You know you’ve been building custom motorcycles for a long time, when a bike you built two decades ago makes its way back into your workshop. That’s the story of this Harley-Davidson Sportster hardtail from MB Cycles. Or rather, it’s the story of its frame?because that’s the only original part left on it.
MB Cycles owner Martin Becker first built the Sporty hardtail for his brother twenty years ago, when he was just starting out. His brother eventually parked the Harley and moved onto other bikes, until recently, when he sold it back to Martin.

?It was in a bad condition and hadn’t run in years,? Martin tells us. ?Everything was f-d up except the frame. But the cool thing was that the title had ‘MB Cycles’ listed as the manufacturer?this isn’t possible anymore nowadays.? The frame had originally come from the Dutch frame builders, VG Motorcycles. ?They do top replicas of old Harley frames, custom frames to order, and frames like the one I used on this Sportster,? says Martin. ?This is their standard Sportster frame, with stock measurements like the old OEM hardtail frames.?

Martin stripped the bike down to its nuts and bolts, sandblasted the frame and stuck a 1996 Harley-Davidson XL883 Sportster motor in it. Once he’d cobbled together a rolling chassis of sorts, he parked it in his showroom to elicit a commission from potential customers. It didn’t take long for someone to bite?so Martin set about resurrecti...