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Sunday, April 24, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
History
Got together for a good ride today with the RC I ride with. It was our 1st ride of the year and although conditions were less than optimal, 45* with occasional rain, the 4 regulars showed up as always. After stopping in Salina for lunch we went to the Kansas Motorcycle Museum in Marquette, Kansas. Marquette is a tiny town of about 580 people, for a town of this size it's pretty amazing that the museum is there. The museum was started in 03 as a tribute to Stan Engdahl a local racing legend. He was a 5 time national champion aboard his custom built Harley Davidson. His career spanned 6 decades from the 1940's to the 1990's and over 600 of his trophies are on display. Unfortunately, Stan passed away in 07 but his wife continues to be the curator of the museum. There are over 100 vintage and rare motorcycles of all makes on display along with race memorabilia. Onto the pics! Sorry for the quality, but all I had with me was my phone.
If you're ever in the area, this is one stop not to miss. Other than the weather, I couldn't have asked for a better day, good friends, good food, and great miles, all 300 of 'em!!
If you're ever in the area, this is one stop not to miss. Other than the weather, I couldn't have asked for a better day, good friends, good food, and great miles, all 300 of 'em!!
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Freedom......
Are we truly free? Think about it for a bit. A word that means so much to Americans, but are we truly free?
In a lot of ways we are free, in this country we have a lot more freedom than anywhere else on the planet. How many other countries people get to choose their leaders every 4 years? The sad part is most don't take advantage of our unique opportunity to clean house. But I'm not going to go there with this post, this is about freedom.
Don't believe me about Americans having so much freedom? Try living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Sorry folks Canada doesn't count. Don't take that wrong, Canada is a great country, one of our greatest allies. Our brothers to the north have it together, they know freedom, things may be a little different up there, but they still have more freedoms than most of the rest of the world.
I'm talking about a developing nation, third world country, whatever you want to call them. I don't mean a week or 2 vacation either, I'm talking in years. I lived in Seoul, Korea for 3 years. Yup, they're a democracy, but they got a ways to go before their people have the freedom we do. I was there for their 1st democratic election, talk about an event! That was a long time ago, but to give you an idea of what it was like, here's an example. There were military checkpoint scattered throughout the country, quite frequently to be honest. They would stop cars, buses, trucks, whatever they wanted, at random, searching for North Korean spies and infiltrators. These guys were locked and loaded with automatic weapons, you did not mess with them. 99% of the time they would look folks over and they would leave, they never hassled anyone needlessly. But every once in a while they would take someone into custody. This was a daily part of life for the South Korean people, they lived with it, they didn't protest, they knew the danger of spies was/is a real and constant threat. Freedom? Most Americans have no clue because a lot never leave their home state.
Let's look at freedom differently. Ask a sky diver why they do it, ask a hang glider, ask a rock climber, ask a pilot, ask a biker, and you'll get a whole range of answers, but the one common statement I bet you'd get from all of them is "Freedom". I know that's one of the reasons I ride. No worries, just you, your machine, and the wind, free as a bird.
It is said "a man who lives his life without regrets is free". I would agree. I have one. Fortunately, I can change that. Years ago, when I was in the Army, one of my buddies that also rode made a plan. We were scheduled to get out at the same time and as a lot of Army buddies do we were making some grand plans. Our plan was to get out and take a month off from life and just ride around the U.S.A., no real route, a tarp and a sleeping bag and just ride. Well, the needs of the Army changed, we got sent to different units and places and lost touch with each other. I never did run across him again, that was before the internet and the age of instant everything. That was 26 years ago. I still have never heard from him or been able to find him. I hope life was good to him. I regret never having made that ride. It's not too late. The ride will happen, it may not be for a year or so, but it will happen. I'd love nothing more than to pick up tomorrow and head out on an adventure like that, but I have commitments that I will honor. I will however begin as of now preparing for that ride. Not really planning the ride, but fulfilling obligations and commitments so I can make the ride a reality. There are 3 others that in my mind have to go with me, I hope they say yes.
Live Free....Ride Free
In a lot of ways we are free, in this country we have a lot more freedom than anywhere else on the planet. How many other countries people get to choose their leaders every 4 years? The sad part is most don't take advantage of our unique opportunity to clean house. But I'm not going to go there with this post, this is about freedom.
Don't believe me about Americans having so much freedom? Try living in a foreign country for an extended period of time. Sorry folks Canada doesn't count. Don't take that wrong, Canada is a great country, one of our greatest allies. Our brothers to the north have it together, they know freedom, things may be a little different up there, but they still have more freedoms than most of the rest of the world.
I'm talking about a developing nation, third world country, whatever you want to call them. I don't mean a week or 2 vacation either, I'm talking in years. I lived in Seoul, Korea for 3 years. Yup, they're a democracy, but they got a ways to go before their people have the freedom we do. I was there for their 1st democratic election, talk about an event! That was a long time ago, but to give you an idea of what it was like, here's an example. There were military checkpoint scattered throughout the country, quite frequently to be honest. They would stop cars, buses, trucks, whatever they wanted, at random, searching for North Korean spies and infiltrators. These guys were locked and loaded with automatic weapons, you did not mess with them. 99% of the time they would look folks over and they would leave, they never hassled anyone needlessly. But every once in a while they would take someone into custody. This was a daily part of life for the South Korean people, they lived with it, they didn't protest, they knew the danger of spies was/is a real and constant threat. Freedom? Most Americans have no clue because a lot never leave their home state.
Let's look at freedom differently. Ask a sky diver why they do it, ask a hang glider, ask a rock climber, ask a pilot, ask a biker, and you'll get a whole range of answers, but the one common statement I bet you'd get from all of them is "Freedom". I know that's one of the reasons I ride. No worries, just you, your machine, and the wind, free as a bird.
It is said "a man who lives his life without regrets is free". I would agree. I have one. Fortunately, I can change that. Years ago, when I was in the Army, one of my buddies that also rode made a plan. We were scheduled to get out at the same time and as a lot of Army buddies do we were making some grand plans. Our plan was to get out and take a month off from life and just ride around the U.S.A., no real route, a tarp and a sleeping bag and just ride. Well, the needs of the Army changed, we got sent to different units and places and lost touch with each other. I never did run across him again, that was before the internet and the age of instant everything. That was 26 years ago. I still have never heard from him or been able to find him. I hope life was good to him. I regret never having made that ride. It's not too late. The ride will happen, it may not be for a year or so, but it will happen. I'd love nothing more than to pick up tomorrow and head out on an adventure like that, but I have commitments that I will honor. I will however begin as of now preparing for that ride. Not really planning the ride, but fulfilling obligations and commitments so I can make the ride a reality. There are 3 others that in my mind have to go with me, I hope they say yes.
Live Free....Ride Free
Saturday, February 19, 2011
It's an addiction!
I really wasn't looking to buy another scoot just yet, but I am a bit of a Craigslist/Cycletrader junky so I'm really always looking for that "find". While browsing Cycletrader I found it at the same dealer I bought my '06. I had been wanting an old iron head sportster for a while, but was in no hurry to buy one as most I had found had been very modified or were basket cases. However, this one was the exception, a 1976 XLH 1000, one owner, 10,400 original miles, almost showroom condition, the only non-original items are the Mustang seat, sissy bar pad, Python slip-on mufflers, and forward controls, topping it all off was a brand new set of tires and oil change. Once I called and talked to the salesman and haggled the price to under $3000, my wife and I went to get her!
The 100 mile ride home was awesome! Riding an iron head sporty is definitely a very visceral experience. I felt very in touch with the machine, it was like being a part of, rather than sitting on top of. I must admit that the ride quality was way better than I expected. After years of hearing how bad the old HD's vibrate and shake, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it did ride for a 35 year old machine. It vibrates like a Harley at a stop and once under way she smooths out quite nicely with the only noticeable vibes being in the after market forward controls. She loves 65 mph, that is her sweet spot on the highway.
Plans? The only thing I know I'm going to immediately change are the forward controls. They're more for someone over 6', I'm 5'8" and had a hell of a time reaching them, lol! Other than that, my plan is to ride her for a year, learn her, then decide what I want to do. For now, I'm going to enjoy riding her.
It may be kind of cliche, but she has a name. I've named some vehicles over the years, usually ones I've grown attached to and it usually takes a while for the name to surface. On the ride home yesterday she told me her name was Cherry.
The 100 mile ride home was awesome! Riding an iron head sporty is definitely a very visceral experience. I felt very in touch with the machine, it was like being a part of, rather than sitting on top of. I must admit that the ride quality was way better than I expected. After years of hearing how bad the old HD's vibrate and shake, I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it did ride for a 35 year old machine. It vibrates like a Harley at a stop and once under way she smooths out quite nicely with the only noticeable vibes being in the after market forward controls. She loves 65 mph, that is her sweet spot on the highway.
Plans? The only thing I know I'm going to immediately change are the forward controls. They're more for someone over 6', I'm 5'8" and had a hell of a time reaching them, lol! Other than that, my plan is to ride her for a year, learn her, then decide what I want to do. For now, I'm going to enjoy riding her.
It may be kind of cliche, but she has a name. I've named some vehicles over the years, usually ones I've grown attached to and it usually takes a while for the name to surface. On the ride home yesterday she told me her name was Cherry.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Welcome Home and Satan Sauce!!
Last Saturday we picked up my youngest son Jayson at the KC airport!! He's in the Navy and has been deployed for the last 9 months and we haven't seen him in 11 months, it is so awesome to have him home! Even if it is only for a couple weeks. We spent the night at my son, James, and his girlfriend Paige's apartment, having our own little welcome home party for Jayson. Jimmy and Paige already had their fridge stocked with beer so we had to pick up beer food, little smokies cooked in Famous Daves Devil's Spit bbq sauce, otherwise known as Satan Sauce. This is some of the best sauce I've had and it's plenty hot. Here's a video of some of our drunken fun-
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Support Indy shops!!
For the past year the web has been an invaluable tool for researching different aspects of modifying my sporty. I've spent countless hours looking at stuff, trying to find good deals, but so far the best deals I've gotten have been at local indy shops. Not counting dealerships, we have 6 local indy shops. Now I live in the middle of nowhere so my definition of local may differ from yours, 2 are within 30 minutes, 3 are within an hour, and the last one is about a 1.5 hour drive, I still consider that local, lol!
Just like the old jeeps, my views on my bike are more of a utilitarian nature, I'm not building a shiny show bike, mine is built for miles, lots of them, so new shiny parts aren't necessary. Granted, new and shiny is cool and has it's place, but I don't have to have that on my sporty. With that mindset, I began scouring local shops for good used parts.
In my opinion, indy shops are the life-blood of our addiction, for the most part these guys and gals are in business because of a passion for 2-wheels. Yes, they're in it to make money, what business owner isn't, but I think most of them have a passion for 2-wheels that is almost more important than making every dollar they possibly can. You can see it in the way they work on and build machines, you see it as they invite into their shop and answer endless questions from those of us less knowledgeable, you see it in their eyes.
This list is a small thank you to the shops that make life a little easier for us shade-tree wrenches.
Henry's Chop Shop
Henry's
Cowboy's Custom Cycle
Cowboy's
Road 6 Customs
Road 6
Prairie Hawg
Prairie Hawg
Motorcycle Supply
MC Supply
California Phil's
Phil's
Just like the old jeeps, my views on my bike are more of a utilitarian nature, I'm not building a shiny show bike, mine is built for miles, lots of them, so new shiny parts aren't necessary. Granted, new and shiny is cool and has it's place, but I don't have to have that on my sporty. With that mindset, I began scouring local shops for good used parts.
In my opinion, indy shops are the life-blood of our addiction, for the most part these guys and gals are in business because of a passion for 2-wheels. Yes, they're in it to make money, what business owner isn't, but I think most of them have a passion for 2-wheels that is almost more important than making every dollar they possibly can. You can see it in the way they work on and build machines, you see it as they invite into their shop and answer endless questions from those of us less knowledgeable, you see it in their eyes.
This list is a small thank you to the shops that make life a little easier for us shade-tree wrenches.
Henry's Chop Shop
Henry's
Cowboy's Custom Cycle
Cowboy's
Road 6 Customs
Road 6
Prairie Hawg
Prairie Hawg
Motorcycle Supply
MC Supply
California Phil's
Phil's
Friday, January 21, 2011
more parts!!!
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Sunday, January 16, 2011
Volume!!
Finally! More volume! Those that follow may remember the problems I had with exhaust and how the mount bracket for my Hooker pipes failed and I went back to stock pipes.
Damn it!
When I remounted my stock pipes I also debaffled them, but the sound still sucked and the look of the stock tapered pipes is just awful. By nature, I'm a cheap-ass, always on the hunt for the best deal, but this time when it comes to pipes, I know what I want but the cost is just out of my range for now. What to do in the mean-time? Why you scour e-bay and local shops for used parts, that's what! After many hours of searching the web and not finding anything, I started calling local indy shops. I called Hank at Henry's Chop Shop and he had a deal for me! He had a set of used Screaming Eagle II slip-ons that might fit. I took off for the 30 minute drive to his shop-
Henry's Chop Shop
After doing some measuring, we found them to be a perfect fit! Once I got back home I fired up my space heater and got busy.
While they're not exactly what I want, they are a huge improvement over stock both in looks and sound. I couldn't help myself, once I was done with the install I had to fire her up! What a major difference! These are some great sounding pipes, not obnoxiously loud, but definitely loud with a great bottom end rumble. I think they were one hell of a score for $60!!
While at Hanks, we were talking about what I wanted to do with my sporty and I said I wanted a 3.3 peanut tank for it but was having a hell of a time locating one for a reasonable price. One of the guys there that runs their sister shop in Wamego said he had one(sorry man, I suck with names!)at Bobbi Dees House of Chop. After some discussion making sure it was the correct tank for my bike a deal was made! I went to Bobbi Dees on Saturday and these guys opened up on their day off just to get me a tank! Talk about customer service! Talk about surprised when I saw a perfect factory tank off a rubber mount sporty, not a blemish on it! I apologize for no pics, but I was so damn excited just to get one I went straight to my friends house and gave him the tank, he's also a painter and will be laying down a sic paint job on it!
More to come!!
Damn it!
When I remounted my stock pipes I also debaffled them, but the sound still sucked and the look of the stock tapered pipes is just awful. By nature, I'm a cheap-ass, always on the hunt for the best deal, but this time when it comes to pipes, I know what I want but the cost is just out of my range for now. What to do in the mean-time? Why you scour e-bay and local shops for used parts, that's what! After many hours of searching the web and not finding anything, I started calling local indy shops. I called Hank at Henry's Chop Shop and he had a deal for me! He had a set of used Screaming Eagle II slip-ons that might fit. I took off for the 30 minute drive to his shop-
Henry's Chop Shop
After doing some measuring, we found them to be a perfect fit! Once I got back home I fired up my space heater and got busy.
While they're not exactly what I want, they are a huge improvement over stock both in looks and sound. I couldn't help myself, once I was done with the install I had to fire her up! What a major difference! These are some great sounding pipes, not obnoxiously loud, but definitely loud with a great bottom end rumble. I think they were one hell of a score for $60!!
While at Hanks, we were talking about what I wanted to do with my sporty and I said I wanted a 3.3 peanut tank for it but was having a hell of a time locating one for a reasonable price. One of the guys there that runs their sister shop in Wamego said he had one(sorry man, I suck with names!)at Bobbi Dees House of Chop. After some discussion making sure it was the correct tank for my bike a deal was made! I went to Bobbi Dees on Saturday and these guys opened up on their day off just to get me a tank! Talk about customer service! Talk about surprised when I saw a perfect factory tank off a rubber mount sporty, not a blemish on it! I apologize for no pics, but I was so damn excited just to get one I went straight to my friends house and gave him the tank, he's also a painter and will be laying down a sic paint job on it!
More to come!!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
Last ride of 2010
I just can't believe this freakish warm weather this week! Usually it's in the 20's and 30's with a little snow and some ice on the ground by now, but yesterday was incredible! December 30th 2010, no snow, no ice, and a high of 65! This time around the weatherman actually hit the forecast pretty close so I was prepared and got out of the house at decent time.
While my sporty isn't quite where I want it, I figured yesterday would be a good time to scour the local indy shops to see if they may have some used goodies lying around. The 1st two were closed, the 3rd, Prairie Hawg, was open but no used sporty stuff around and I did find an oil filter for Jimmy's Yamaha project at the 4th one, Motorcycle Supply.
It was also a good shake-down run on my sporty as I've been working on her alot over the holiday break (see previous posts). The biggest changes were getting rid of that silly stock pull-back riser and mid-buck bars, switching to 5" straight risers and 25.5" drag bars with a 15* pullback, and of course getting rid of the stock shocks and switching to Burly Slammer 10.5" shocks. What a huge difference!! The handling is much more responsive than it's ever been, definitely an improvement! I absolutely love the new lowered stance, more comfortable for me since I'm a little on the short side at 5'8" with 32" inseam, I can flatfoot her at stops with ease. Like an idiot, I was in such a hurry to get out and ride yesterday I forgot to grab the spanner for adjusting the pre-load on the Burly's. The softest setting is not good for me and my 200lb frame! I'm also going to have to find another dual element light bulb for the LowBrow Customs tail light. While the marker light is plenty bright, the brake side is almost non-existent, not good, but I think it'll be an easy fix with a better bulb.
After getting some good riding in I met up with my son, Jimmy, in Wamego. He was riding home for New Years so we hooked up there and rode the last hour home together. I couldn't ask for a better final ride of 2010 than sharing miles with my son. It was dusk when we met in Wamego, the wind switched to being out of the north, and the temp dropped from 50 to 30 in a matter of about 20 minutes and I've got to admit that I wasn't as prepared for the cold as I should've been. That was one of the coldest rides in recent memory, stopping about every 10 miles or so to let our hands warm up on the warm jugs of our scoots, then haul ass for another 10. It was truly an adventure, dark, freezing, painful, yet fun all at once. Even when we pulled into a gas station close to home for one final warm before the last miles home, our hands numb and hurting, we were still smiling. The woman working, Amber, a friend of ours, obviously felt sorry for the frozen riders and the coffee was on the house, thanks Amber!! There were also some locals there that knew us and we just re-enforced their belief that those Fickbohm's just ain't right. Maybe we aren't or maybe we are, either way it doesn't matter to me, you get one shot at life, live it, enjoy it.
Some poser shots from the ride-
I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may 2011 bring many smiles and miles!!
While my sporty isn't quite where I want it, I figured yesterday would be a good time to scour the local indy shops to see if they may have some used goodies lying around. The 1st two were closed, the 3rd, Prairie Hawg, was open but no used sporty stuff around and I did find an oil filter for Jimmy's Yamaha project at the 4th one, Motorcycle Supply.
It was also a good shake-down run on my sporty as I've been working on her alot over the holiday break (see previous posts). The biggest changes were getting rid of that silly stock pull-back riser and mid-buck bars, switching to 5" straight risers and 25.5" drag bars with a 15* pullback, and of course getting rid of the stock shocks and switching to Burly Slammer 10.5" shocks. What a huge difference!! The handling is much more responsive than it's ever been, definitely an improvement! I absolutely love the new lowered stance, more comfortable for me since I'm a little on the short side at 5'8" with 32" inseam, I can flatfoot her at stops with ease. Like an idiot, I was in such a hurry to get out and ride yesterday I forgot to grab the spanner for adjusting the pre-load on the Burly's. The softest setting is not good for me and my 200lb frame! I'm also going to have to find another dual element light bulb for the LowBrow Customs tail light. While the marker light is plenty bright, the brake side is almost non-existent, not good, but I think it'll be an easy fix with a better bulb.
After getting some good riding in I met up with my son, Jimmy, in Wamego. He was riding home for New Years so we hooked up there and rode the last hour home together. I couldn't ask for a better final ride of 2010 than sharing miles with my son. It was dusk when we met in Wamego, the wind switched to being out of the north, and the temp dropped from 50 to 30 in a matter of about 20 minutes and I've got to admit that I wasn't as prepared for the cold as I should've been. That was one of the coldest rides in recent memory, stopping about every 10 miles or so to let our hands warm up on the warm jugs of our scoots, then haul ass for another 10. It was truly an adventure, dark, freezing, painful, yet fun all at once. Even when we pulled into a gas station close to home for one final warm before the last miles home, our hands numb and hurting, we were still smiling. The woman working, Amber, a friend of ours, obviously felt sorry for the frozen riders and the coffee was on the house, thanks Amber!! There were also some locals there that knew us and we just re-enforced their belief that those Fickbohm's just ain't right. Maybe we aren't or maybe we are, either way it doesn't matter to me, you get one shot at life, live it, enjoy it.
Some poser shots from the ride-
I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year and may 2011 bring many smiles and miles!!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Cut it!
I love getting boxes in the mail! It usually means parts and more garage time, nothing beats garage time in the winter. Yesterday my box from LowBrow Customs showed up-
Time to get busy! This is the last time you'll see this-
Lookin' a little nekkid!
For the most part this was a fairly simple mod, with one exception, actually cutting a perfectly good rear fender, lol! As some of you probably know all too well, I'm a cheap-ass! There's no way I'm going to spend money on a chopped rear fender when I'm perfectly capable of cutting it myself so out came the 4.5" angle grinder and cut-off wheel. While this is not the perfect way to cut, it does work very well. I taped off the area to be cut to minimize paint damage, drew out the line I wanted, and went to town!
Now that's what I'm talkin' about!
Time to get my new tail light mounted-
Now to wire it and finish it up. The wiring isn't hard, having a slight color-blindness disorder makes the 12v test light my best friend for this. I went through and identified all the wires, soldered and heat shrink insulated all connections, and finished up the job.
Not a bad hack job for a bout 4 hours of work, lol!
Time to get busy! This is the last time you'll see this-
Lookin' a little nekkid!
For the most part this was a fairly simple mod, with one exception, actually cutting a perfectly good rear fender, lol! As some of you probably know all too well, I'm a cheap-ass! There's no way I'm going to spend money on a chopped rear fender when I'm perfectly capable of cutting it myself so out came the 4.5" angle grinder and cut-off wheel. While this is not the perfect way to cut, it does work very well. I taped off the area to be cut to minimize paint damage, drew out the line I wanted, and went to town!
Now that's what I'm talkin' about!
Time to get my new tail light mounted-
Now to wire it and finish it up. The wiring isn't hard, having a slight color-blindness disorder makes the 12v test light my best friend for this. I went through and identified all the wires, soldered and heat shrink insulated all connections, and finished up the job.
Not a bad hack job for a bout 4 hours of work, lol!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Progress!!!
WooHoo!! More progress! After a road trip to Road 6 Customs in Geneva, Nebraska (more on them at- Road 6 Customs ) it was back into the garage for some more work on the sporty. (I have got to come up with a name for her, lol!) Now my main mission in going to Road 6 was to get their adjustable lowering kit, why a lowering over shocks? I'm a cheap-ass, that's why, lol! Well we made it up there and got the kit, a full tour of the shop and he offered a great price on a set of new Burly Slammer shocks. I declined and my wife and I headed to downtown Geneva to grab lunch at the Overtime Bar & Grill, great food! While my wife and I are talking about why I chose the kit over the shocks she said, "Just quit being such a cheap-ass and get the shocks! It's gonna ride better and you'll be happier" Not too many guys have a wife that is that understanding, I'm very lucky indeed! So we headed back to Road 6, took back the kit and got the shocks.
As soon as we got home I headed for the garage for the install, very simple. About the only catch was belt tension, dropping to a 10.5" shock allowed some slack in the belt. No big deal, tighten her up a bit and the difference was unreal!
Before-
After-
How's it ride? I don't know, but I'll know tomorrow, it's supposed to be a great day for riding. I do know it's low enough that my wife, at 5' tall, can flat foot it! While I was out there, I decided something else needed changing as well. The reflectors on the front fork tubes had to go. All in all, she's coming along quite nicely.
As soon as we got home I headed for the garage for the install, very simple. About the only catch was belt tension, dropping to a 10.5" shock allowed some slack in the belt. No big deal, tighten her up a bit and the difference was unreal!
Before-
After-
How's it ride? I don't know, but I'll know tomorrow, it's supposed to be a great day for riding. I do know it's low enough that my wife, at 5' tall, can flat foot it! While I was out there, I decided something else needed changing as well. The reflectors on the front fork tubes had to go. All in all, she's coming along quite nicely.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Details
As the 1st year with my Sporty draws to a close, I've got to admit that I like this bike much more than I thought I would. She's given me almost 18,000 trouble free miles, more smiles than I can count, my 1st trip to Sturgis, and of course the "wind therapy" that we all need. This past year has also given me a lot of time to get to know her, do my research, and figure out what direction I want to go with my mods. I like bobbers and lane-splitters more than any of them. That's not to say I don't like long-chops, pro-streets, and stockers, but for my 1st sporty build, it's going to lean very heavily towards a bobber. Now I know that what I'm going to do wouldn't be considered a bobbers by purists, but I could care less. To me the point of building your own, is to build what you want, something that reflects you, not to please anyone else. Mine will be very bobber influenced, lol!
The wrenchin' began on Christmas Eve. One of the 1st things I wanted to change was bars and risers. I don't care for the stock mid-bucks or the goofy curved riser at all. I like things simple, so off they came.
One of the bad things about doing it this way is that the top clamp also houses the speedo and idiot lights. In HD's infinite wisdom they decided to make the top clamp for the customs with a different hole spacing than the others so finding risers that would re-use the top clamp and look good was near impossible. After not finding anything that I liked I said to hell with it. I stopped by the local indy shop, Cowboys, to see what they had. After not finding anything new in stock I asked if they had anything used. A set of 5" straight risers were found with a 25.5" drag bar attached to them. Not perfect, but in nice shape, $50 later they went home with me!
There were no holes or dimples in the bars so I had to run the wires internally. Don't let anyone bullshit you, this sucks, it's not necessarily that hard, but it still sucks. A slight color blindness issue played hell with me, see previous post, lol!
The finished product-
Tonight, Jimmy headed back to KC, I figured I'd go clean up the garage a bit. While I'm out there I'm thinking I really don't care for that mirror, it looks ok, but you can't see a damn thing out of it. Those 5" straight risers gave me alot of clearance between the tank and the blinkers at full lock, I wonder...........
Yup!! Plenty of room!!
I like it! Plenty of room between the tank and mirrors lock to lock and very good visibility, plus it keeps the top nice and clean, I like it!! Yes Jimmy, you can have the other mirror, lol!
It's definitely far from finished, I need to figure out how to clean up that bunch of wires in-between the risers. I'm also on the hunt for ideas on how to get my speedo and dummy lights back on the cheap, but so far no good ideas and it looks like I'll be stuck spending the green for a Joker side mount speedo set up. My new tail light got ordered today so next weekend it gets mounted along with a generous rear fender chop!
There's alot more in store for her over the winter!
P.S.
Jimmy, thanx for hangin out, drinkin beer, helping out the ol' man when he needed it, and just for being there. It was a great Christmas!!
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