First a bit of background. I commute about 170km round trip 4-5 days per week. I ride most weekends and try to take several multi-night trips per year. I've previously done it on one harley (a 2010 street bob) then replaced that with a BMW R1200GSA.



After I had about 60,000km on the Beemer I then added another Harley, a 2014 Fat Bob but as I did the miles on the beemer I quickly realised that 2 harleys was the way to go. The beemer is an outstanding bike but it wears things out quickly and is very expensive to own. Harleys on the other hand are proven to me and I can easily do most of the maintenance myself. I'd known for at least the last 6 months that I wanted to offload the beemer but struggled to decide on what harley I wanted.


For years I've had a soft spot for heritages and deluxes with white walls and ape hangers but knew that they were not a wise choice given the miles I do and the fact that I live in the mountains, enjoy 'spirited riding' and have to ride down a dirt road every day to get to tarmac. I went back and fourth between softails and tourers but knew that a Dyna was what worked for me (150,000+ km on them in the past few years). I'm really happy with my 2014 fatty and considered low riders for their dual brake rotors, street bobs for their upgradeability, switchbacks for their practicalness. But I just kept coming up short.

My Fat Bob has forward Controls standard (I'm 6'7"), Larger (than FXDB/FXDL) 5gal tank, Tubeless Wheels, Bigger Dash, and then one night it dawned on me. The ideal second dyna is the one I already have - another FXDF.

So I started watching the classifieds (which is saturated with Fat Bobs). I knew I didn't want ABS (standard from 2011) and that engine work would be on my list of upgrades so a 2010 or earlier 96" first generation fatty would fit the bill.

After watching the market for a while I lined up this one owner aussie delivered 2010 with 12,00km on the clock. Completely stock except for a set of FXDWG bars and some SE slip ons. It was located in Queensland (2100km away) so the combination of lots of hi res photos from the seller and a detailed 5 minute video of it starting and running were enough to seal the deal. It was shipped down to me in Melbourne and I was able to trade my beemer to a local dealer (also in Melbourne) as part of the deal. Interestingkly they found nearly $3000 worth of 'stuff' that needing doing. On a bike that had only ever been in their workshop.

I will track the progress of building up the Gen-1 here as well as keeping updates to the 2014 which is aproaching 50,000km and will start needing a few bits and pieces (like brake rotors). The plan is that I can share parts between the two whereever possible.

I want this fatty to be more performance oriented than my 2014 but it still needs to be up to the task of long haul commuting, lane splitting, running the mountain roads I live amongst and also mixing in a few trips a year.






Motivation to build a performance Fat Bob definitely came from watching the HrdKnx fatty come together:



Inspiration and what the final product will look like I have to draw on this Bob from Indonesia. It's bang on what i'm after.

At the moment I'm reseaching my parts list. More on that later.

I'll keep this thread to track the build of the new Gen-1 and also the ongoing maintenance and running of the Gen-2

 

In one of those pictures it looks as if your Fat Bob transported you back to the Jurassic period.

 

So day one was slightly eventful.

The bike arrived in Melbourne CBD without issue, but the Fob battery for the security system was low and the alarm had been going off during transport. Long story short my first ride was with the bike on a Tow Truck.

Got it home and swapped the battery, fired straight up. I took it for a spin and scrapped the SE mufflers on the second corner

Its now parked up on the trickle charger overnight.


First order of business is to go right through the bike and see what it needs for a Roadworthy inspection (needed to register it in my name). I'll be doing that and a 3 holes service this weekend.

I've also ordered a Tri-Bar LED taillight and some wrinkle black parts.

More to come

 

Thats where I live

 

looks amazing

 

This should be fun! Congrats and good luck!

 

Is it safe to go in those woods/forest? I hear they have some dangerous animals there!

 

Shredders!

 

The deadly creatures that live in the bush near me are only slithering around in the hot months.

 

I guess when all 6'-7" of you and only you is that Thatch...you don't look so BIG ...

To "Plant a Seed"... if and when you break down those forks, we need to do some research measuring

Congrats and Good luck