When I finally decided to turn the stock 2004 Harley Sportster into a Café style bike, I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into or how long the project would take. It wasn’t like Mike and I bought the bike with the intention of tearing the entire machine apart and giving it a whole new character – but that's what we basically did.

A few years ago, Mike had picked up a stock 2004 Harley Sportster 883 from a dealership while we were out in Lancaster. We used it for some promotional installs and product photos mainly, keeping it pretty much stock. I remember seeing the RSD Café Sportster featured in the Drag Specialties Magazine and thinking that was the ride I wanted. It was definitely different than your average Harley and I really loved the cafe style, even though I had never ridden anything like it before. The Sportster we had was the perfect base.

When picking out parts for the bike, it certainly helped to have access to the industries top brands and a good understanding and working knowledge of the different products available for this style bike. That made narrowing down the choices a lot easier, plus there are only so many options for the café style depending on what you want to do with the bike. If you’re interested, we did put together a full breakdown of the Café Sportster Parts List, so feel free to check that out.

For the majority of the labor, Mike spent many nights and weekends with his dad pulling things apart and putting them back together. I remember getting excited as more things came off the bike and then eventually piece by piece, new parts started rolling in as the build made some progress. Mike Sr. got Mike into motorcycles growing up, so it was really fun to watch them work together on this project.

A few of my favorite pieces on the bike are the RSD Slant 2-into-1 Exhaust, the Legend Suspension Shocks, the RSD Clip-on handlebars, Dakota Digital Speedometer/Tachometer, Drag Specialties Legacy Gas Tank, and the Roland Sands Cafe Tail Section. There are a few custom pieces as well - my favorite being the cam cover we cut by hand and then had powder coated locally at Bonehead Performance.

As great as the build was, I wanted the right paint to really give the bike a distinguishing character. We were lucky enough to have a friend recommend Rich from Ryzart for the paint design. The details are incredible. We had seen some of his work in person and knew that we liked his style and his attention to detail was top notch. He recommended using the gold leaf as part of the design and I am definitely glad we did. We kind of gave him an idea of the color scheme and look we were going for and then he took it from there. In my opinion, the paint job turned out flawless and I’m so grateful for all the hours and effort he put into it.

The bike looks great, but she rides even better. We put an S&S Cycle Super E Carb Kit along with the Legend Revo Coil Shocks and she handles and corners like a dream. I love going into a corner and being able to lean the bike over and feel like I’m in complete control. For me personally I tend to like the attack position when riding better than the cruiser position. You feel more agile and in tune with the bike and I’m excited to spend plenty of hours riding it this summer.

Check out some more photos below, and let us know if you have any questions about the build!