The Harley Davidson Sportster is going through a resurgence of sorts in regards to its popularity.
A number of custom bike builders are taking a new look at an old classic and seeing lots of new opportunities. Currently the hipster crowd are into vintage looking customs of the cafe, bobber, or scrambler style and that leaves two bikes at the top of the heap for that market. Triumph is seeing major sales from its T100/ Bonneville line and the Harley Sportster is as well. No longer just for girls getting into the Harley fold, the Sportster is now becoming a cult classic in its own right. Witness this video of Roland Sands Designs' new line of products to help turn your "chicks bike" into a cool manly custom cafe racer. Note the MotoGP under-braced swingarm to deal with all the extra power.

The electric motorcycle seems to have been around a lot longer than I thought. This Harley Davidson electric seems to be from the early 1970's as evidenced by the ill-fated boat tail rear fender and drum front brakes. What I find interesting is the chain sprocket is underneath the motor hinting at a transmission which is just now being implemented on electric bikes by Brammo. The cafe styling is a nice touch, but makes me wonder how fast this thing was expected to go and what kind of electronics were hidden underneath the faux gas tank. I can't imagine it would be very fast with those heavy lead-acid batteries. This is the only one I have ever seen, so I believe it is just a prototype. That is assuming it was actually built by Harley and not some home built special with Harley logos on the tank.

I'm sure very few people ever knew this existed. This video shows just what kind of rare motorcycles will show up at Pebble Beach. Also an interesting history of the Opel brand which I thought only made cars.Jay Leno may not be my favorite late night host, but he is definitely my favorite motorsports educator.