Roland Sands Design is a motorcycle, product and apparel company that has its roots in racing, custom bike building and design. RSD’s inspiration comes from a high performance background, and many of the staff are active racers—including off-road, dirt track and supermoto riders.
Sands himself is from Long Beach, California, and grew up in a family that was immersed in the motorcycle industry. Sands quickly developed his own love of speed, and spent ten years racing professionally, setting multiple track records around the world. In 1998 he became the American Motorcyclist Association’s 250GP champion, but after 32 broken bones, Sands decided to trade in his leathers for a hammer, pencil and computer—designing and building bikes, hard parts and accessories, and apparel.
In 2005, he founded the company Roland Sands Design, drawing on influences from the sport bike and chopper worlds. He has since played a pivotal role in popularizing high performance custom bikes to the masses.
Buell Motorcycles made a splash over the weekend with the launch of the new Super Cruiser. Based on the company’s 1190 platform, the new bike is Roland Sands’ take on a Buell cruiser. It’s part of a product offensive from Buell that includes the 1190 SX and Hammerhead sportbikes, as well as the upcoming Baja…
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There’s a new Buell motorcycle on the way. Yes, you read that right: a new Buell. And, unlike any previous Buell, this new bike is a heels-in-the-air, high-bar, cruiser. The new Buell Super Cruiser was unveiled on Friday with its designer, Roland Sands, in California. The new bike has Buell’s ET-V2 engine, a 1190 cc,…
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Movie star bikes, limited edition factory specials and fantastic customs—this week’s Speed Read has it all. There’s a Ducati Desmosedici RR from RSD, a Norton Commando, and a chance to own James Bond’s Triumph Scrambler. But first, we break from our usual programming to show you something we hardly ever feature: a high-spec superbike.
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Unless your internet’s been down for the past year, you probably know about the phenomenon that is bagger racing. MotoAmerica’s King of the Baggers is a six-race series for big race-prepped American V-twins, complete with fairings and panniers. It sounds ridiculous, but it’s produced some gnarly racing—and some pretty wild machines. Roland Sands Design are…
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Vintage motorcycles are charming, but they can be a real pain to live with. So what do you do if you want…
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We’re heavy on Bavaria this week, with a blacked-out BMW R18 from Harley specialist MB Cycles and a flat track-inspired R100 from…
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Customization can be about aesthetics and performance, but it can also be about making a motorcycle fit its rider better. This wild…
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Would you pay $27,000 for a Ural sidecar rig? That’s the asking price for the new GEO limited edition, so we look…
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Before the BMW R18 officially broke cover, the Bavarian marque teased us with concepts and customs that showcased the whopping 1,802 cc…
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A pair of BMW R NineT customs channeling the past and the future, a glorious Rickman Metisse, and an all-time classic Honda…
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It was the biggest moto stunt of the 21st century. In a marketing masterstroke for Indian Motorcycle, Travis Pastrana reprised three of…
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Roland Sands massages the R nineT into a vintage-styled thing of beauty, plus the strangest official BMW Motorrad concept bike we’ve ever…
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