upermoto is taking the world by storm. With two full seasons of racing completed in the AMA Red
Bull Supermoto series, the sport has come full circle from its early roots on ABC Sports' "Superbikers" broadcasts. However, the French are responsible for the rebirth of the sport, which has
been steadily bUilding steam over in Europe for the last decade, so who better than the French to
take a 1200cc American V-twin and cram it into a custom-made supermoto chassis? I mean, they
were responsible for stealing the supermoto concept from the United States in the first place, and then
made it a viable form of racing. So why not steal one of the icons of American motorcycling, a HarleyDavidson Sportster motor, and go supermoto racing?
This bike is in fact a one-off, custom-built special, but don't think for a second that it is a cobbledtogether, unfinished garage rig. More thought went into it than that. Just the same, it wasn't originally intended to be a supermoto bike. It was actually created to race in the Enduro du Touquet,
the Infamous beach enduro race in France. And you thought the supermoto idea was crazy!
The Enduro du Touquet is the most prestigious sand race in France and takes place in the
nordJ of the country in mid-February, at the end of the African rallies season. Six months
berore the race, two Harley-Davidson enthusiasts - Christian Dubreucq, owner of a
Hvley-Davidson dealership, and a friend of his, Vincent Boutry, who runs an
Industrial mechanical company - were having a cup of coffee and throwing some ideas around.
Dubreucq wanted to do something unusual in terms of marketing,
something that would really bring some attention to his dealership. He
had always dreamed about putting a large-capacity bike on the sand. Boutry
took a look around the showroom, and his eyes fell on a Sportster.
"Why not a Harley?" Boutry said.
After taking a long look at the bike, they came to the conclusion that it was a
S
Not only does the bike feature a
1200cc Evo motor, it's chock-full of
Screamin' Eagle and Buell parts to
make it more powerful.
