Your lowrider is not a T-Sport. There is nothing special about it...


Everything done, so far, is easily taken back to stock except the holes in the fairing. That's the part where I cringed... Oh well.

I have, however, often wished there was a way to get my mids a bit farther back underneath me. I will look forward to seeing what your guy comes up with, OP.

 

Yes I am aware and am not trying to claim it is.
You missed the point completely. They are all bikes and people can do whatever they what to them. I just don't see the point of ******* on this guys actions because his idea is different than what most people on here expect that style of bike to be.

People do all sorts of ridiculous things to bikes and this guy catches **** for padding a seat and lowering bars a little bit.

I just think people should give it rest

 

Yeah, nothing end of the world done to the bike that couldn't be undone if someone wanted to and what the hell, freedom of choice and all that.

I must say though, the seat looks like it suffered from the worst allergic reaction to a bee sting that I've ever seen, I think I seen that seat floating over a football game on Sunday

 

Obviously some people here think I'm a doofus, so I'd like to explain why I'm doing what I'm doing. First off, I've been riding bikes for 58 years; across Canada, down to Mexico, across Europe. I've had Ariel Leaders, Gold Stars, a classic Triumph (T-110), the first Katana (GS1100SZ), two BMW's (R75/5, R100CS), Suzuki's answer to the Ducati 916 (TL1000S), Honda's touring bike (ST1100), a GPz750, Ducati's fastest touring bike (ST4S), Harley's prettiest Sportster (XL1200R) and a few more. Over the years I learned the key to rider comfort is handlebar and footpeg position; too far forward handlebars will give you sore wrists and too far forward footpegs will give you a sore back. Somewhere in the middle is about right. If you take a look at a the second Beemer I mentioned, you will see that the footpegs are roughly in line with the front of the seat. That was also true of most English bikes in the 60's, the first Honda four and almost true with the first Sportster in 57. If you've never tried it, I can tell you that this footpeg position will let your legs support your back if you're leaning slightly forward. The website Cycle-Ego.com shows how all this works for hundreds of models.

Anyway, there's certainly room under the FXDXT to attach two new pegs. The left side is completely open and the right side has a crankcase protector strong enough to hold the right peg. Crucify me for saying so, but trying to finish the sports touring idea Harley was shooting for seems pretty obvious to me.

 

I had a BMW R1200GS and my father has a BMW K1600GTL. Ive done serious miles on them both and not found them to be anywhere near as comfortable as my harleys. They are, however, superior motorcycles in every other way.

 

Here's the latest pix showing the T-Sport bezel on the air cleaner and both mirrors.



You can see how the right peg/brake is attached to a crossbar under the motor

 

I'm making some progress. I got a firm price today for the footpeg and foot control relocation ($800CAN). I also have in hand my new handlebars, a set of Khrome Werks Black Custom Bend Low Rise Drag Bars and new hand grips from Grab-On. Also, I was lucky enough to pick up a near mint set of stock H-D passenger footboards on eBay. While I was in the shop another customer overheard my conversation about the foot controls and said, "You're moving them BACK?!" Yepper, six inches I said. He was shocked.

 

I think the title of your thread is misleading OP.... those who are purveyors of the t-sport idealism (a performance oriented Harley set up for touring) who dominate the dyna forum have to disagree in their bones about the mods you are making.

I think we'd love to see the moco do a modern take on this, like a modern Dyna with a full rear fender, 13 spoke wheels, t-sport fairing, narrow t's, 13.5" premium shocks , dual discs, and leather pros bags.... I can't figure out why the marketing guys at Harley have not done this, IMHO it would be a hot seller even at a premium price say 2-3k higher than a street bob. This is sorta what I expected to see given your thread title but found something instead which is unsettling to many.

 

I have seen FXDX's with lowering shocks, apehangers, and forward controls. Makes you just want to go WTF!!?? Hate to say it but i guess i agree with the critics here. A T-Sport worked perfect the way it was set up from the seat to the bars/fairing/pegs.

 

I started this thread with the hope I'd be able to hook up with some other T-Sport owners who shared my ideas on how it should be configured. No such luck. Everyone either thinks Harley got it right the first time, or that it should have put on ape hangers and forward controls. c-note's bike, pictured above, is a case in point. My Saskatchewan friend has his handlebars almost as high as his windscreen.

I ask you, in all fairness, to compare the T-Sport with any other sports touring bike made by any other company. The BMW R1200RT is that company's sports touring bike. Have a look at where the footpegs are. I have personally owned both the sports touring bikes made by Honda (ST1100) and Ducati (ST4s) and the pegs are further back than the Beemer.

How about seat height? The T-Sport has a seat height of 27.25 inches according to the official factory manual (Part No. 99467-021). The R1200RT has a seat height of 32.3/33.1 inches according to BMW's website. So, in short, the T-Sport seat is five inches lower than the German bike. It's also lower than both the Honda and Ducati.

Am I not being fair? Well, let's take the smallest sports touring bike on the market, the Honda CBR250R. Here's a pic of one set up with soft bags just like the T-Sport. It has a seat height of 30.5 inches! That's more than three inches higher than the T-Sport.

I could go on about the rest of the ergonomics, but I think I've made my case that adjusting the Harley closer to the standard set-up of a sports touring bike isn't some kind of heresy, just an attempt to get it right. I'd like to add one more thing because people seem to have the wrong impression of my interest in Harleys. I LOVE this bike; it has the suspension, power, sound and handling that makes every trip a pleasure. Because I live in the mountains, I can use that power to almost fly up the steep grades around my town. I've come to Harley after 59 years of motorcycling. I'm not going anywhere else.