With the release of the Nightster, the decades-old Harley-Davidson Sportster has now fully passed the torch on to the next generation. But even though the ‘old’ Evo Sportster is starting to vanish from showroom floors, it remains iconic, and will stay a popular custom build donor for years to come.
Yesterday we showcased one of the first custom variants of the new Sporty. Today, we’re shifting focus to a scrambler based on one of the outgoing models: the Harley-Davidson XL1200CX Sportster Roadster. Built by Julian von Oheimb at One Way Machine, it’s definitive proof that the classic Sportster’s still got the goods.

Julian’s client actually discovered One Way Machine by chance. He was enamored with an older Sportster scrambler that Julian had built, and had something similar in mind. So he sourced one of the last brand new Sportster Roadsters from a German dealership, and sent it over to the OWM workshop in Staufenberg, north of Frankfurt. ?The goal was a sporty and aggressive bike,? says Julian. ?One that can really ‘go’ on the road, but also works off-road. All in all, it had to be a typical OWM build?timeless design, special sheet metal work, sharp details and tasteful finishes.?

The first change was a classic Sportster mod?Julian stripped the bike down, and lopped off the rear fender struts. Then he started sourcing the right parts for the build, including an aftermarket fuel tank that looked like it would work.
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