This Guy Built A Custom Harley-Powered Dual Sport Because Why Not?

Conventional wisdom is exactly that—conventional. Although motorcyclists as a whole may not agree on much, that’s for a very good reason. There’s a huge contrarian streak that runs both wide and deep, all through the history of motorcycling. It’s like a really good ripple of fudge in your fudge ripple ice cream; one that goes all the way to the bottom—and takes a winding, delicious route to get there. 

In that grand tradition, custom builder Jim Carducci built his SC3 Adventure dual sport bike. The donor: a 2003 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883R. If you haven’t learned to expect the unexpected by now, well, here’s a great example of why you should. That first SC3 Adventure eventually evolved into the SC3 Gera Baja you now see before you.  

The invocation of “Baja” was no mere threat of a good time, either. The bike was built for pro-Ironman racer and 2016 Baja 1000 winner Tony Gera to compete in the Baja 1000. Not only that; Gera planned to ride the bike both to and from the event, as well. If you’re gonna shoot, might as well aim for the moon, right? 

It started as a one-off, but eventually Carducci Dual Sport turned both SC3 Adventures they’d built into SC3 Gera Bajas. The shop estimates that around 48 percent of parts for this build were ones they fabricated themselves, with an additional 46 percent provided by aftermarket suppliers. That meant just 6 percent of that 883R remained in the Adventure build—and the Gera Baja has even less. Still, it’s the air-cooled, 1200cc beating heart of the beast—and there’s simply no escaping it. 

Gallery: Carducci SC3 Gera Baja

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The finished build is quite impressive to see—and at least in Gera’s hands in this video, it definitely looks the part. It’d be nice if you got to hear a little more of it in this clip, but that’s a small complaint. Carducci is open to building more of these if interest exists—but the total build cost is north of $100,000, so it’s definitely not for the faint of heart in more ways than one. 

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