CCE 'Tour Trac Trees' Kit Installation
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From: Bedford UK
The 'new' fenders (both ends - one black the other grey) are niceties, as the originals are in a sorry state and badly rusted. My current long ongoing project includes a 6 gallon tank (originally black) and later larger saddlebags (dark green!), so I was going to have to repaint the major parts of the bike, so that they are colour coordinated, but the fenders were the most unsightly, also the most difficult to restore.
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From: Bedford UK
Hard to fit a brace with cowbells on ... but I suppose you could go with rubber gaitors?
I think they would look OK on a EG.
Do you think the fender needs braced? Is there clearance enough under it for an internal one from the mount holes around the tyre?
If that'd work, then the cool thing to do would be weld a U-section plate inside the fender.
I think they would look OK on a EG.
Do you think the fender needs braced? Is there clearance enough under it for an internal one from the mount holes around the tyre?
If that'd work, then the cool thing to do would be weld a U-section plate inside the fender.
I'm sure that bracing of the sliders would be a further improvement, but admittedly haven't taken any action to address it. A brace of similar design to that one, replacing the current fender mounting brackets, would certainly be worthwhile I agree. If it could be integrated with the fender, so the two fit the forks as the fender currently does, that would be a great solution.
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From: Bedford UK
That experience was due to two features of the bike IMHO: the awful top tree design; lack of support across the top of the sliders. Fork braces are less common these days, largely due to the larger diameter forks many bikes now come with, but in the past even H-D sold them as SE products. Unfortunately that is not something that can be easily adapted to fit any of the Touring range.
A further comment is that with my 1" front axle, plus twin-row front wheel bearings, the support given to the sliders at axle-level should be a further small contribution to improved handling.
Road Warrior
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From: D/FW Texas
I can see the fender brace in the pic posted by Dun Roamin as a fix for a fender (only), but doubt that its design is beefy enough to act the same as a proper fork brace. During my last update to my Panhead, I actually welded the inside OEM brace to the fender, then removed the rivets and filled in those holes. Just a small detail that's hardly ever noticed by anyone other than me and a very few others. I did a similar clean up to the rear fender, but more intensive. It had a hinged rear flip section that I removed the hinge, welded the two sections togrther, and again removed the rivets. It's the subtle changes that I like; which your CCE triple tree mod falls into.
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The CCE kit represents rather more than a mere subtle change IMHO! The 2014 Rushmore models have a similar top-tree set-up, albeit with 49mm fork tubes as an additional benefit. I can trace my viewing history on HDF way back to when I first registered the existence of the CCE kit and kick myself for not doing something more positive about it for so long! As an engineer I regard it as a proper engineering solution to a long-overdue Harley short-coming, which the MoCo themselves have at long last addressed.
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From: Bedford UK
Not without help, from what I understand, as the trees won't fit our frame! I seem to recall they use different head races. Howard of Motorcycle Metal has trees that will enable the forks to be used, although IIRC he sells them as a complete upgrade kit, trees with forks plus Ohlins fully adjustable cartridges. The ultimate upgrade, although not cheap!
Road Warrior
Joined: Mar 2010
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From: D/FW Texas
Pardon me, by subtle I was only refering to "visually detectible" by the casual bystander, not performance related modifications that only the rider would appreciate. I'm thinking the average person walking around a CCE mod'd bike would not notice a different top tree, especially on a bagger with a fairing. I agree that CCE and Howard's solutions both brillantly solve a well known factory shortcoming. As funds become availible, I'll be doing this to my daily rider, as you have. Please continue to share your "fixes".
Last edited by SeaZund; Dec 26, 2014 at 11:43 AM.