Hey everyone, I pretty new here, I have done some posting here and there but not to much. I decided that maybe I should create a build of my bike here just to better introduce myself.

I bought my bike in October 2010 when I was 18. I decided that I needed a winter project this year so I began working on my bike. It is a 1997 XLH Hugger. It was converted to a 1200 at some point in time.

Here it what it looked like the day I bought it till this winter when i started working on it.


I have always liked the bobber style bikes so I am going for that kind of look but with the functionality of a modern bike. I don't plan on making it a true bare bones bobber, so thats why I would call it a "wanna-be" bobber.

Here is how it looks at the moment.


Its pretty much just all apart. So far though I have done a lot of little things here and there like taking it apart and cleaning it up.

Since the tank was a fat bob tank with the ignition on the tank I bought a stock ignition and relocated the it over to the battery.


I then chopped the rear fender and rear of the frame.


I also added some licks 10" short shocks. They seem a little stiff but so far i like the lowered look.


I bought a new tank that was from a 95 sportster. A lot of the mounts dont line up perfectly because the fat bob had different hardware on it so I had to do some modifications here and there that I dont have pictures of yet. I knew I wanted to lift the tank a bit anyway so I went the cheap route and made my own brackets, and had to trim up a few pieces on the bike to get it to fit right, but it looks and works great now. It may not have all the real mounting hardware but all of that stuff isn't anything you cant fab up in your garage to save some money.


Here is me on the bike. This picture pretty much is exactly where the tank will be mounted height wise.


I got the bike back together last week! Still deciding on what to paint it.


Decided to modify my old seat instead of buying a new one, and here is the final product.


New air cleaner


Took the bike out to warm it up to change the oil, and took a few pics.


Right now I am sanding and primering my tank and fenders. Since it is to cold here to paint I have to wait for now. Its pretty far from finished considering I have to find the right paint I want because I want to try and paint it myself, and Ill have to save some more money for more mods.

Future Mods:
Swap out the exhaust (Not sure with what yet)
New blinkers
Handle Bars (12" Apes? Maybe 14"s, or z bars?)

Thats all I can really think of for now. I will update it as I go, Thanks for checkin it out.

 

She looks awesome! And the bikes not bad either.

 

haha thank you, youre bike is almost the same color i want to do my bike! im looking for a dark maroon.

 

What's with the seat?

 

is it bad that i like the before picture better? i mean i know its not my bike, but with a side by side comparison i think it was tastefull the way it was. just my oppinion.

 

bike is looking good too . . .

I am subscribed to this post.

 

A new one is on the long list of things i want haha, Cant keep spending money right now.

 

Yeah a lot of people liked it the way it was, but when i first bought it i already had an idea in mind for what I wanted to do so i knew i would change it.

Also remember, its not done yet, but to each his own!

 

Looks good, BTW!

 

nice start!