If you want to learn how to weld, fabricate parts, or rebuild an engine, there’s no shortage of resources out there. But good design can’t be taught. You either have impeccable taste and a sharp eye—or you don’t.
For Yusaku Sato at Satomari Motorcycle in Hiroshima, Japan, good design is instinctual. The Harley choppers that roll out of his workshop just look ‘right,’ often with a simple elegance that belies the amount of engineering that goes into them.
This exquisite 1981 Harley-Davidson FXR proves our point with ease. It’s loosely based on an earlier Satomari Shovelhead that a customer saw at the Mooneyes show. Before long, he had reached out to Sato-san and requested a custom Harley in the same vein—albeit with a few key differences.…