Building the perfect custom bike is a lot like the science of baking. You’re combining ingredients in the correct ratios to produce something special?and if you get those ratios wrong, your recipe flops. Judging by this ‘Harton’ café racer, Stile Italiano are master custom motorcycle bakers.
For a small European motorcycle workshop, Stile Italiano has created a disproportionate amount of stunning customs. From their workshop in Roveredo in Piano, in northern Italy, the small team has been pumping out builds steadily since 1999. Rarely taking on commissions, they prefer to build bikes to their own taste and let their work speak for itself.

This time, Stile Italiano chose an iconic café racer project: a Harton. Also known as a ‘Norley,’ it follows the same recipe as a ‘Triton‘?a combination of a Triumph engine and a Norton frame?but with a twist. Instead of using a Triumph mill, the Harton’s powered by the V-twin from a Harley-Davidson Sportster. As with baking, using good ingredients always yields a better result. Stile Italiano started with an original 1957 Norton wideline featherbed frame, and a 1992 Sportster 883 engine. Sure, the Sportster engine isn?t America?s best ingredient, but it?s iconic and produces an almighty rumble.

The first hurdle was shoehorning the Sportster engine into place. Once the engine was fully rebuilt and in position, the team fabricated a set of custom engine mounts. An S&S Cycle Super-E...