By guest writer Scott of Pipeburn. Lucien Frelin is a talented young bike builder, graphic designer and photographer from Norfolk, Virginia. Not only did he build this amazing looking 2003 Sportster 883R in his garage, but he also took this beautiful moody looking photograph of his pride and joy. Although he has used many stock parts from the original bike like the headlight, hand controls and brake lines, it’s the custom bits that make it special—as always. The frame is a drop-seat gooseneck from the guys at Detroit Bros, and the bike is running a 21”x3” front and 18”x180 rear wheel/tire combo. Frelin has converted the bike to chain drive, and the front end is from a 2001 Buell Cyclone with a dual caliper set-up. One of my favorite features is the gas tank, which is from a 1972 AMF-Harley Rapido 125cc dirt bike. That’s not something you see every day on a Sportster. I’m sure it won’t be to everyone’s taste, but I think he’s created something truly unique that has a great combination of modern and classic style. Lucien’s other hobby is building 1920s-style motorized cruiser bicycles which you can check out at Ghent Cruisers. To view more pics of his one of a kind Sportster custom, visit Lucien’s Flickr page.
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10 Comments
I appreciate the amazing creativity and engineering skill that went into this bike, on the other hand…
Cruiser pegs and dropped bars = Really uncomfortable and terrible riding form.
it amazes me that someone can take a prefectly good motorcycle and turn it into a piece of crap like that
Yeah sorry man, this looks terrible. The lines are all ruined, the stretched hardtail is just stupid, and the “moody” picture just makes it too hard to see any detail. And unless you’re a pretty tall dude, that bike will be uncomfortable as hell to ride.
Thanks for the article! Reads great! I love my bike and it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. It’s a young man’s bike and definitely not for short people.
Love the bike. Very creative.
I don’t get it, I love Detroit Bros bikes but for some reason this one just doesn’t have the right lines and looks kinda stock and bland. There are way better examples on the bros forum page of garage builds using their parts and frames. Sorry dude.
Great job! You see it takes an engineer outside of HD to make one of their bikes even remotely appealing. This is a great looking bike and I think it really shows some great engineering. The drop frame is a sweet new spin on the chopper world. Too bad HD fans, we all know that if HD had this frame as an option you sheeple would have this on a t-shirt in a second. It is a real shame that the HD fans out there can only see a well-built HD if they can buy the parts off a shelf and brag about how hard the package was to open. HD riders for the most part are all the same group of d-bags that we have grown to expect. When you morons talk it comes out like white noise. Oh and by the way, good job HD for running off the young market with your completely pathetic attempt to be hip with the kids. Here is the secret; we all know about you stupid secret black book, and it is a complete joke like your company. P.S. Do you still work with AMF? At least then you had some balls. Losers.
Hey Luc, bike came out excellent! I kinda feel a connection to the bike, I’m the guy who bought all your spare parts! LOL!
xraytoken — thanks man.. yeh your purchase was greatly appreciated!
lucien, great build!!! looks good. some people don’t get it! the creative process and the engineering involved in the frame up type build.some don’t want to work that hard. for them it’s easier to write a check for their bragging rights. and for all you hard core harley fans, there are a dozen or so foriegn parts on your american made ride, natl sales down 84%, selling off buell and HD possibly on the table for sale to a foriegn company. they’re not parting with their boutique line,they sell more clothes than bikes!!!