No, I’m not ranting about anything, I’m actually at a point where most if not all my mods are done!

Today I fit the last piece of the “project blackout” puzzle in the form of black fork sliders. Fork disassembly was something I never done, but found it was a huge mess, but overall pretty easy to do solo. The only help I needed was someone to press down the preload spacers and springs so I could torque the damper bolt, but that was it. I probably could have done it by inverting the forks and pressing them against the deck while I hit the bolts with the impact gun, but I didn’t.

Since I’m really happy with the performance of the stock fork internals now that I installed heavier RaceTech springs and Burly preload adjuster caps, I decided to stick with Bel Ray 10w fork oil, instead of anything heavier. Haven’t ridden yet, but I can’t see what could have gone wrong. Pretty simple actually.

Anyway, here are some photos.

Pre-game...


Fairing, fender, brake caliper and wheel off.


Sigs and fork tubes out.


I got fork fork oil all over my hands so I wasn’t grabbing for my iPhone, so I missed some of the gory internals. Sorry. Got the new sliders mounted quick and easy. Used some loctite thread sealant per the instructions on the damper bolt. Slider kit came with new bolts, washers and oil seals. And some new reflectors which I’ll put on tomorrow (not!).


Got the fender, wheel and brake caliper back on. Picked up some class 12.9 black oxide coated bolts for the brake caliper adapter bolts. Silver bolts didn’t look right.


Fairing back on and DONE!

Love it. The sliders really finish it off for me. Looks exactly how I envisioned it would end up when I first saw it coming off the truck at the dealer.


Here’s a little chronology:

DAY 1



As delivered, stage 3 114 and slip ons. Everything’s changed to LED’s.


Before I decided to go “black”: Cafe fairing (not painted yet), M8 heavy breather with twin cam elite filter, chrome sig relo, chrome T-bars and Bung King crash bar.


Project blackout begins. Black exhaust shields and Tallboy seat.


Blackout progresses: Black T-bars, mirrors, S&S SuperStreet, black Elite air filter (still had chrome backplate) and painted Cafe fairing to match.


Powder coated instrument console wrinkle black.


Black gauge trim rings, front sigs and relo brackets, and finally installed black heavy breather backplate. Moved the headlight bucket back slightly when I installed a JW Speaker adaptive headlight. Didn’t like it completely flush with the fairing.


Black fender struts and rear sigs.


And finally, black fork sliders and slider caps from a Low Rider S. (The caps, not the sliders)


I suppose I could go so far as to replace the triple trees, but you really can’t see them and since I already had the forks off, that’s not likely to happen.

So there you have it. The only thing That will happen is once warranty is up a better cam will go in. Other then that, I have no plans other then keep racking up the miles!

 

Looks great. Took some dedication, but it paid off. Nice job.

 

Good lookin' scoot mate!

 

Very nice!

As good as your scoot looks, I’m more impressed by the suspension mods. Can’t wait for the ride reports.

 

Cool, like the subtle black touches, n leavin some chrome/polished highlights instead of going completely black..nice

 

Good looking bike, you did a great job … it's cute that you think you are done with mods though …

 

Thats pretty funny

 

I'm a chrome junkie myself, but I have to admit, I look at your bike and ME LIKEY!

I also applaud you for doing things yourself. Good Job my friend!

 

Bike is looking good!

 

Looking good. I would probably have blacked the triple trees, but that's just my OCD.