Agreed it would look better with a blended look.

 

I am amazed at your skills and how you transformed your bike. It looks awesome. You do quality work and enjoyed looking at your every step. Great detailed thread.

 

Thanks! I get a lot comments when I'm out and about. I wish I could afford to do it all at once. I hate that people are seeing a work in progress, but that's life.

 

Parts cost money that I have a lack of. Great that you are making a lot of your own.

 

Well, you were able to come up with $6 for AC plate/cover

 

Thats chump change

 

 

Sprotor? Losin' that big-*** caliper & mount oughtta shave a couple pounds. I'd love to do a sprotor setup & get all that crap off that side of the rear wheel. Way past my skill level/means, but am puzzling out how to run a 2 piston Brembo on a 10" rotor.

Any tips on lacing wheels? I'm thinking about 16x3.5 rear & 18x3.5 front chromed Excels with polished s/s spokes.

 

My original plan was a Hawg Halters sprocket brake, then I thought I'd do a Wilwood low mount. However, once I got the rear end chopped off I decided I liked the look of the caliper on the right side to help balance the two sides visually. I assumed the bracket was heavy cast iron but it turned out to be aluminum. Caliper is aluminum too. It's really not all that heavy. I'll still be upgrading eventually, but I don't yet know to what.

As far as lacing... This was my first one. I'd hate to presume I know enough to advise somebody...but...

I did have to buy a nipple wrench. They are some oddball in between size. I also made a torque wrench adapter because I'm too cheap to buy the special spoke torque wrench.

It took a long time to lace and true. At least eight hours. Assembly was easy and doesn't require any tools. Truing is another animal entirely. I suspect it cost me more to buy the tools than it would have to just pay the shop to true amd balance. But I like to learn new skills and know that things are done right. I was able to get the radial and axial runout both under .015" and that was only so high because of the weld seam in the rim. 90% of the rim is under .005". I already had the dial indicator and base but I did have to buy the truing stand and spoke wrench. I also bought the bearing pull/press tool. I reconditioned used hubs. Oh, I also made a brass "seating" tool (imagine a huge, brass, nail setting punch) to smack the nipples before a final runout check. Just to make double sure they were completely seated in the rim dimples. Unless you're dedicated to DIY and also very patient, I'd suggest letting a pro do the truing. I enjoyed the process and plan to do several more so I consider it time and money well spent.

The procedure is in the service manual. Pretty straightforward but my Excel rim required a slightly different lacing pattern than the manual listed. The spokes bound up doing it by the book. I understand Harley has used a couple different patterns over the years so my manual and rim must be different vintages. I've asked several people about lacing patterns with mismatched hub/rim combos and everybody has different opinions. I decided the rim dimples drive the pattern. So far it's been perfect.

When it's done right the spokes, hub, & rim all fall together easily with no binding or pinching or bending required. Took me a few tries to get it assembled before I felt comfortable proceeding to truing.

I've got over 1000 miles on the bike since the conversion and I've been keeping a close eye on the spokes. Nothing has budged and it rides smooth as glass. I have no regrets. I would like to find some nicer anodized rims but that's down the road.

Finding a tube to fit the 180/70-16 was a pain.

 

job well done brother