Ok, kids, he's a fun thread where I'm going to explain the process I'm going through to murder out (black out) my new 2016 1200 Roadster. It's been a heck of a process so far with a few complications along the way, not a few of them from the mind-boggling decisions of HD themselves but here it goes:





I ordered the 2016 Black Denim 1200 Roadster from my local dealership and when they got it, we noticed the ONLY thing Black Denim on it was the tank and rear fender. The front fender and both side covers were gloss black. What Harley was thinking there, I have no idea but I had to BUY replacement parts. Turns out the side plates on the 2016 1200 Roadster are the exact same as the ones on the Iron 883 so we just pulled them off the Iron and put them on the Roadster: Presto. Same went for the air filter. Took the solid flat black one off the Iron and replaced the light grey one on the Roadster. But I still had to buy them. Next is the front fender. That is particular to the Roadster and doesn't come in Black Denim. HOWEVER, it does come primered so I had to buy that extra and paint it myself. (Fun question: do I get to keep the old parts and sell them?)

Next, we noticed that the handlebar is chrome and is also particular to the Roadster and doesn't come in black. We had that removed and sent to the powder coating shop and turned flat black. Additionally, the front control levers and the front turn signals are chrome. We replaced them with their black counterparts, which I had to buy. Next we looked at the oil tank; it's chrome. We replaced that out with the black one (also had to buy extra).

At this point we went on to the engine. To get that complete blacked out look we bought the wrinkle black derby and timing cover and the wrinkle black rocker box upper and lower covers. We also got the black bolt covers. For the chrome pushrods, I went to revzilla and got black Pushrod covers.

For the exhaust, we replaced the chrome header pipes with the black ones and the heat shields and exhaust pipes with the black screaming eagle parts (gun metal for the heat shields).

The couple problems we've run into are thus: the fork on the Roadster is inverted. Therefore the chrome that's usually on top is at the bottom and we're not sure if there are any black fork covers that will work down there. Another problem is the rotors (I'm aware that I'm getting obsessive here). The left and right front rotors and the rear rotor are mostly chrome. We had a hell of a time determining the exact specs of those rotors and once we did, seem to have discovered that there is no manufactured rear rotor that matches this bike, much less in black. For the front rotors, we found a solid black rotor made by Wilwood that SEEMS like it might fit but we're not 100% sure. They're also non-floating rotors whereas the stock rotors are floating. So, for the moment, we've scrapped the rotor options.

The FINAL and almost most galling issue for me is the oil tank side cover dipstick. It's Grey and plastic and no one and I mean no one we can find makes it black. So that's a part that we'll have to paint ourselves. Problem with this is that the dipstick is obviously a moving part and I've done this before on my old ride which was an Iron 883 and the paint often scratched off; it was a pain.

ANYWAY, here we are so far. The bike is in the shop getting all these modifications I mentioned and I'll post more pics when it's finished in a few days. I welcome comments, questions and suggestions!

 

Great start to a fun project. I am a big fan of the look and of the roadster. Please let me know how you like the seat. I am looking into it as an alternative for my Iron.

Ps. The side panels on a roadster are gloss due to tradition. The older orange "r's" also had gloss side panels. Fans of Delboys garage will remember him actually re-glossing side panels back to gloss to keep them correct. I def. agree that the ones from an Iron (matte) would look much better.

 

Awesome Roadster. That was my first choice to buy but I couldn't find one anywhere local.

 

To answer your question if you own the parts you are replacing off the bike you bought is YES. You are paying out your *** for a new Harley and they are making you buy the other parts so you own both.

 

.... hd should just give us stuff free... seems fair, right?

What im going to say here is not going to be well received, i'll probably get another Mod PM telling me to "stop being a dick" but, there's no way i can let this slide.

I am shocked at the egregious entitlement in the original post. Yes, you will pay for mods. The bike was designed one way and you want to turn it into 2009 and "murder it out"... basically making it look like an over grown cliche black iron.... theres nothing wrong with that (seriously, there's not) per se but... going on a tyraid about having to pay for nonstock parts is ridiculous. Trust me, i understand that the hd "factory custom" thing is complete bulls***, Its just a shopping cart with a slight discount.

C'mon man. You could have taken bike home and started searching out black parts to trade on Craigslist, ebay, and even here in the classifieds (or just plain asked the forum about ) or ordered them cheaper . That said...

Black dipstick here:
Harley-Davidson® Oil Level/Temp Dipstick LCD Gloss Black - part number: 62700011



You'll want it anyway to stop the stock one from popping up.

I feel your pain on paying for stuff but, most stuff ain't free. Getting a bike the way you want it costs money. Bi***ing about aint cool.

One another note, since you are paying... be sure to boost you insurance for accessories up to 5000 or 10000. That way if you wreck your bike or it gets stolen, the insurance company pays you for all you've paid out.

I just lost out on accessories when I wrecked my bike... i was well over 4000 in and only got back 3000 because i didnt up that coverage. I upped it on the new bike and the sportster, which way past 5000 in mods.

Take it easy and enjoy the process. More rewarding than letting the yahoos in the shop f your bike up anyway. Make sure they give you your parts back so you can sell them and recoup some costs... shops have funny way of forgetting they have your s***... then selling it all as "take-offs".

 

Not entitlement, it's just when I order a black denim bike, I'd like a black denim bike. I obviously don't mind buying extra parts but I wish at least the front fender, air filter and side panels were denim as well. But, then again, the reason for that issue was answered by another user. Thanks for the tip in the dipstick. I've already considered this option but the (what do you call it?) chrome trim around the dipstick is still chrome and I'll have to paint it. It gets scratched easily with the dipstick going on/coming off. Oh well.

 

It's an insert, the chromeish thing. You can pull off the cover and remove it and have something fabbed up and powder coated to replace the insert. If you feel its worth the time and expense. There may already be something out there.

that air filter cover will be gone in a month or so when you do your stage 1... not even worth sweating. again... get your parts back from the shop.

 

This should have given you an idea of what you would get...If you would have ordered "Vivid Black", it all would have matched

 

On the brake discs...
The originals look like they have black centers. I would suggest leaving them be. The Wilwood black rotors are black oxide. The braking area will be worn off within the first few brake applications, taking you back to LESS that where you started, since the stock rotors are floating.

On the fork lowers, you can get "Gaitors". However, these will require fork disassembly to install on USD forks.

 

Plasti Dip will work well for blacking out parts like the dip stick. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a rubberized spray paint with a matte finish. It is more durable than spray paint, and if you change your mind down the road, you can just peel it off. You could've done that to the side covers and front fender and saved all that money