Moto Nisto

by Todd Halterman from https://www.autoevolution.com Marcel Nistor and his cohort at Moto Nisto build something special out of bikes that are decidedly not special as they come off the showroom floor. He takes the base metal, often the Harley-Davidson Sportster, and then turns it into a showstopping custom machine. Nistor does his work with style and pays a bit of homage to the early days of motorcycling when bikes looked tough, were stripped down to emphasize performance, and offered no-nonsense whatever in the way of plastic. He and his team begin using modern powertrains, strip away what he calls “ugly factory body panels, useless gizmos and under-performing components,” and then sets to work adapting their own parts to create “machines envisioned by past racers.” For Nistor, it’s all about melding the functionality and reliability found in the motorcycles of today with the class and style of past decades. “We like to start off with a Harley-Davidson Sportster as a blank canvas and strip off everything it stands for. What do we like about it? Mostly the air-cooled, unit engine in a cradle frame,” Nistor says. “Time-proven, simple, reliable, honest performance, no-maintenance valvetrain, ground clearance, parts availability, inexpensive. What don’t we like about it? Everything else.” It’s a take-no-prisoners approach to building custom motorcycles, and Michigan resident Nistor, it appears, is that kind of guy. He once received a Citizen Award from the Ferndale City Council for his help that led to the arrest of a home invasion suspect. Ferndale Police Chief Tim Collins presented Nistor with the award, which was given for his “actions and quick response which led to the arrest of a very dangerous criminal” who later confessed to an October home invasion. Nistor helped police locate the suspect who was wanted in for an attack on a […]