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.
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 all the allure of a 1940s Indian Chief—but you also want to spend more time riding than wrenching? You call Roland Sands Design. Their latest build combines a 2014 Indian Chief Classic engine…
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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 Cafemoto. And we take a closer look at Roland Sands’ retro-themed KTM and the slightly strange new ‘Lawrence’ from Brough Superior. Which bike would you prefer to put in your own garage? KTM…
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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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What happens when a notorious flat track nut decides to build a chopper? We take a look at Roland Sands’ latest build…
Read more »Building a bike purely for show has its advantages. There’s no need to worry about whether it runs, steers and stops, and…
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