The Sporton: A Sportster-Powered Norton

Troy Siahaan
by Troy Siahaan

The guys at BikeExif have found another subtle, yet wild custom cafe racer. This time it’s a Norton Featherbed frame stuffed with a 1969 Harley-Davidson Ironhead V-Twin. And if that’s not strange enough, this bike and its owner/builder hail from Malaysia! Kuala Lumpur, to be exact. A location not exactly known for their cafe racer scene.

Faizal Yusop is responsible for this creation, and the proud owner carefully planned every aspect of this build. “It wasn’t a case of just ‘bolt it together and go’,” says Faizal. As he tells BikeExif, custom motor mounts were made from 1.5-inch steel in order to position the engine and drivetrain 19mm closer to the centerline for better balance.

The engine itself was freshened up as well; it’s been bored, runs high compression pistons, custom camshaft, bigger valves, and breathes through a Weber 40 DCOE sidedraft carburetor — something commonly seen on racecars of the time. After all is said and done, Yusop’s Sporton (Nortster?) still weighs under 400lbs.

Suspension, brakes and even the fuel tank were upgraded as well. Get all the details about the machine and its owner at BikeExif.

Troy Siahaan
Troy Siahaan

Troy's been riding motorcycles and writing about them since 2006, getting his start at Rider Magazine. From there, he moved to Sport Rider Magazine before finally landing at Motorcycle.com in 2011. A lifelong gearhead who didn't fully immerse himself in motorcycles until his teenage years, Troy's interests have always been in technology, performance, and going fast. Naturally, racing was the perfect avenue to combine all three. Troy has been racing nearly as long as he's been riding and has competed at the AMA national level. He's also won multiple club races throughout the country, culminating in a Utah Sport Bike Association championship in 2011. He has been invited as a guest instructor for the Yamaha Champions Riding School, and when he's not out riding, he's either wrenching on bikes or watching MotoGP.

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