Harley-Davidson Sportster Forty-Eight Looks Best on Fat Tires, Even in This Custom Form

It is there where you’ll find a wealth of customized Sportsters from the past, variations of the sport motorcycle that are no longer among us. Like say the once famous Forty-Eight, the likes of which Harley no longer officially sells in the U.S., but still offers over in Europe.

The custom industry will not only give you a wide choice of customized such two-wheelers, but also offers the chance to any Sportster owner to have their machines modified and made a bit more relevant for today’s tastes.

You could have one of these bikes shipped over to Japan, for instance, where a local crew going by the name Bad Land could have it converted into something not unlike what we have here. The project is simply called Purple, is based on an older Forty-Eight, and shows all the defining traits of a Forty-Eight, mixed with just enough custom work to make it, well, unique.

Harley itself describes this motorcycle as one whose style is mostly defined by the far tires it wears, and the Purple, fortunately, keeps those on. The large quantity of rubber that makes it a noticeable sight on the roads is wrapped on original Harley-Davidson wheels of undisclosed size.

Another element of the Forty-Eight Harley is particularly proud of on the stock machine is the “iconic peanut tank,” and that was kept for this project as well. Sure, it got modified a bit, especially when it comes to decoration, but it essentially remains as stock as they come.

What changed, then, on this Sportster to make it a custom, aside from the obvious colors chosen for it, one of which is responsible for inspiring its name?

The first thing one sees is, of course, the new exhaust system, made in-house by Bad Land itself to create a sort of 3D play on the two-wheeler, with one of the pipes instead of going straight out to the back, snaking over the other before doing so. Both are also positioned higher than on the stock motorcycle.

Whereas the front fender seems to be the stock one, the one at the rear has been slightly modified to accommodate the restyled seat. At the opposite end, a Rough Crafts headlight trapped behind a grille is the most obvious change – separately, the same crew supplied the air cleaner, foot pegs and grips.

And that’s about it. Not as many changes as we’re used to from Bad Land, for sure, but more than enough to draw attention to the build. How much do the modifications cost? As usual, that’s between the bike’s owner and the custom garage.