Mini digital odometer
LED headlight
On the other hand, the oven-baked powder-coated bottles in gold, a LED headlight and a new minimalist fender give the front of this BMW R115R Scrambler a new look.
Handmade seat
A custom made seat, like the license plate support, heat tape on the manifolds and a small and more radical exhaust tail together with all the led lighting and other small details have given this imposing scrambler motorcycle look to a BMW R1150R somewhat complicated to customize (aesthetically speaking).
Other works
At Lord Drake Kustoms (as always and for all custom motorcycles for clients in Spain), we have carried out the homologation of all the reforms carried out on a scrambler motorcycle such as the BMW R115R Scrambler.
The owner of this customized Sportster, decided to buy a second hand bike and turn it into a Sportster cafe racer to his liking, after visiting the Harley Davidson dealership in Madrid. For this, he contacted our workshop specialized in customizations in Malaga.
After a long conversation with the owner of Lord Drake Kustoms (Fran Manen); we started this project of customization and transformation of a bike that would end up being a mix between a moto cafe racer and maybe a bobber.
The modifications made in this Sportster Cafe Racer
In our workshop specialized in Harley Davidson and custom motorcycles in Malaga, we began to dismantle the entire base bike, which was a Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 custom of the year 2007.
One of the few requests that the customer had was that the rear should stand out for the presence of a wide tyre. A wide tyre for the Sportster, which could be 240 or 200. Finally we opted for a 200 tyre so as not to be too exaggerated.
The customer also told us that he liked the metal finish that he had seen on some of our latest BMW Cafe Racer; so we decided to make a custom bike that combined the black powder paint (made by www.metalcolors.com) with the metal and some touches of chrome on the rims and engine.
Despite being a Sportster cafe racer, its style changed a bit when we decided to install a spring seat that was manufactured and upholstered by hand; since At Lord Drake Kustoms we have a service for the manufacture and upholstery of custom motorcycle seats.
The sprung seat along with the rather retro or bobber style rear light made this transformed bike look rather undefined in terms of style. What mattered, though, was that the end result looked just like the customer expected.
With our Motorcycle Homologation, all the alterations made to this stylishly transformed bike were legalised by a cafe racer.
And once this transformed Harley Davidson was approved, it was delivered to its owner in Madrid, with our own free motorcycle delivery and collection service.
Gallery of this Sportster Cafe Racer
TECHNICAL DATA
Base: Harley Davidson Sportster 1200 CUSTOM
Year: 2007
Displacement: 1200 cc
Exhaust: vance and hines
Air filter: custom
Shock absorbers: 12.5″.
Fork: Original modified
Odometer: Original
Hand controls: Semi-rings, fists, etc.
Foot controls: modified
Rims: 6×16-spoke rear with 200″ tyre
Fuel tank: custom with modified height
Seat: handmade spring seat
Front fender: handcrafted
Rear fender: handmade
License plate holder: handmade
Chassis: Modified subframe
Illumination: front turn signals on handles, pilot and rear turn signals LED’s, indicators, etc.
Black powder coating and chrome and matt lacquered metal finishes.
Today we present the new BMW R100 Cafe Racer style, Scrambler and touches of Bobber and Old Style in green color.
It is a custom bike based on the BMW model from the early 80’s.
The bike we have here today is an early 1980s BMW R100 with a Boxer engine. This bike is quite a significant bike, it’s very fashionable these days. In previous chapters you have seen that we have made some similar ones.
And well, the main feature of this bike compared to others we have made of the style is the color, we have not painted it neither black, nor gray as they usually are, nor with the metal bare… we have put a nice English green. And otherwise, as you see is a bike that from front to back has touches of Cafe Racer, touches of Scrambler and touches Bobber or “Old Style”.
Highlight the hanging seat from the chassis. The integrated turn signals at the ends of the handlebars and the odometer. The dirt tires we have put on it, the exhaust and, in general, the work that has been done on “restyling”.
If you liked this BMW R100 Cafe Racer or Scrambler, do not forget to subscribe to our channel, because in the next chapters you will see many more works on BMW R base and Boxer engine that will surprise you … We are waiting for you!
Today I’m going to tell you about a Triumph Bonneville called “Scarface” that we did in 2013 in Miami.
The first idea I had was to make a Cafe Racer because at that time, in 2013, and even more so in Miami, it was a style that was not yet hitting very hard, but in Europe was already beginning to give enough “beat” what is the theme Cafe Racer.
How was customized this Triumph Bonneville Cafe Racer
And well, I got to work, we dismantled it completely and the first thing I did to get out of the way was that I didn’t want to paint the bike either in black or in typical colors like black, chrome, brown, gray…
That was Miami, there’s a lot of light, there’s sunshine, and I wanted to call attention to it. So the first thing I did before was to paint it in a white color, which I accompanied with some lines in green type “racing green” to give a little elegance to the painting.
And finally I put a lot of details in an “aged gold” color to complete everything that is the “package” so characteristic of the bike.
Double winner at Rat’s Hole Bike Show
I finished this bike practically 7 or 8 hours before starting a very famous Bike Show held in the USA, which is the Rat’s Hole. It’s very well known because it’s sometimes broadcast on the Discovery Channel.
We carry this bike and another very famous one of mine, which is the Harley-Davidson Dyna “Red Baron”. And that day, I was very happy with this bike because it was the first time I went out with it on the street and it became the second position or was runner-up in the Cafe Racer category in this prestigious Bike Show.
But also, the good thing about it is not that it only came second, but that the bike that beat it was also mine. That is to say, that day I did a double at the Bike Show at the Rat’s Hole in the USA, in Leesburg, Florida.
Why this Triumph Bonneville Cafe Racer is called “Scarface”
There was one customer in particular, Sebastian, who from the moment he saw it finished started to tell me: “You have to call this bike ‘Scarface'”. And I was like, “Why Scarface Sebastian?”
And he told me: “Very simple, you made the bike in Miami, it’s white like coc**ne, and then you put a lot of details in gold like everything that Al Pacino liked in the movies. So, it’s a good idea to put ‘Scarface’ on it.
A proud new owner
And later, I decided to put it on sale, like all the bikes I was making, I put them on sale, obviously. And surprisingly, one day I received an email from the manager of the guitarist of a famous rock group from California, telling me that this person wanted to contact me and he was interested in the bike.
And well, finally we reached an agreement, I had the opportunity to meet the future owner, he came to see the bike, he loved it and well, I sold him the bike and two weeks later he sent a transport from California to Miami to pick it up and send it back.
He was so happy with the bike, he liked it so much, that he also said that usually this kind of bike is made to measure, you always want to make it to your liking, but what happened with this bike is that it was already made. That is, he found the bike he was looking for, saw it and said “I don’t want to change anything, it’s just the bike I want it”.
This bike we have here today is a 2003 Triumph Bonneville. It belongs to a client who brought it to us a few years ago for a restyling. It was in a sorry state, it really was aesthetically to be thrown away.
The process of reconstruction of this Triumph Bonneville
And we decided to start from scratch with it, we dismantled it completely and ended up turning it into this beautiful Brat style bike, Cafe Racer / Brat which is the style it has, as it has many elements of what Cafe Racer is, but at the same time it has details, like the handlebars, that remind us a little of Scrambler.
It is not the typical Cafe Racer handlebar, or the seat either. Hence its name, Brat, a mix between Cafe Racer, Scrambler… a hybrid.
The most significant thing about this custom Triumph?
Well, the seat that has been made with the rear light embedded inside the seat, the indicators integrated into the chassis tube, odometer, an improved rear suspension with Öhlins shock absorbers.
Braking has also been improved with a Brembo brake system. A metallic black powder coating with gold glitter, and Firestone Deluxe tyres that are very characteristic of Cafe Racer bikes, or with a “retro” or “vintage” look.
If you liked this bike, do not miss the next chapters where we will present new Cafe Racer and Scramblers, built with other BMW, Japanese and even some Harley-Davidson bases.
You will be surprised and like them. We are waiting for you!
We continue with the second part of the series of videos about the best Bike Show with which Lord Drake Kustoms has won awards at the most prestigious Bike Shows around the world. If you missed the first video, you can watch it here.
Fran Manen tells us how his life changed when he won the legendary Daytona Bike Week and the Rat’s Hole, as well as his many world championships in Europe until he became the world’s runner-up.
Daytona Bike Show
There was a moment when even my wife said to me: “You have to see, with what you like motorcycles, what you had before in Spain that you had to sell it to make your dream come true and now, that you are all day making motorcycles here… and you really don’t have a bike of your own“. And I said, “Well, it’s true.” So I decided to built a bike in Miami to bring it to Spain and have it for my holidays.
And as the bike was taking shape, the customers that were coming started to tell me, “Hey Ali, why don’t you take the bike to the Daytona Bike Show at Daytona Bike Week?“ And I was like, “Don’t tell me that because… I’m gonna make a fool of myself there…” But such was the insistence that I ended up agreeing to take the bike I was working on for myself.
The day of the Bike Show in Daytona arrived, I took my bike and I registered it in the Cafe Racer category. It was a Harley Davidson Dyna, which I turned into Cafe Racer. Maybe it was the first Cafe Racer Dyna ever made in the world. I introduced it and I spent the rest of the show riding around, taking pictures and hallucinating with the works that were there. I had always dreamed of visiting the Daytona Bike Show, even as a tourist.
And a while later, my friends and my wife began to call me… “Hey Ali, come here, a journalist wants to talk about this bike”.
So the afternoon arrived and the awards ceremony and my surprise is that when they are going to give the winner of the Cafe Racer category, they announce that the winner is Lord Drake Kustoms and Francisco Alí Manén with the Cafe Racer that he had presented.
Probably… it’s one of the greatest things that has ever happened to me.
Winning that prize meant, not the implicit economic remuneration, but the great promotion that it meant… I won the lottery and it changed my life.
Because, for example, two hours after the award ceremony, I was surrounded by journalists, taking photos and recording my bike. But I was press from the biggest elite of the world… from Japan, from the USA… To the point that after that show, journalists from Germany, from Australia, from Japan came to see me in Miami… to report on that bike.
What did I get out of it?My name, which was already working quite well in Miami, was launched to the rest of the world. It changed everything and I realized from that day that that bike, without waiting, was a winning bike.
I automatically put that bike in a trailer and, from that same event, they didn’t stop inviting me to other Bike Shows that were held in Florida and other places. I practically spent two months traveling around the USA, presenting the bike and winning prizes in the biggest motorcycle rallies and bike shows in the USA.
Rat’s Hole Custom Bike Show
Two months later, another edition of Rat’s Hole, the famous American Discovery Channel Rat’s Bike Show, came to Leesburg.
And I was back with the Red Baron and a Triumph Bonneville. I presented myself to the Cafe Racer category and in that prestigious Bike Show I was again, this time not champion, but I was champion and runner-up in the same category. That is, both my bikes did a double.
The European tour
Some time later, due to the success I already had in the USA, people asked me for motorcycles, they asked me for motorcycles from almost all over the world.
It was then that I decided to open my workshop in Malaga, in Velez Malaga, my hometown. And once I worked again in Spain, I started to participate in Bike Shows at a European level.
And that same year I travelled to Saint Tropez (France), to the Harley Davidson Eurofestival, where I came second in Europe.
And so, from 2014 to 2019 and until 2020 I have achieved, among many other awards, to be four times European champion, customizing Harley Davidson and four times runner-up in Europe, also customizing Harley Davidson.
In 2016, I participated for the first time in the World Championship, which this time was held in Germany. I finished fifth in the world. And in 2019, I went back to this same World Championship and became a runner-up.
In Japan, for example, I was named one of the top ten Harley Davidson-based scrambler manufacturers in the world in 2015-2016. That included me in the Top Ten with my big TV idols in this kind of customization. And well, and as a result, I can tell you that I have more than twenty international awards and recognitions.
Homologate a custom motorcycle is one of the questions that our customers and users ask us the most.
Did you have problems passing the ITV (Technical Inspection of Vehicles) of your motorcycle? Do you think it will not be possible to ride with a modified motorcycle?
We answer to these and more questions, in this video. Homologate a custom motorcycle like Cafe Racer, Scrambler, Bobber or any other style is possible in Spain and here we explain the steps to follow.
Steps to homologate a custom motorcycle
The first thing, when the bike is finished, an engineer must come to make the project of the entire reform.
Once the engineer does the project, the next thing to do would be to ask the relevant laboratories for certificates or reports of conformity of all these reforms.
And once we have the engineer’s project, the laboratory’s compliance report and the certificate issued by the workshop, in this case by us, all that you have to do is to send it to ITV.
There, the ITV technician will check everything. If it is correct, he is going to give us an appointment, so that we can later pass the motorcycle an inspection that confirms that everything in the project and the documentation coincide with reality.
It is true that there are some restrictions when approving a motorcycle. There are things that are allowed and others that are not. But the key to all this is that when making a motorcycle you have to build it and install a series of components that are regulated by ITV and homologation laws here in Spain, for reforms.
As long as you respect the laws and rules of these reforms, you will not have problems later to approve.
If you liked the video, don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE and “Like it” so that we can continue offering you more videos like this.
Runner-up in the world in the category Best Transformed Harley Davidson, is one of the best Cafe Racer tribute to Porsche.
This Harley Davidson Sportster 883, converted to Cafe Racer and a tribute to the legendary Porsche brand, takes its name from one of the most famous models of this German brand, the “Speedster”.
This is the story of the customization of a Harley Custom Bobber built in record time to be auctioned at a charity gala organized by Antonio Banderas during Miami Fashion Week 2019.
Coinciding with the first anniversary of Lord Drake Kustoms’ attendance at Miami Fashion Week for the Charity Gala organized by Antonio Banderas, Fran Manen reveals in this new chapter of the LDK TV channel, many surprises and anecdotes from that event.
Getting a record in the customization of a motorcycle in just 3 days, the result was the spectacular “Rusty Rush”. A Harley Davidson Sportster converted to Bobber style, which was auctioned at the Antonio Banderas gala during the celebration of 2019 Miami Fashion Week and which was exhibited on its catwalk during the entire duration of the parades.
This event was a before and after for Lord Drake Kustoms, since, apart from receiving great recognition, it was the seed of other future projects.
![🏆 Best Bike Show Awards by Lord Drake Kustoms [Part 2]](https://www.lorddrakekustoms.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/miniatura-premios-2-web-en.jpg)
