Ok here we go again. I am putting my 77 Ironhead up for the winter, well I am going to rebuild once again this winter. Pretty much the same look she has now, but with a few modifacations, one of witch will be new wheels, What are some good wheel size combos to give her the old skool lowride look. Now she has a 19 inch front and an 18 inch rear, she sits to high,, I want to lower her down a couple inches. what would you do? here is a pic of her now..Thanks for any tips and or tricks you are willing to share......
Daryl

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The bike in my sig is the same one I just put new metalflake Black skin on her and changed the seat to a Custom seat a Buddy did for me..

 

shovelhead77.....
About all I could think of was the big difference in the very old XLH and XLCH models of the early years.
The XLCH always had a 19 inch wheel on the front and an 18 inch on the rear.
The XLH had 18 inch wheels front and back. Going to 18's is not going to lower your bike anywhere close to 2 inches though.

The only way I can think of to accomplish that would be to buy a pair of 12 inch rear shocks (assuming yours are now 14 inch) and buy a new set of 2 inch under front fork tubes from somewhere like Forks by Frank.
I think that may cause rear fender clearance problems though. If you still want to replace the wheels after that you are talking a large pile of the green stuff to do all of this.
A less expensive route may be to replace the seat if your main problem is that the bike sits too high.......pg

 

I doubt that XLH had 18" wheels, atleast I haven't seen any, only 19" front wheels and 18" on back. ( I could be also wrong [&o] ).
I agree piniongear that easiest way to lower bike is change rear shocks from 14.25" to 12", you need to check under rear fender that there isn't any bolts or wires!!! on way.

 

77,
The XLH has a rear 18" and a front 19" stock. You can put shorter shocks on the rear and go to a 16" rim (XLCH came with this size) but you will have to change the sprockets to get the same gearing you currently have. You can have your rear wheel hub relaced with a 16" rim. This should not create any fender clearance problems. Leave the front wheel alone unless you want to change the steering dynamics. Just my .02

 

My xlh has a 16" rim and shorter shocks that came on it so I don't know whats involved in changing it but I like it. It's also wider than stock it's a 130 series.

 

sepixhl......
I'm just a lot older than you, most likely. The 1966 and earlier XLH model had 3.50 x 18 inch wheels on both ends. The XLCH has always had the 19/18 inch set up. The XLH went to the CH wheel set up in 1967 and later. I used to uncrate these old bikes (new at the time) and do the prep-set up for a dealer I worked for back then.
I have attached a jpeg of the spec sheet out of a service manual of those years for you to review.......pg

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I have to differ here just a little bit.
No ironhead Sportster ever came off the factory floor with a 16 inch rear tire. I am talking 1974 and earlier. The 16 inch wheel/tire was a favorite as a customize feature, I guess because it was different, it looked more like a big twin(?) and this became popular when the 'chopper faze' resumed in the 1960's.
As far as changing the dimensions of the Sportster it was attached too.....I think it made little difference. Take a 4.50 x 18 inch tire and put it alongside a 5.00 x 16 inch and see what difference there is in the overall diameter. I think you will find little difference.
This certainly is not going to come close to the 2 inches shovelhead77 is trying to find.........pg

 

Pinion,
He is talking about a 1977. In 1977 the XLCH came with a 16" rear wheel on the XLCH. This is according to my factory service manual. The XLH had an 18" rear wheel. If I had the capabitlity to copy that bad boy and post it I would. If he went to a 16" rear wheel and shorter shocks he could go lower by 2". Going to the smaller diam. wheel would solve the fender clearance issue created by the shorter shocks. Not trying to give advice here just voicing an opinion.

 

cal....
OK, Thanks for that information.
As I have said before, I am not too knowledgable about a Sportster newer than 1975, so let's say I spoke out of turn.
There is one point I would like to have clarified for me if possible though.
Whenever I have seen a 5.00 x 16 inch rear tire on a Sportster, that tire set up has the same outside diameter as a 4.50 x 18 inch tire/wheel set up. Can you tell me what outside diameter that factory 16 inch tire was on a 1977 CH? If it were much different than an 18 inch, I would be very surprised.
Also, if the rear shocks are replaced with shocks that are 2 inches shorter, then the bike is going to slant back in the rear, unless the fork tubes are shortened by the same amount. The whole idea seems unreasonable to me I guess. There's my two centovos anyway.....pg

 

Wow,,, I diddn't mean to stir the hen house,, LOL... I don't really have a ton of cash to do this, and I have tried the shorter shocks and I do run into clearence problems.. I like where the seat puts me, I was just wanting to get the bike a little lower with out spending my kids college fund. providing I have a kid someday. I am not at all affraid of going ridiged if you think that would work? It just seems to me that the rear sits a little higher than it should. Thanks for the help if you all can think of anything else that would be cool, until then I will ride her with the set up she has now.. Thanks
Daryl