Xr1200 A 1997 Harley Sportster Flat Tracker From The French Riviera

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You can often tell when a custom motorcycle has been built merely to gawk at, and when it’s been built to be ridden. This rowdy Harley Sportster flat tracker leaves little room for doubt. Inspired by the iconic Harley XR750, it hits all the right aesthetic notes, with a build spec tailored to daily abuse.
It belongs to Romain Leclerc—a filmmaker based near Toulon on the French Riviera. As a teen, Romain rode BMX with a group of friends who called themselves ‘Les Pirates.’ Years later, the guys graduated from bicycles to motorcycles, riding and customizing them with the same irreverent energy that marked their BMX days.

This Sportster is Romain’s second custom build, not counting the bikes that he uses for racing and track days. His goal was to build a daily runner with flat track style, and then he stumbled upon a rather unique donor bike—a 1997 Harley-Davidson XL1200S Sportster Sport, with a modified engine featuring two Buell front cylinders.
The setup included two carbs on the right and twin pipes on the left, just like the XR750, which appealed to Romain. But the project was unfinished, and the bike wasn’t running. “There was a lot of work needed to untangle a very messy engine build that had been attempted in the 2000s,” he tells us.

The Sportster’s engine went to Christophe Clergeat at Atelier C&C to finish the job properly. Some of the previous mods could be carried over—but he still had his work cut out from him. The rocker box covers needed machining, the oil circuit had to be reworked, and the bike needed bespoke cams.
Christophe also installed a Dyna 2000i ignition and machined a pair of one-off intake manifolds to mount the carbs. The Sportster was treated to new exhausts too, built using SuperTrapp internals. “That’s just part of what he did,” says Romain, wryly.

Meanwhile, Romain made a host of changes to the Sportster’s chassis and bodywork. 19-inch rims were laced to the OEM Harley hubs and the belt drive was swapped for a chain and sprockets. A Brembo brake up front improves stopping power, while the original H-D caliper still does duty out back.
Suspension upgrades include a set of inverted forks, from Paioli in Italy, and 15-inch-long shocks, custom-built by YSS. “The bike is tuned more for reliability than for maximum performance, as I use it for daily riding,” says Romain. “It’s fun to ride, full of character, handles perfectly, and stops well.”

The Sportster’s pick-and-mix bodywork came about by chance. Romain had sourced a fiberglass flat track tank and tail section, but the former had started disintegrating inside. So he popped an aftermarket Sportster tank on the bike while having the tail section painted in a suitable orange hue.
“I ended up loving the mismatched look,” he says. “The bike is a Frankenstein’s monster anyway, and the disparate tank added to the character. So I painted visuals over the raw metal, treated the inside, and gave it a finish.”

The only other bit of bodywork is the front number plate, which Romain made by hand. A small rectangular light sits just below it, with an off-the-shelf taillight tucked under the tail section’s lip.
The cockpit wears Biltwell Inc. bars and grips, and push-button switches with internal wiring. A tiny Motogadget speedo, mounted in a housing with integrated warning lights, sits just below the bars.

Romain’s ‘XR1200’ might look rough-hewn from afar, but it’s hard to deny the amount of consideration spent on getting every detail just right. And the fact that it tears up asphalt on the daily makes it that much sweeter.
Syndicat Pirate | Images by Romain Leclerc | Film by Gustav Gentieu and Romain Leclerc



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