It is in the nature of racing series, no matter their type, to give birth to icons. Whether we’re talking about vehicles that are to be remembered forever or drivers/riders whose names go down in history, there is no shortage of heroes in this field of human activity. But there is one other famous thing related to racing on two or four wheels: liveries.

That’s right, the paint schemes that go over motorcycles and cars sometimes tend to become iconic too. Just think about it: we can all remember a time when cigarette brands like Rothmans or Marlboro were all the craze in racing, and gave birth to their iconic overalls in blue and red, respectively. Or the Gulf Oil colors on the endurance cars of the 1960s… And even the dark blue, light blue, and red that have come to be associated with the Italian vermouth brand Martini.

Featured on cars taking part in anything from rallying to Formula 1 ever since 1968, these Martini colors have long become a staple of successful four-wheeled racing. So it was only natural for them to be rapidly adopted by motorcycles as well – true, not officially in some dedicated racing series, but in custom shops around the world.

One of the motorcycle crews that likes to play with these Martini colors is Spanish Lord Drake. We’ve already seen that on the Harley-Davidson Sportster-based Soulbreaker Martini, but that’s not the only bike in Lord Drake’s portfolio to wear these hues.

The second would be this one here, called Seventy. It too is based on a Sportster, in this case a 2005 883 model, and it was first released into the world in 2018. Built as a scrambler with flat track influences, it wears the Martini colors all over its back, but also up front, on the plate that houses the headlights.

The three hues are the ones that draw the onlookers’ eye to the bike first, but there are of course many other things that make this two-wheeler special. The most important would be the fact that it now looks like anything but a Harley-Davidson Sportster.

Designed to be reminiscent of the racing cars from the 1970s (hence the name it wears post-conversion), the bike is fitted with wire wheels wrapped in off-road capable tires. The fender that just barely covers the front one is a metal piece made by hand, while the fork that supports it comes as the original one, only modified with the addition of new metal covers. The mudguard at the rear floats high above the wheel, helping to support the custom seat.

The handmade fuel tank comes in white, just like the other main body parts of the motorcycle, and that’s a perfect match for the blue and red that form a sort of visual spine on the upside of the two-wheeler.

The engine, all black, is the Sportster’s original 883, only enhanced with the fitting of a K&N air filter and a custom exhaust system, placed higher than the original one.

The Harley-Davidson Seventy was first shown in public at the 2018 AMD World Championship of Custom Bike Building in Germany, where it also won a sixth place. At the time of writing, it’s probably a ride you can see on the roads of Spain’s Costa del Sol. As with all other Lord Drake builds, it’s not clear how much it costs to put together.

#Harley #Moto #Bike #Motorcycle #HD #Sportster