Been modding a 2001 hugger as of late. About halfway to where I want it. Working on a jockey shift setup right now. Also adding a kicker at some point and doing a high compression big bore as well as updated 2 piece rocker boxes. Need a front fender still, paint matched. What do you think so far?

 

Careful with high compression and kicker in the same sentence. 9:1 on my '72 requires a hefty kick.

 

Gorgeous looking bike. I really loved the older styling where the battery was exposed along with the oil tank. Excited to see it change even more in a few months.

 

I had considered the whole high compression/ kicker setup as being an issue, but I'm willing to risk it. Worst case scenario I have to install a compression release. Or maybe worst case is it has a kicker on it that I don't have enough *** to get functioning properly. Time will tell.

In any case, I've been dreaming about putting the Firestone Deluxe Champion replica tires on something for a few years. Finally found the right project. Fitting that fatty in front though was a bit challenging. Narrow glide no likey wide rubber.

In stepped the mid-glide. Seeing several posts had me convinced that the Vulcan kit was not the right look, and a wide glide was equally strange looking, if not more so. Went with OEM style mid-glide off of a 1200 custom, trees, tubes, internals that is. I did notice that all of the mid-glide models have different top trees, and sliders as well.

Fairly simple bolt on stuff as far as suspension goes. Wheel was a bit time consuming getting together. I could not justify the $500 32 spoke front wheel, so I began scrounging. The wheel is actually 3 different wheels pieced together.

Hub started life as a 3/4 bearing 21" wide glide. After some careful measuring, I faced both sides in the mill making it as narrow as possible so I had the most room to play with spacing. This left me with an internal lip that required I purchase a boring head and lever style inicator to remove. Everything went smoothly there. Turned into a 25mm 'thin' bearing front. Outside diameter of bearings is the same. The spokes and nipples came off a wheel that had loosened up and taken out the hub. Rim was just in better shape than anything else I could acquire.

Loosely laced the parts and bolted stock 4 piston caliper to new slider, which fit perfectly without modification. Set disc to center of caliper and turned custom 25mm wheel spacers. Next was finding offset for rim. Measured to center wheel between forks and final tightened all spokes. A tube, bearings, and take-off tire later she was rolling.

The headlight bracket looked out of place on top of the mounts, which were too far apart anyway, about 1/4" both sides. So I elongated the holes, and shaved some meat off the back side to fit underneath the mount. Happened to be center between the trees as well.

Overall it looks good and works well, all the while with 99% HD parts to boot.

 

Double post

 

Found a take off fender, not in awful shape. Some scratches and a small ding. Like the way it looks with that wide tire. Bit of a tight fit though.

 

Finished fabbing the tank shifter. Not a jockey shift as I had previously called it. Going to take some practice getting used to it.

 

Looks great!
I'm planning on doing pretty much the same thing to a Wide Glide front hub to go on my Super Glide.
How deep did you machine out the recess for the bearings?
Also, what is that front fender off of? I plan on putting a 130/80 tire on the front and need a wider fender.

 

There was a machined lip on both sides of the wheel hub. More than likely to reduced machining costs by having to remove more material. The primary bearing is meant to be pressed tight to this lip. All I did was remove the lip and measure to allow the bearings to sit on the lowest step of the hub. The hub spacer I turned on the lathe to allow 0.020" gap between the secondary bearing and the lowest step so that when the axle is tightened the load is transferred only through the inner bearing race and is not putting a side load on the *****. Since I also went from a 3/4" axle to a 25mm axle I had to run a larger OD hub spacer, and had to bore some of the inner portion out as well. I'll have to get a picture to show you what I'm talking about.

I believe the fender is the same for all of the mid-glide front ends on the newer Sporty's. 5 3/4" if I'm not mistaken. Should be stock on all 883 Super lows and 1200 customs. 48's have a fender that mounts vertically to the model specific sliders.

 

That hub looks so much better then the one made for the mid-glide.
Mine is going to have a 17" black rim with a 130/80 tire.
What size tire is on yours?
There is a lip that sticks out on the rotor side that protrudes into the center of the rotor. Did you leave that off when you faced that side?
Did you use an end mill bit in a knee mill to machine off the two sides?
I was thinking about using a lathe.