Thanks to the HDForum and the many of you who have posted pictures of your drop dead sexy sleds! I have drawn much inspiration from your post and pics in deciding the direction I wanted to go in making my Deluxe, mine!

Nov 5, 11 - I bought my 2006 Deluxe that only had 548 miles and a few upgrades done by the PO...V&H BBS, Dobeck Performan TFI controller, windshield, saddlebags etc. all which are in a pile except for the TFI controller which will be upgraded later.



I came up with and "had" a plan! That was the bars, chrome the front end, then work on the rear end, next phase floorboards, shift and brake pedals, next lowering, then maybe paint and on to wheels and tires. I was planning this over maybe a two year period. Well, let's just say plans are only a guide and when in doubt throw them out and just DO IT all! LOL

Dec 15, 11 - My first big mod had to be the handle bars. The Burly Beach bars were a must and much more than a fashion statement. Around Thanksgiving I started collecting my parts (which you can see the parts list in a previous thread).



I planned on doing the bars myself, but when I found a great deal from a local indy I couldn't pass it up knowing they'd have the job done a lot quicker than I would have. But the one big lesson I learned - no one cares about your parts or bike like yourself! Unless it deals with internals, I will be doing all my own wrenching! One piece of advice is to be sure that you inspect all parts you drop off with the indy so when you get your bike back all scratched up there is no denying who done it!

Not long afterwards I found the floorboard extension kit from Harley Goodies! These are sweet and get your feet out away from the exhaust and provide a little more room to move your feet around.

Jan 12, 2012 - I really didn't expect to start phase 2 (front end chrome), let alone tearing my bike apart on a week night, and at that moment did not realize just how far this was going to go. This phase of the plan was to only chrome the lower sliders and cowbells and just maybe the rotors and caliper. After coming to this site and drooling every night something just took control of me (LOL) and I got home from work, ate, went to the garage for my nightly ritual and it started! LOL

Tank Removal - Something I later learned on here - when removing the tank use some vice grips to pinch off the crossover fuel line to help control the fuel when you remove the line to drain the tank. I didn't make to much of a mess but an extra set of hands or the vice grips would have come in handy.

Fork Removal - This all went real smooth, removed all the upper tins, aux light bar, headlight etc. The only issue I had was with the front tire removal, I couldn't get the axle to come out. After seeking and receiving some great advice on here, I took a rubber mallet and wooden dowel from an old paper towel holder and just tapped the axle out! DUH! NEWBIE!

The best part of the night was when the OL stuck her head in the garage to say goodnight around 10, to see the look on her face (she didn't know I was tearing the bike down either)! LOL It was the - WTF are you doing to your bike???, that was truly priceless! I just looked up and said as calmly as possible, making her mine! LOL Taking my time, marking wires, a hiccup here and there, it only took me a couple hours to get to here;



Jan 15, 12 - After getting the rear tire off I started a poll in another thread to help decide if I would chrome the swingarm or not. This generated a lot of interesting discussion of course and at the time I made my decision, the majority voted CHROME!



More to follow as soon as I download some more pics!

 

Is there a bike in there somewhere.

Can't wait to see the progress

 

gotta love a well laid plan huh? Hurry up and get that thing back together so you can come out here and help me with my stuff haha. She's gonna be sick bro. You'll be showin them rednecks out there whats up. Cant wait to see it go back together

 

Good deal Dude!! A bike is just a bike UNTIL you make it your's! We all know that here, and there is only one way to make it yours and that is an idea or a picture in your head with time, patiance, a list and money! I wish you could have snapped a picture of the OL's face when she popped her head out the door, those are ALWAYS pricless moments! Good luck Dude and I give you credit for tearing into it yourself. We all also know that no one cares for our bikes like we care for our own, that goes without saying and there is NOTHING worse then getting your bike back with percieved improvments only to find stuff ain't right, scratched and runs like crap, that is just the WORST feeling! I have been investing in tools once again as much as I have been investing in my bike and it's mod's so that I too can do more wrenching on my own scooter. My Son and his friends, well lets just say with all thier dirt riding adventures my tools slowly, 1 by 1 started ending up misssing in action. I now have a new tool rule, they are under lock and key and HANDS OFF G@#* dang it! Not 1 of my tools are to leave my property, PERIOD, end of story! It's gonna look sweet when your done Dude and you will be very proud of yourself for doing it too.

 

The front end is back together and I'm waiting on the rest of the parts to show up to finish up. I was going to send my sliders off but thought it would be quicker to just buy them. lol I learned a valuable ebay lesson here. Make sure you ask questions of the seller and ensure you aren't buying high dollar "junk" that was chromed in Taiwan or somewhere! LOL After spending $225 on the lowers, they arrived and looked like crap!

I had previously researched some of the exchanges and for $175, I decided to go with WillyShiny.com and I'm glad I did! Joe is a great guy and is always available to answer any questions. Even my son said man, these make the ebay ones look like plastic! LOL Which they did.

To save headaches I found a different indy than the one who done my bars and they swapped the fork internals for me for an hours labor and materials. I had them install a set of Progressive Drop-In springs set with a 2" drop. Figure I'll start slammed and it'd be easier to go up if needed later.

Only took about an hour to reassemble to this point with the addition of the fender guard. I'll get better quality pics later.

 

did you forget to order a new set of fork reflectors?

 

Very rewarding to DIY.

 

Youve got the bug Sean, really bad man,
Its gonna look great,
Ive come to a decision on mine, and decided that I'm going to get it painted, and its going to cost me more than I was wanting to pay, but after spending so much on it up to this point, it would be crazy to ruin it with a cheap paint job.
The place I'm using will come and pick my bike up, strip it, paint it, and rebuild it. and deliver it back to me.
I have spare tins, so they are going to paint them and fit them, and give me back my black cherry originals.

 

Subscribed! You are doing great on the bike so far! Can't wait to see it completed! I plan on doing alot of similar tear down (of course my stuff will be sent out to be blacked out instead of chromed) and your pics will DEFINITELY help me out.

I am sure it is going to look bad ***! I will be keeping up with this thread.

Love the sign in the garage btw.

 

Hurry and show us that chrome swingarm!!!