Harley-Davidson’s new Softail range has set the interwebs alight, which has us thinking: isn’t it about time the Sportster got refreshed too" Our ideal Sporty has a sixth gear, a monoshock rear and a much lower curb weight.
But then we spot a delightful little four-speed Ironhead like this 1981 XLS Roadster, and don’t feel so bad. Sure, modern bikes are great and all?but until we have the cash to drop on a shiny new machine, a classic bob-chop like this do very nicely, thank you.

This Sportster belongs to former BMXer Boy Janssen of Pancake Customs of Rheden in The Netherlands. Boy’s been running Pancake as a full-time gig for the last two and half years, and has already wowed us with a couple of his builds. He’s now stepping up a gear, with his cousin Bas coming on board to help with the non-mechanical side, like apparel and social media. ?The custom motorcycle world is a tough business,? says Boy, ?but so far so good. We have lots of plans for the future.?

As for the donor XLS, Boy found it locally a couple of years ago in non-running condition. ?The price was right so I took it home; turned out it had the wrong spark plugs in. I changed them and the bike fired right up.?
?I’m really into the Japanese chopper scene and the crazy original stuff they build there. Bas is a former pro skater, and he?s really into Californian Frisco-style bikes. I think you can see a bit of both styles here.?

Everything on the Ironhead’s ...