The Head-Turning Motorcycles Custom Built For Katee Sackhoff
Katee Sackhoff has a reputation for playing tough characters in sci-fi TV and film franchises. She is best known for her acting roles in "Battlestar Galactica," "Riddick," and "The Mandalorian." You might have seen her as the ace pilot in a spacecraft or watched her maneuver a hoverbike through rugged alien terrain on-screen, but she actually enjoys riding real-life motorcycles too. This has led her to develop a small collection of custom bikes unlike anything else on the road.
There are plenty of celebrities who own and ride bikes. Olivia Munn rides a Triumph Bonneville T100 and Keanu Reeves is actually a co-owner of Arch Motorcycles. Sackhoff started riding long before her acting career took off though. She grew up riding dirtbikes on her family's farm and has been riding on the street for over fifteen years. She also did a charity ride in 2011 along with her "Battlestar Galactica" co-star Tricia Helfer which was the subject of a documentary called "Acting Outlaws." The colonial fighter pilot and the Cylon spy rode from Los Angeles to Louisiana to raise money for the Gulf oil spill. Sackhoff seems to prefer cruiser and dual-sport style motorcycles for the most part and has made several appearances over the years where she's talked about her custom bikes.
Katee's XL600R and KT675
Back in 2013, Sackhoff appeared in the fourth season of "Café Racer" when Classified Moto made a custom motorcycle for her. The bike itself is a modified Honda. Sackhoff said, "The bike that John picked is an old dirt bike. He literally went into his backyard and was like, "That'll do.""
It certainly didn't look like an old dirt bike by the time the crew from Classified Moto was finished with it though. The team took the bike down to its foundations and created a gorgeous Franken bike with custom-machined parts.
While working on the project Classified Moto posted about it on its website. "A 2006 Triumph Sprint 1050 ST single-sided swingarm connected to a 1987 Honda XL600R dual sport frame and motor connected to a 2005 Kawi ZX6-R front end with a lot of Classification sprinkled throughout. David Zemla of Progressive Suspension has been a huge help in sorting out the suspension — the toughest part of the build so far."
This bike was so popular that Classified Moto received multiple requests for replicas from fans. The company contacted Sackhoff about it and she said they could fulfill those requests provided they made her another bike as well. This led Classified Moto to make the KT675 which is an even more powerful version of the original. "This one is based on a late model XR650L, bored out to 675cc with hotter cam and tucked stainless exhaust," Classified Moto states, "A Ducati swing arm replaces a heavier Triumph unit and YZF-R6R forks usurp the Ninja running gear up front."
2008 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy
More recently, Sackhoff was featured on Jay Leno's Garage where she was supposed to be trying out a set of Harley's newer Livewire electric bikes with the talk show host. Some motorcycle aficionados were more interested in the bike she rode in on though. During the episode, Sackhoff showed off her custom 2008 Harley-Davidson Fat Boy before switching to electric bikes. When Leno asked her about the bike, Sackhoff said, "The only thing that's stock on this is the engine and the front forks. Everything else is custom." The bike has a 1684cc V Twin Engine, a 6-speed transmission, and gets up to 125 horsepower. It seems that Sackhoff did a lot of the work on this bike herself too. "It took me [many years] to get it the right way, as you can imagine," she said. "I tinkered quite a bit."
The bike has a classic cruiser design with a black body in the front and plenty of chrome in the back. Sackhoff joked with Leno that he could check his makeup in the reflection of all the chrome on the backend. When Leno mentioned that the electric bikes were quiet and got up to speed quickly, she laughed and commented that they were essentially the opposite of the bike she rode in on.