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Konichiwa from Japan. Im Aussie that`s been living in Hakuba Japan for nearly 10yrs. Since the mid 80s I`ve owned numerous HDs from Ironheads through to a new twin cam in 1999.
Thought Id start a thread to keep track of the changes coming up and to encourage others to work on their own bikes and demonstrate that you can do things pretty cheaply.
So a couple months back I sold a low mile 98 FXDWG that I never really gelled with. With money in my pocket I started looking for my next bike and settled on hunting up a 1580/6 speed softail. I have a friend with a shop that has access to the dealer auctions and he was able to find me a 2007 FXST Standard with 20,000kms (12,000miles). I chose a standard as Im not a bg fan of looking after chrome and the price difference between a FXST and a FXSTC or FXSTB can be pumped into the changes I wanted to make.
Now something I have learnt is that the 07s and maybe the 08s are somewhat unique in someways as they still have fender strut `horns` as part of the frame whilst the latter ones they dont. Having spent quite a bit of time trying to hunt up another set of struts to modify its been a lesson to learn
Plans for the bike include being able to set it up for long distance multi day touring whilst being able to switch it up as a bit more chopper looking for most of the riding season here. In both modes it will have a longer front end and different front end.
Here`s the bike as I bought it.
Last edited by panhead_pete; Jun 27, 2024 at 11:30 PM.
I had the freind with the bike shop pick it up from the auction house as I live 5hrs away and whilst at his shop he sorted out the Shaken/Title (rego), fit a new rear tire, fit a couple USB plugs for GPS etc, automatic toll and give it a basic service. Once hope I started changing it up a little.
Now my approach to this bike is to use as many take off and 2nd parts as possible and there is 3 reasons for that.
1) HD parts are generally pretty good quality
2) Prices are much cheaper than new
3) Its good for the planet (recycle/reuse)
With that in mind the first changes I have made were to remove the pretty crappy saddle bag, bought a HD seat and changed the aircleaner. My personal feeling is that football cleaner is the ugliest ever from the factory. I hunted up one from a FLD for $6 and bolted that on. Its not going to be there forever though. For $120 I got a seat in really good condition which greatly improved the looks of the bike. Im getting rid of those grips....
Before running off and buying over length fork tubes without knowing how long I need the 1st was to mock it up with the current front end and the front wheel Im planning to use which is from a FXCWC. It will get new wheel bearings, tire etc.
With the FXST fork tubes already being +2" compared to a FLSTC etc I wanted to see what an addition 4" would look like. So I pulled the forks etc apart and lowered the tubes 100mm and slid the wheel in to see how it looked.
Im thinking this will probably be as long as it gets but it needs to be levelled up some so I`ve ordered up some raked bearing cups from Vulcan engineering as I didnt want raked trees in excess of the current 2-3 degress in the FXST trees. Will post up pics once they arrive and of the installation process.
Whilst waiting on front end parts yesterday relocated the horn including deleting the huge ugly *** OEM horn and swapped it for something more discrete. Gave it a bit of thought about where I wanted it and tried out a few locations (pics). In the end I got it somewhat discretely between the front down tubes. Made a spacer out of washers which I glued together which allowed me get it just right to push it back so not really visible from the sides. I had to extend the wires which meant removing the gas tank. Holy crap there is a LOT of fuel left when the fuel light is on. Next time I will remove the tank mounting bolts etc before removing the cross over pipe....
After a trial fit up or 3 hit everything with some black chassis paint. Looks MUCH better and Im not worried about air flow to the engine as its quite small, up high and when you consider the bikes with the ABS modules on the front tubes it takes up very little space. Have left the original rubber isolater in place as its going to be used for something else but did give it some black paint to make it more discrete. All in all a simple job that cost less than $20 and made a big difference to how the bike looks.
Last edited by panhead_pete; Jul 1, 2024 at 06:48 PM.
Rainy day here in Japan so still being a little undecided on how long I want to go with the front end so mocked the bike up with 6"+ which will be tubes that are 30.25" long. I tihnk this is where I will end up.
Also mocked up the radial caliper on one of the FLHR fork legs Im going to use.
Scored an S&S air cleaner during the week too so fitted that up. Being black looks a little out of place at the moment but will be just fine after this winter`s build
Last edited by panhead_pete; Jul 14, 2024 at 01:43 AM.
Cheers. Its all just mock up stuff at the moment with the big changes happening over winter when we cant ride. Am going to get a local shop do a big chunk of it including fitting the raked bearing cups. The big challenge is keeping the scope for this year`s work under control
Next step is removing the rear fender and chopping up another one. Keeping an eye out for a cheap one and looks like might get lucky this week. That being said I have already had issues with some of the fender strut Torx bolts not wanting to come out, no idea why they used so much thread lock at the factory.
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2007 FXST build in Japan
