Every motorcycle tells a story, but few pulse with a heartbeat like this one. The SR1 Roadster, designed and built by the late Jimmy Messina, is more than a machine; it’s a monument to courage, creativity, and the unbreakable bond between father and son. Jimmy passed away in December 2023, aged just 28, after a long fight with cancer. In his final years, he poured every ounce of strength into what would become his life’s masterpiece. Today, the SR1 Roadster, crafted under the RD Kustom & Design and the Messina Motorcycle Company banners, continues to collect trophies and magazine covers, a lasting testament to Jimmy’s extraordinary talent and spirit.
The SR1 began six years earlier as a weekend project between Jimmy and his father, Michel Messina, a lifelong petrolhead with a love for Harleys, Hot Rods, and Muscle Cars. Gasoline is in their DNA, Jimmy was riding bikes at three and started designing at just fourteen, before customising his first bike at sixteen. The passion was unwavering, and the pair set out to build a naked street bike that could fuse American muscle with European precision. But when Jimmy received his diagnosis in 2019, everything changed. The SR1 became more than a build; it became a purpose. A defiant act of creation in the face of mortality.
Jimmy wasn’t just a fabricator; he was an engineer, designer, and thinker. By the time most teenagers were still fumbling with their first carb clean, Jimmy was modelling parts in SolidWorks and designing components for Yamaha Japan and BMW’s Superbike division. He raced in the French SBK Championship, worked the Le Mans Classic, and built bikes from the ground up. It was clear to everyone he was a special talent, but the restrictive nature of chemotherapy and the fight of his life kept him close to home. But that rare blend of technical mastery and creative instinct found its ultimate form in the SR1.
Built entirely from scratch, the SR1 Roadster blends high-performance engineering with breathtaking craftsmanship. And it all starts with the one-off frame, which Jimmy first designed in CAD, bench tested with CFD and then brought to life as a prototype using 3D printing. Having scanned the engine into his computer, the stressed member design could be brought to life using front and rear CNC-machined blocks, milled from billet 7075 aluminium, while the flowing frame rails are 4130 chromoly steel tube. The beauty of this approach is that everything else required for the bike can be bolted to the basic, but brilliant foundation.
At the front, that means the billet headstock swings a set of massive Ducati 1198 forks, clamped by Jimmy’s own machined triple clamps, with beefy Brembo brakes to finish it all out. The rear end is even more impressive, the alloy single-sided swingarm pivots off the back billet block, and from the through shaft to hold it in place, to the steering stem at the front, every last piece is Jimmy’s design and handiwork. Even when working with outside vendors, Jimmy led the charge, like the creation of the one-off underslung shock design utilising a custom EMC damper.
The bold and brutal bodywork is no different; that razor-edged subframe and tail section is all hand sculpted from raw alloy, meticulous and time-consuming work to bring the shape to life; proving whether with machine or in free form, Jimmy’s precision was always millimetre perfect. The way that the entire rear assembly bolts to the frame is further proof of that, and then functional elements like the taillight and headlight assembly, remind you that this was all pre-planned down to the last detail. The fuel tank is more polished, hand-shaped alloy, that central crease line flawlessly fabricated, and the airbox in front shows that the SR1 is perfect parts form and function.
Very few think to fit an airbox to a Harley based V-Twin, let alone one of full volume to aid in performance, but Jimmy didn’t do anything by halves. The 1200cc S1 Buell powerplant is fed by a pair of Keihin FCR flat slide 39mm carbs that draw air through a high flow panel filter from that form-fitting airbox. The ignition is all modern electronics, a big 2in primary sends power to the gearbox, and in case you’re wondering where the oil tank is? It was machined into the rear billet frame block, genius! For the exhaust, Jimmy went hands-on again, bending two 45mm header pipes that flow into a single mid-section and then roar from the SC-Project supplied muffler.
There are simply too many details to describe, but even when Jimmy had to buy in parts, rather than make his own, he only used the best, like the lightweight Marchesini wheels, the MotoGadget electrical fitout and the flawless Cerakote finish, used to break up the refined raw alloy. When the SR1 debuted at the European Bike Show in Italy in 2022, it took home Best of Show. Jimmy, humble as ever, had to be coaxed onto the podium by his father. Even as his health declined, Jimmy kept designing.
He had begun work on a new project, the SXR, a modern reimagining of Harley’s legendary XR750. He planned to build not just the chassis but the engine itself, a hybrid “Shovster” combining a Shovelhead top end with a Sportster bottom. Michel took the SR1 around the world so his son’s work could be seen, shown, and celebrated.
The bike won awards everywhere it went, from Italy’s Bike Fest to Holland, and later across the United States at SEMA and Sturgis. “I wanted him to have his fifteen minutes of fame,” Michel says. “He deserved that and more.” Jimmy Messina may be gone, but the SR1 stands as proof that true craftsmanship and true courage never die.
