Just got off the phone with Saddlemen, and placed an order for a custom solo seat. I've got a fender-mount luggage rack that I've already coated in the same brass that the rest of the bike pieces have been done in, and it looks really slick on the fender, now I just need to get the seat to go with it. Saddlemen's salesman was extremely helpful and it sure sounds like I'll be getting exactly what I want, at a price quite competitive (read: less) than it would have cost to go with the Mustang, which was my second choice. Now I just have to wait a couple of weeks for the custom build process.
So, I got a GasFlask, which is a RotoPax gas can that's designed to fit on a Harley luggage rack. It didn't fit on my Fat Bob's luggage rack, but I improvised a bracket to hold it on. It gives an extra 1.25 gallons, bringing the bike's total gas capacity to almost 5 gallons, and since I'm going cross-country on this bike next month, I thought it'd be some cheap insurance.
While it will fit on the luggage rack, it looks a tad dorky and takes up a lot of space. So I went back to my well of inspiration (the Fat Max) and got my idea, and then I went to Surdyke and got a Saree Guard, and came up with this:
Kinda cool, but it won't allow me to mount the swingarm bag simultaneously, so ... I'll be ditching the Saree Guard and going back to putting it flat on the luggage rack.
Speaking of swingarm bags, I ditched the black Willie & Max and replaced it with the new Harley bag.
Besides being grossly more expensive, the Harley bag is a little bigger, and it's genuine leather, and I dig the distressed brown look, and -- bonus! -- the buckles are brass so it integrates with my other Brass Collection pieces.
Anybody wants a slightly used Willie & Max 59776 Swingarm Bag, hit me up.
Okay, big update. My bipolar bike experiment is mostly complete. I have turned the Fat Bob into as much of a touring bike as I think it will get, while retaining its full capabilities as a sportbike. I just returned from the Milwaukee 115th Anniversary party, a 3,850 mile ride through 14 states in 12 days which included rides on some of the best motorcycle roads in America, including the Natchez Trace Parkway, the Trace Road at the Land Between the Lakes, and the Talimena National Scenic Byway.
The Fat Bob is not a touring bike. It's a great riding bike. But as said in the first post, I wanted to be able to ride some of the best roads in this country on it, but I didn't want to have to ship it or trailer it, I wanted to ride it to those roads. That meant a number of changes to make it more comfortable for touring.
To me, a touring bike needs wind protection, luggage, comfort, navigation and infotainment. I added a number of accessories to the Fat Bob to accomplish those goals. By the time I got done, it doesn't even really look like a Fat Bob anymore, it looks much more... sedate. Maybe it should be better called Portly Robert. So, in that vein, let me introduce you to a touring-configured 2018 Fat Bob:
Here are the things I added, and a brief review of the mods: Wind Management: 19" Harley Detachable Windsplitter windscreen. 9/10. This screen works, and it detaches in about 12 seconds flat, something that was important to me. I really prefer riding around town with no windscreen, so the ability to just pop this off and return the bike to a more naked style is very much appreciated. I had the 15" but sold it, too much wind buffeting. The 19" provides a complete break from buffeting when mounted higher (top mount on top of the forks) and combined with the fangs. Paughco Fangs/Fork Mounted Wind Deflectors. 8/10. Got these for like $80 on ebay. They're made for some touring model or other, but I adapted them. Drilled one hole, cut one notch, and they fit fine. They're easily converted to be just as quickly removable as the windshield. They do a good job of reducing buffeting, but not perfect. They definitely help. On the plus side, they're angular and mean looking, so much so that I keep them on pretty much all the time even when the windscreen is off, because I just like the look of 'em.
Luggage:
I didn't want saddlebags. Just doesn't fit the character of the Fat Bob, in my opinion. I looked at the Ends Cuoio, very very nice bag, but only available for the left side. The Beat for the right side was too tiny to be of much use. And I don't want to give up the upswept exhaust. So, luggage was handled differently. Harley Detachables Standard Height Sissy Bar and Luggage Rack. 9/10. This thing is great. It attaches and detaches in seconds. The sissy bar is still too short for my taste, I can't imagine how tiny the short sissy bar would be. But the taller (but still short) sissy bar works okay, my wife likes it for two-up riding, and it was sufficient to help hold the luggage in place. Harley Premium Rolling Touring Bag. 10/10. This thing is incredible. Probably my favorite piece of luggage I've ever bought. It's like the Tardis, it's bigger on the inside. The rated capacity is about 50 liters, as big as the trunk on a Gold Wing. It's huge, very well built, intelligently designed. I love everything about it. It mounts securely to the luggage rack, can be removed by unbuckling two quick-buckle straps, and a handle pops out to roll it into the hotel at night. If you like a backrest, and are riding solo, mounting it like I did (facing the rider) provides a large usable backrest. If riding two-up, you can instead turn it around facing backwards and sit it on the luggage rack. The capacity was just perfect. I fit clothes for 11 days, plus stuff like an air compressor, air mattress, camping chair, camping blanket, and all sorts of other stuff, and it still had room to cram more stuff in. I didn't have to leave anything behind that I wanted to take. This is as close to perfect as a motorcycle bag can get, IMO. Harley Single Side Swingarm Bag. 7/10. I really like the looks of this bag, and I love that it has brass buckles and accents that integrate with the other Brass Collection pieces on my bike. But it's not waterproof or water resistant; if you ride through the rain you can expect to find an inch or two of water at the bottom of the bag. That was really annoying, especially when my cheap-*** Harbor Freight hex key sets rusted thoroughly and caused a rusty muddy mess in the bottom of the bag. I had to line the bag with a garbage bag to keep the contents dry, and have ordered a bag to go inside this bag. So, 10/10 for looks, 9/10 for size/capacity, and a markdown for water collection. Cortech Expandable Tank bag. 10/10. I love this thing. It attaches to the tank through very strong magnets, and it's very well attached using them. It has 5 liters of capacity, but you can unzip it and expand it to a full 10 liters of capacity. It has tons of room inside, and you can just grab it by the handle and pull it off the tank when you want to take it with you. If you don't need that much capacity, you can zip it down and it's a sleek, compact bag that still holds 5 liters of stuff. Great bag. Water Bottle Bags. 7/10. The fangs blocked a lot of wind, but some still got through by the front of the tank, so I got a couple of Harley 8" little bags and buckled them together and laid them across the tank so they sit at the sides of the tank and block the wind coming up from the gap. I put a bottle of water in each. They work, and I kind of like the adventure-bike look they add, but it's a little silly of a workaround.
Comfort:
Some mods were added just to make the bike more comfortable to ride, considering some days were as long as 650 miles. Those comfort mods include: Kuryakyn ISO Grips with Bar End Weights and Throttle Boss. 10/10. I couldn't imagine making a near-4000 mile ride without these. They soak up the vibration. My hands would have been numbed to death without these. Cruise Control. 8/10. Love this. Love love love it. Especially because it meant I could take my right hand off the throttle and rest it intermittently. Cruise is great. Only complaint was that sometimes it just wouldn't engage, like I wasn't pressing the button exactly the way it wanted, but once it's engaged it's bliss. Saddlemen and Sundowner Seats. 10/10. I got a Saddlemen Renegade Solo seat mainly for the bobber look, and a Sundowner mainly for two-up touring. I took the Saddlemen on this journey and that's what's shown in the pic, although I probably would take the Sundowner on any future long trips. Both are a big reduction in transmitted vibration and a nice increase in comfort over the stock seat; the Sundowner's main benefit is for the passenger, it's got a luxurious passenger seat. See the prior post for my review of the Saddlemen Renegade Solo seat. But I am very, very happy with both these seats. Thrashin' Supply Mini Floorboards. 8/10. I didn't intend to get these, I thought I'd stick with footpegs, but ... these are awesome. They give as much clearance as footpegs, but they're infinitely more comfortable. Only reason they're not a 10/10 is because at cruising speeds and above, they transmit a lot more vibration than the rubber-covered footpegs do. If I could find a way to tame that, these would be a solid 10/10. They are easily interchanged with the footpegs, if you wanted to bring the footpegs with you for sportier riding. I didn't bother, I find these to be a completely satisfactory replacement for the footpegs. Extended Turn Signal Caps. 9/10. Why not? They make it a little easier to hit the turn signal switch instead of missing it, and they're a piece of cake to install.
Navigation and Infotainment:
Gotta keep entertained on the road, and you have to be able to get where you're going. Some guys might balk at this, preferring a paper map and the company of their own thoughts, but it's 2018. I'm not going to go mounting some big stereo system on this bike, that's just silly. So, I went with: Android Phone with Google Maps and Music Player. 10/10. I don't see how this can be beat. It's free (in that you already have one in your pocket), maps is free, the Harley app with ride planner and navigation is free, and with enough internal memory you can carry your entire music collection with you. Plus you can call people or call roadside assistance if necessary. And it's a camera. Win. Only downside: if you're in a remote area where you can't get a data signal, then maps won't be able to plot your route, so be sure to download a navigation app that can be used offline. SENA SMH5 Bluetooth Intercom/Headset. 6/10. A phone as an entertainment system or communication system isn't much use if you can't hear it or speak back to it. The SENA clamps on the side of the helmet and does a decent job. It's got problems though. Music quality isn't brilliant (but I wear earplugs always, so that's not really an issue). The battery life is a lie, they claim "up to 10 hours" but in reality it delivers about 2 hours. And it occasionally loses pairing with the phone, so I have to occasionally delete the headset from the phone and then go through the pairing process again. So it's not great, and I'd rather buy something else next time I'm buying. Problem is, I don't know that there's anything better out there than the SENA, is there?
Safety/Misc:
I added a couple of items that probably go with the touring aspect of the bike but don't fit in the above categories, so I'll list them here. Harley Long Stem Mirrors with $11 BangGood.com Mirror Extenders: 9/10. The stock mirrors are not only a joke, they're dangerous. They don't let you see much more than your shoulders. The Long Stem Mirrors help a little, they let you see mostly your shoulders and some of the road. But combine them with the mirror extenders and now you have a full view behind you -- I can actually see the lane next to me, and the lane directly behind me, and two lanes over... in each mirror. So five lanes of visibility. The increase in safety is priceless. But I think the mirror extenders combine with the longer stems to transmit more vibration, so the mirrors are only really "clean" from about 2000 to 2500 RPM, beyond that they're blurry. Alarm With Remote: 10/10. The Fat Bob includes the "security system" as stock, but it's nigh unto useless in alerting you to a problem. If someone moves or tries to steal the bike, then the turn signals will flash. Big whoop. Add the siren and it'll chirp when the system arms itself, and it'll scream and wail while the turn signals flash. That's a big improvement. But what I really liked was the remote pager receiver; that way, if the bike's alarm does go off, you'll have a chirping/vibrating alarm happening right on your keychain too, so you'll actually know your bike's been messed with. Since I was camping out at times, and leaving the bike with all its luggage attached outside restaurants and stuff, I liked having this confirmation of knowing whether the bike'd been messed with or not. GasFlask Gas Can: 7/10. The Fat Bob's tank is only 3.6 gallons. And the "low fuel" light comes on after about 2.5 gallons, so ... that meant I was pretty much refilling every two to 2.5 gallons. That's silly. I wish this bike had something like a 4.4 or 5-gallon tank, that would have been more practical. But it doesn't. So I added the GasFlask, a 1.25-gallon tank from RotoPax. It's a good gas can, and it's made to mount to a Harley luggage rack. Well, it mounts to a Harley TourPak luggage rack, yes, but not to a Fat Bob luggage rack, so I had to make my own bracket for it to get it to fit. It was reassuring to have an extra gallon or so when I ventured into the Ozarks. Couldn't get the nozzle to work properly, so I had to just pour the gas from the can's mouth into the tank, and that meant some spillage; guess I have to ask them about a new nozzle, but overall I was glad to have it with me. Combined with the tank's capacity, it meant I had almost 5 gallons on hand, which is sufficient for a touring bike.
All added up, it made for an acceptable touring bike. I think the Sundowner would have been a more comfortable seat choice. As far as comfort goes, the only problem I had was likely the shape of the flat handlebar, my palms would ache after a while even with the great ISO grips on there. Touring bikes have a lot more pullback and the grips are turned to a more natural angle. But a handlebar isn't a quick-change item! And I love the sporty character and mean look of the Fat Bob a lot more than I'm worried about this one comfort aspect, so I'm sticking with the stock handlebar.
All in all, Portly Robert turned out to be a suitable touring bike. It's no Ultra Limited, of course, but it was certainly satisfactory for a cross country trip, especially because it can be transformed in just minutes into a snarling road beast (see next post).
As I mentioned in the last post, this bike has bipolar personality disorder. Or Jekyll & Hyde. When in its touring configuration as above, it's sedate and pleasant. But I also wanted to accentuate its nasty, snarling, mean, pavement-shredding side. I was inspired by the Brass Collection, and then later by the Fat Max, to modify this bike into something that would look like something Boba Fett would ride. So, in that vein, perhaps we should call this incarnation "Bobba Fatt".
The idea was to be able to quickly convert from the touring configuration back to the sportbike configuration, and it takes only about five minutes to convert it back to this look.
Most of the cosmetic changes have been discussed earlier in the thread. They include: Harley's Brass Collection. It all started with that magnificent derby cover. I then went and added the swingarm pivot bolt cover, timer cover, rear axle covers, and front axle covers. Coated Components. As if that wasn't enough, I found a "dull brass" color in KG coatings, and had the lower rocker covers, muffler heat shields, front fender mount, belt guard, and solo luggage rack coated. I also got a brass shift linkage rod off ebay. And I replaced the chrome/aluminum shifter rod with a black one from the 2017 Pro Street Breakout. .44 Magnum and .50 S&W Shell Bolt Covers. I covered every engine bolt with .44 Mag and .50 S&W shells, and the riser bolt covers too. Some bolts were too big, so I used 28-gauge, 20-gauge, and 12-gauge shotgun shell brass for those. For the remaining silver bolts, I covered those with black Kuryakyn Kool Kaps. Black Brake and Clutch Levers. I put on the Harley black levers to replace the aluminum ones. I love the look, but am not thrilled with the angle. They require a lot further reach to get your fingers around them. Black Tappet and Lower Pushrod Covers. The chrome on the engine had to go, so I put on Harley's black tappet covers and black lower pushrod covers. The pushrods themselves are the Harley adjustables, as per the Stage II kit. Brass Upper Pushrod Covers and Collars. More chrome that had to be replaced. This time I had OldStuf make some genuine brass collars and custom pushrod covers. I love the look, it's perfect.
And I added the black Willie G. Skull Gas Cap. I love this gas cap!
In lighting, I replaced the incandescent turn signal bulbs and those goofy orange turn signal covers with Custom Dynamics LEDs. They're much, much brighter, and I put smoke-colored lenses over all of them. I also put a sheet of brass grate over the headlight; someone from the Harley design department actually approached me to ask what it was that I had done to the headlight because he liked it so much. I also put that same brass grate under the oil cooler cover.
For safety, I added the Bung King front and rear crash bars. I love the look of this crash bar. I've never cared for the big loops, and I thought the Mustache bars were sort of okay, but the big muscular straight bars top and bottom seem to fit the Fat Bob aesthetic the best. They remind me of a big brush guard on a truck or cowpusher in front of a train. The rear bars replace the passenger footpegs, and my wife said they were actually a big step up in comfort, apparently since they sit a few inches higher and are bigger, they're more comfortable for her relatively short legs.
For the bobber aesthetic, I added a Saddlemen Renegade Solo seat, customized in genuine leather, and a solo luggage rack. Of course, I changed out the seat bolt for one made in brass.
And of course, the Blackmill license plate relocation kit!
As far as performance goes, I started with the 114 M8 engine, and I'm currently running the Harley Stage II Torque Cam, along with the S&S Grand Nationals slip-on mufflers. I will always want more, of course, but for now (during the factory warranty period) this is enough. In this configuration I can do a rolling burnout through an intersection, and break the rear tire loose whenever exiting a corner (if I want). It's got days and days of torque, and it gets excellent gas mileage (depending on how I drive, anywhere from 40 to 53 mpg per tank). When the warranty expires, I'm strongly considering a FuelMoto 124 kit. Only problem is, I really like the look of the stock exhaust, so I'm hoping someone makes a performance exhaust that follows the stock exhaust's lines.
I don't know that it's possible to be happier with a bike than I am with this one. I love it in this configuration, and it performs magnificently. It can be dressed up for touring, and I can pull those accoutrements off in less than five minutes and return it to this state. Overall, I'm a very happy Harley owner.
Last edited by FatBob2018; 09-07-2018 at 03:39 PM.
Engine detail, brass collars and keepers with black tappet and lower pushrod covers, Brass Collection timer cover, and bolt covers.
In this pic you can see the S&S Grand Nationals mufflers, the coated muffler shields, the brass axle cover, and the smoke taillight cover.
Here's a closeup of the brass grate in the headlight, the .50 S&W bolt heads on the upper rocker covers, the coated lower rocker covers, the brass upper pushrod covers and collars, and an oddly elliptical shot of the Custom Dynamics LED in the turn signal along with the smoke cover, plus the Paughco fork wind deflectors.
The left side.
Closeup of the left side of the engine. You can see the bolt covers, shotgun shell covers, brass shift linkage, black shift rod, and the lower rocker covers.
Saddlemen Solo seat, solo luggage rack, Detachables mounting points for sissy bar, and smoked-out LED turn signal. You can also just make out one of the Thrashin' mini floorboards.
Here's a clear shot of the Harley swingarm bag, the rear axle brass cover, and the coated belt guard and the derby cover, along with the Bung King rear crash bar.
Right side of the engine. Brass bolt covers, brass timing cover, and brake-side mini floorboard are easily seen here.
"Bobba Fatt" in its natural environment.
Last edited by FatBob2018; 09-07-2018 at 03:40 PM.
07-13-2018, 02:56 PM
