Building a replica bike can be risky business. If you get it wrong, you may as well not have tried in the first place and if a customer is footing the bill for labour and parts costs, failing is not an option. Luckily that's not the case for this modern twist on the famous Harley Davidson XR-750, Evil Knievel's weapon of choice.
With the donor being an EFI Sportster and the end goal being a 1970's race bike look-alike, The biggest challenge was shoehorning all the electrical and fuel management components into places where it would either not be seen/look out of place.
The tank and tail sections are real deal fibreglass replicas from the USA that had no provisions for the stock fuel pump/regulator/filter combo.
ECU, ABS unit. battery, BCM and Immobiliser were just some of the electrical components that needed a new home also.
The rear subframe and shock mounts needed a major redesign in order to fit the new seat and tail section at the correct angle. The period correct replica oil tank and exhaust pipes were also done in house here at Kansai Giant.
List of fabrication jobs carried out are as follows:
- Front number plate
- Headlight, tail light mounts
- Front fork/brake calliper machining
- Handlebars
- Aluminium oil tank with hidden battery mount.
- New rear subframe with incorporated fuel pump and fuel filter mounts.
- Fuel tank and tail section mounts
- number plate bracket
- exhaust system
- New top shock mounts
You can read more about it here: