Project Harley-Davidson Street 750

There is hardly an editor in the field of the Indian automotive media who has the ability, experience, and know-how to modify a motorcycle on his own. Nay, there is hardly anyone with the ability to tinker with a bike even to set a minor mechanical glitch right, blackening his hands in the process. Bike India Editor Aspi Bhathena stands alone in that respect. Here is the story of how he modified the Harley-Davidson Street 750 into a racer

- Aspi Bhathena

THE FIRST TIME I rode the HarleyDavidson Street 750, I was very impressed by the bike’s easy-to-ride character, performance and handling. At that time I made a mental note that this motorcycle had the potential to be transformed into a very capable café racer. Therefore, it followed naturally that at the beginning of the year I asked Pallavi Singh and Vikram Pawah of H-D if they would give me a Street 750 for the customisation I had in mind. The answer was an instant ‘yes’ and they gave the bike after India Bike Week.

Now, it is common experience that a number of people customise motorcycles and make some very nice-looking bikes, but more often than not the customised version comes across as worse to ride than its standard iteration. I have been working on motorcycles since the age of 12 and modifying bikes for racing since the age of 19. For me customisation doesn’t mean just making a motorcycle look good and different but enhance its overall performance, be it handling, engine performance or outright performance, by weight reduction and better aerodynamics.

When I undertook the Project H-D Street 750 first it was going to be a café racer. Later I thought let’s go the whole hog and make a race replica of the XRTT raced by Calvin Rayborn. This Street 750 has been built as a tribute to one of the greatest Harley-Davidson riders of all time: Calvin Rayborn.