The Cleveland brand of motorcycles has been quietly chugging along producing inexpensive bikes for the young and beginner rider as well as larger capacity bikes for Europe and Asia. The Heist is one of the simplest and least expensive bikes available today, as well as perhaps the only commercially available rigid. While it may not pack the punch and rumble of a big cc American V-Twin, it certainly has the bones and silhouette of a classic single cylinder chopper.

After stripping the stock bike down and cleaning things up a bit (the smog equipment was deleted), the team at RSD started to get the bike down to its vital elements. The original design was a café racer style, but this being a rigid, it was decided that was a pretty dumb idea, and so they stuck with a chopper.

The clean Wassell tank and steel Triumph rear fender on the RSD Cleveland CycleWerks Heist is accompanied by a suicide clutch and internal throttle, while elimination of the stock switches cleaned up the bars. The initial idea was to remove the the front brake, but since it would prove to be an important element to retain when riding through traffic in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, the plan was dropped. The suicide clutch added enough sketch factor. RSD grips, Sportster mid controls and risers added a few neat touches along with KTM Motocross wheels with Dunlop trials tyres. Everything is rounded off with a beautiful leather seat crafted by Setyobudi Agung at Cetul Leather Art and custom shifter by FourSpeed.