I didn?t see many motorcycles when I paid a brief visit to Dubai a few years ago. The streets were full of Toyota Landcruisers, growling supercars and Mercedes sedans with black tinted glass.
But the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates has a thriving biker scene if you know where to look, and even an annual custom show called ?Art of Motorcycles.?

One of the key players in the local custom scene is Möto Rauch & Staub. A full-service workshop with a café and barbershop attached, it was started up by German Marco Möller. South African photographer Antonie Robertson lends a hand on the custom builds.
This 1999 Sportster is the ?shop bike??a quirky carbureted XL1200 that Marco (below left) and Antonie (below right) can use for running errands.
?The idea was to build a small, fun scoot that could be used as the shop daily,? says Marco. ?We wanted to trim off all the proverbial Harley fat that these bikes are known for. Because the first thing that happens usually is new owners ?upgrade? the bike with chrome covers and cheap indicators!?
The XL1200 was stripped down to the essentials, and the ideas started flowing. This was not to be a big budget build, so a little inventiveness was called for.

And since Dubai was in lockdown during the build and Marco and Antonie had time on their hands, they decided to do as much fabrication as possible?rather than ordering in off-the-shelf aftermarket parts that could take weeks to arrive.
They located and installed a...