I just bought a fatboy wheel for my 06 Softail standard. Before I put the wheel on, I want to a fatboy fender, to complete the package. The guys at the dealership told me to purchase a fender through HD and have it factory painted. (My bike color is chopper blue - not a standard fatboy color.)

I could save some money and purchase a fender via ebay and have it sent out locally to paint. I know, you get what you pay for, but I'm interested in your thoughts.



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Some pro's and con's on both I'll bet.. The HD option may appear costly at first but considering it would be factory painted from factory paint is not a bad thing, plus I would hope if it comes in and there's some kind of defect, you can deal with it right over the parts counter, verses dickering with a local painter. Con's to it might be the cost...

Pro's for an aftermarket or ebay fender is cost (maybe) and that's about it.. except you also have the option of a custom fender without all the predrilled holes, etc So at that point, you still would have to match up the paint somehow with a local painter.

I haven't noticed what the bobtail fender softail guys are doing with their rear fenders.. aughta be interesting.. I can say I've never seen an FX softail with an FL rear fender though. I have seen guys going to a rounded low-rider style fender which looked AWESOME on a standard softail because it wasn't as long and skirty as the full FL fender but still clean looking for trimming down the rear end nice and custom.. so it kept the trimmed "bobbed" look of the FX softail but basically got rid of the "flip" at the end.. a plain shortie dyna/sportie style.

How much do they want for a factory painted fender these days?

 

Tail 11. I bought fenders for my Standard, got them painted and bolted them up. My rear fender is from a Deluxe. If you can find a rear fender that will go with your tire width, it should work with no hassles. Any good paint shop can mix the chopper blue paint. All colors have a "paint code" which is the recipe for the color. They will doing a final matching accordingly once its mixed.

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I am leaving the bobtail alone. Somebody posted this link: http://www.harleydavidsonmontreal.co...=13&MarqueID=9 and I decided I liked the look. I did see a 03 standard with the setup I'm going for and it looked really good.

I think I will go with the Harley fender/paint. I just didn't want to have to wait a long time, but I'm hoping since it's winter the factory won't be real busy.

 

Wanna bet? That's when the paint shops are the busiest because everyone who wants paint waits till they can't ride, Ta-Da winter and snow.

 

I suppose there's never a good time, but I'll take my chances.


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DAmn, what did you do to that engine and tranny? Dip the whole thing in chrome? Looks really slick, but I'll bet it can be a bear to get cleaned up after a run in the rain.

 

I just put a new fender on my night train, simply called dealership an ordered factory paint, took fender to local painter, painter sprayed it, total cost for paint and labor $150, 80 bucks for paint and material 70 labor.........

 

Yeah no kidding.. I noticed that too.. Looks great.. Softail Standard with the cast engine, adding the chrome covers instead of stock? Did you also polish the jugs and heads? Does look awesome! I see a chrome oil tank in your future, maybe.

And , that blue is my favorite color on the FXST.. I wished they did that same scheme on the fatboy. I wouldn't mind getting the codes or the formula or whatever for that chopper blue.. (I'm completely ignorant with auto-paint as you can tell). I'm thinking it would look great on my fatty. But it does look better with that engine instead of the black I think for sure.

 

Hi SoCalFXSTI, what size tires do you have on your bike?