Iron Guerrilla: Rough Crafts’ Harley-Davidson Sportster

Iron Guerrilla: Rough Crafts’ Harley-Davidson Sportster

Of all the Asian countries, Japan has the highest profile in the custom scene, and has even exported the whole genre of SR400 modifications. But other countries are getting more press now, with Australian shop Deus moving into Bali and the whole Indonesian scene gaining momentum. Now it looks like the turn of Taiwan.

This hunkered-down Harley Sportster custom is called Guerrilla: it comes from an upstart new Taipei shop called Rough Crafts.

According to builder Winston Yeh, “The initial idea for this bike was to get it to look custom, without being too ‘far out’—because Taiwan has a crazy regulation that all bikes bigger than 250cc have to pass an annual exam after they are older than five years.”

“The bike is compared to the stock picture and if it looks too different, it will be hard to pass. With that in mind, I tried to create a bike that has similar profile to stock. So you probably think it’s ‘normal’ from far away, but you can see the customization when up close.”

The bike takes the Harley-Davidson Sportster ‘Nightster‘ theme a step further, with a chopped front end, new bars, bodywork and lighting—and a terrific exhaust system that adds to the compact, muscular vibe.

Excellent work from a builder worth keeping an eye on.

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2009 Harley-Davidson Sportster Iron 883

Builder: Winston Yeh

City/state: Taipei, Taiwan

Company: Rough Crafts

Fabrication: Rough Crafts

Welding: Winston/Shin Metal Works

Parts Design: Winston Yeh

Air cleaner: Rough Crafts

Exhaust: Rough Crafts

Mufflers: Rough Crafts