Red Max Harley Cafe
By Anthony van Someren - 29 Oct 12
Red Max Speed Shop down in Hampshire in the UK has been building itself a great rep for putting together quality custom builds over the last few years, and we first came across them when we saw a lovely Harley Cafe Racer they'd build for a customer, on display at the NEC Bike show. Seeing what they did to turn an HD Sportster into a highly desirable whetted our appetite to see more, and now Steve has pulled another beauty out of the bag for another customer, Guy, who was actually knocked off his XR 1200 on the way to the shop. Luckily he was uninjured.
The donor bike was this very low mileage 'little old ladies Sportster" (Steve's words) in white-wedding livery, which the guys chopped up into pieces and then welded back together into a Mert Lawill inspired Cafe Racer.
Guy new exactly what he wanted from the build, designing the paintwork and even supplying some of the parts. Redmax's painter laid a fantastic set of Harley team colours to Guy's design, all in pearl metallic - which may not show up till the sun comes out next year!
Steve & Co at Red Max like to provide their customers with a bike that handles as good as it looks, so this build has an adjustable fork valving kit with thicker oil, adjustable Hagon shocks and modern Roadrider tyres on wide flanged alloy Morad rims.
The bodywork comprises of a Red Max Speed Shop seat, pad and subframe with a proddy racing Norton tank and Headlamp with clipons and Red Max clock mounts. Retro indies were hidden away and the stance was finished off with a set of billet alloy rearsets. The guys also dropped the forks thru the yokes to improve the turn-in.
Engine wise, the bike runs tuned stainless headers in a Dunstall silencer, with Dyno-jetted carb, although Guy has plans for a 1200 Buell spec tune up and race spec front brake calipers in the near future.
Steve and his crew are justifiably well stoked with the end result. It's a really beautiful bike and one of the few Harleys Sportsters we'd all like to swing our legs over and take for a spin.
You can see more of Red Max Speed Shop's work on their website and Flickr pages, and if you have an old sportster hidden away in the garage anywhere in the UK, we think you now know where to take it.