Kinda cool the way it is... and still really rideable, unlike the original Captain America bike... BUT...

After looking at it again, I would be tempted to add 4" or 6" over fork tube extensions... It would really compliment the "look", without getting crazy raking the bike, etc.... it's an easy mod, that can quickly be reversed.

Back when I was teenager, everybody put 4" or 6" fork extensions on their Sportsters.... It seems like another lifetime ago, but I don't seem to remember any terrible consequences...

Then again, I road a brand new 1978 FXS Lowrider across country back in 1978, and thought it was the greatest ride ever...!! My old body would revolt if I tried that again...

 

@hattitude you and your motorcycle peers are the ones I think I of, when the modern cyclist states a Dyna / Softail with 114 or a even a 1200 Sporty isn’t a touring bike!
Yeah what about all the guys that did just what you did, coast to coast on 74 or 80 incher probably with everything rolled up not even saddlebags, no cell phone, no gps, probably less then a few bucks in the pocket…

 

In my case, it was an '80 80" FXS, a Kelty backpack, REI sleeping bag, and an REI backpack tent.. oh yeah, my rain gear was a helmet with a face shield..

Big difference between my cruising style in 1982 and then 2016.... I still love it, just enjoy more creature comforts...

And it's been about 45 years since I have parked my bike next to a table at a rest stop, and slept on the table in my sleeping bag, because I was running low on money, on the way home....

 

The C.A. has been done and over done over and over again to the point that it's a caricature of it's iconic self..

 

I like the 1982 pic ... Unless whoever took the pic was with you, in a Winnebago, and towing a motorcycle trailer

 

I bet the 82 trip has more stories you can’t tell around kids….

 

Ha... no that's me... a long, long time ago... 1982...

I didn't know that pic existed for about 9 years. Then one day several of us were drinking and reminiscing at a fellow rider's house. I saw that pic in his scrap book about that specific ride. There were 10 of us and it was an epic trip... That's all I will say about that..

Luckily he still had the negatives (how many are going to know what that means..?) and I made myself a couple copies... Apparently, he strapped a 35mm around his neck on a couple legs of the trip, to take shots along the way... I didn't even know he did that..

 

You're lucky to find that photo. I don't have any photos. My ex was pure evil and took them all. Even photos of my family. All I have is memories and they're fading the older I get. And yeah, I know what negatives are. LOL!

 

That sucks about the ex... Many have shared your pain...

As you know, back then was a lot different. Nobody had a phone that would take pics (let alone videos) on them at all times. Cool guys didn't carry cameras and take pictures...

Yesterday's picture geeks, are todays heroes....!

There are very few pics from those days, and even fewer "action" shots. I was lucky I managed to find and save a couple...

 

I never had the scratch for a cross-country ride, but once in a while I'd go with a couple of buddies to Reno or Salt Lake City to party and it'd be on my '72 hard tail raked rat bike Sportster (we lived in Las Vegas). I never had the money for the 'nicer' of things (always stoned/partying my money away, heh heh), so you'd usually see some old ratty looking sleeping bag rolled up that looked paper thin. Rain gear? I had no clue there was such a critter back then, and the very, very few times I ever got caught in a rain it was good for helping to wash out the nasty oil/grease/gas/sweat stained jeans (I was always working on one or more of our cars/trucks/vans etc, though I usually would put on a halfway nice t-shirt before I left...we didn't take any extra clothes as none of us had saddlebags, lol, and besides, we usually only stayed two or three nights/days), and we slept next to the sleds at night somewhere outside the city limits, heh. Believe it or not, Salt Lake City at the time was really awful loaded with the religious back then (probably still is I guess), and the girls were bored to tears with the guys because they didn't party or have fun. We'd show up on our Harley's and get beer and man-oh-man it was pretty much guaranteed we'd all get us some cooch at least one of the two or three nights! I'd still do that stuff now at 62, but I have a girlfriend now and a softail instead of a hard tail (my back injury from '00 would probably let me sit a hard tail for about 50 feet before I stopped, dropped the kickstand, got off and cried from the pain! LOL) and finding the party people is *MUCH* harder nowadays compared to back in the early and mid '80's. Like you, I sure do miss it.

Unfortunately none of us ever had a camera. Pictures of us *ever* are so rare that it truly saddens me at times and really gets me all bummed out and melancholy.