Battistinis Chopper / Bobber

This a beautiful fully custom built bike by the famous builder – Battistinis Custom Motorcycles. This company used to be based here in the UK (Southampton I believe) but moved to the USA a while back. The bike was registered brand new on the V5 as a Battistinis Lopez and it does appear on the list of motorcycles used by British insurers, so insurance is very straightforward, just give them the registration number. The only declarable modification from new specification is the custom paint. 

This is not a Harley Davidson that has been chopped and modified, it is a full custom bike built from scratch when brand new to look like this. At the time they used the very best selection of parts available. It has a Revtech 100 CI engine (1675 cc) and a Revtech 5 speed manual gearbox. The primary drive is duplex chain with a wet clutch. The final drive is a toothed belt. 

The wheels are both made from billet aluminium and use billet brake callipers. The front suspension uses upside down forks and the rear suspension (mounted under the gearbox) features twin shocks in a very similar arrangement to the Harley softails. The tyres are 130/70-18 on the front and 250/40-18 on the rear. The ride and handling of the bike is surprisingly good, although the very wide rear tyre does mean you don’t get as much cornering angle as you might expect for a given amount of lean! Generally the bike is great to ride for short to medium distances and always attracts attention at a bike meet. It deserves to be ridden regularly and I would happily set off today on a 100 mile ride. It is completely reliable. 

Because the bike was built new as a chopper everything about it is legal – except maybe the exhaust noise. Normally side mounted number plates are illegal, because the rear light and brake light cannot be seen from the other side of the bike at 45 degrees to the rear. Battistinis fixed this using a clever second rear / brake light built into the right hand passenger foot peg. My local MOT tester is very thorough and has passed it every time. He does admit to being deaf though. 

I looked for a chopper for ages before buying this and it was very difficult to find a good one. The standard of fabrication work under the paint is always hard to assess and I wanted something that would actually ride properly. I thought that this bike looked fantastic and it had all the right parts, but it had no history when I bought it in 2020 and it doesn’t have an odometer (just a digital speedo). I was told it had done about 18,000 miles. 

I decided to pull it completely to bits and rebuild it all to as new standard. It was repainted from the frame up including fresh custom paint applied by airbrush. The engine had a full rebuild with a new crank, rods and pistons. The cylinder bores were rebored to an oversize and it also had a new high capacity oil pump. I replaced everything that needed replacing to make it perfect. I did this because I am a fussy ex Formula One engineer and want all my bikes to be right. At this time it was converted to run a Motogadget M Unit Blue electronic system. This includes an alarm and mobile phone app integration so the bike unlocks as you walk up to it and will start without a key. There is also a key as a back up that works in the normal way and the wiring for the handlebars runs inside the bars for a clean look. It has done less than 1,000 miles since the rebuild. 

I used the bike carefully for the first year and ran it in properly. I took it to the Malle Mile in July 2022 and have a video of it running there for anyone interested. It is quick in a straight line and will wheel spin easily, but because it has a long wheelbase it is stable and goes straight. It is great fun and always attracts attention.  

Although this is a full custom bike, all of the regularly needed spare parts are identical to a Harley Davidson EVO twin. The bike had an oil change and filter less than 100 miles ago and is ready to go. It is currently SORN and parked indoors with my small collection of bikes. It recently passed a new MOT which is valid until June 2026. 

I have priced the bike very sensibly to sell. No time wasters and no dealers please.