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2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 Goes Custom

We saw this moment coming since Harley-Davidson first showed up their two new liquid-cooled Street models, the 500 and the 750. It was only a matter of time until accustom builder would lay hands on either of them and start hacking and sawing, to produce a modded version of the Street and prove that no matter how old or new, any Harley can go custom.
2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 11 photos
Photo: The Speed Merchant
2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant2014 Harley-Davidson Street 500 by Speed Merchant
The Speed Merchant has received an H-D Street 500, the very unit showcased at the Born Free show, and they gladly accepted the job. With Born Free being full of choppers, Brandon of Speed Merchants though of adding a completely new flavor to the build, and decided to create a flat-tracker, partly to honor the old racing heritage of the brand.

Since the Street 500 was full of bits and pieces which had nothing to do with the envisioned project, Brandon tossed them all. Fork, wheels, fenders, batter, subframe and controls, together with the stock exhaust, they all had to go. In the end, the Street 500 lost around 22 kg (50 lbs), easing up the burden from the not-so-nervous middleweight v-twin engine.

The forks have been supplied by Huntington Beach H-D, and have been equipped with a Speed Merchant triple tree originally crafted for a 48 Sportster and top-end preload adjusters for a wider setup range. Sun Aluminium rims got a respoking job to the H-D hubs and a SM bracket was used to accommodate the Tokico brake caliper. A matching radial caliper was loaded for the rear wheel, too.

With a redesigned rear subframe, Speed Merchants has freed up a lot of space underneath the seat, and clutter was eliminated completely. The wiring went under the seat base pan, and a custom battery holder was fabricated for the lightweight Antigravity battery. The new stance of the Street 500 involved leveling the rear end and aligning it to the front end and the raised tank. Ohlins USA also joined the project and supplied dual piggyback taller rear shocks for the job. New pegs were also on the menu.

A completely new rear fender has been crafted from aluminium and the minimalist seat got a Bates Leather tuck-and-roll cushion. The front end was also transformed with a square number plate though which the LED headlight protrudes in a very daring manner for a Harley-Davidson. The Street 500 was also converted to chain final drive, with an EK chain and a Super Sprox rear sprocket.

Hand hardware has been sourced off some Suzuki machines, GSX-R600 and a GSX-R750, complemented by Pazzo levers, all mounted on in-house bars. Cone Engineering supplied a 2”core muffler for the build, and Brandon reworked the whole header section for a perfect fit.

Of course, changing the H-D Street 500 into a flat tracker may not be everybody’s dream, but this is only the beginning. As the two new smaller-displacement bikes will start being more present in the markets around the world, we’re definitely going to see more custom builds based on them. Via pipeburn
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