Shaw Speed & Custom’s Harley 1200 Sportster

Shaw Speed & Custom's Harley 1200 Sportster
What sort of custom bike can you get for $10,000 to $15,000? I get a lot of emails asking that question. They’re usually from people who want the reliability of a low-mileage bike, but with a different look.

This custom Harley 1200 Sportster from Shaw Speed & Custom in the UK is one answer: the total cost of this Sportster was just £8,500. (That’s just under US$13,500 at today’s exchange rate.)

Shaw Speed & Custom's Harley 1200 Sportster
Shaw Speed is an offshoot of a major UK Harley-Davidson dealer, so they plucked out a 2006 Harley Sportster XL1200R from the fleet of trade-ins and set to work. The Sportster was lowered front and back, and a bespoke rear fender was fabricated. A sprung solo seat was also added, and the original tank was modified with a rib running along its centerline. New custom bars were fitted up front, the speedo was lowered, and the headlight was remounted.

Shaw Speed & Custom's Harley 1200 Sportster
The stock wheels were satin powdercoated and fitted with old-school Avon rubber at the back and a Metzeler Karoo dual sport tire up front. According to Shaw’s Steve Willis, the combo works well—they’ve used it on several bikes that are running around London.

Shaw Speed & Custom's Harley 1200 Sportster
The result is pretty distinctive; as Willis says, “You don’t need a millionaire’s budget to build a cool and individual bike.”

Head over to the SS&C website for more custom Sportster builds, including the big money, award-winning ‘XLST3′ Sportster custom we profiled a year ago.

Shaw Speed & Custom's Harley 1200 Sportster

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