Hi everyone,
Ive been lurking here for a few months. Lots of great info on this site.

I picked up an '03 Deuce in March after totaling my other bike (Suzuki VS1400) in an accident. I was scraped and bruised but otherwise fine thankfully.

So far I am loving my Deuce. I live in LA and ride between 7K and 8K a year so I am happy to have something comfortable but still agile enough for the roads around here.

So, I wanted to share with you what I am doing to it now. Every summer I take a 7-10 road trip around the west coast. This year Im taking my girlfriend so I wanted to get it set up so that we could both survive the week.

I'm a teacher so I am on a very fixed income for the summer so I spent a lot of time researching and scouring Ebay. My goal is FUNCTION over FORM so I know it may not be everyones cup o' tea

Here is what I picked up so far:
An aftermarket Batwing Fairing ($150 delivered)
An aftermarket tourbox and back rest ($79.90 delivered)

Its been a bit of a journey getting everything to work right but I am happy with how things are progressing.

Here is what it all looks like:


Its a little weird with the small headlight but I found that having that air flow reduces the buffeting quite a bit.





Brackets for the fairing: I tried to use the brackets that came with the fairing but I couldnt get it to adjust as much as I wanted. I modified the mounting brackets from an old FlyScreen shield I had. No I can go UP and DOWN, FORWARD and BACK as well as TILT









TourPack/Backrest:

The side brackets came with the trunk. I turned them upside down and the holes lines up perfectly with the holes in the fender. I had to notch out a little so they didnt pinch the turn signal wires but otherwise they worked great.

I added large L brackets to attach the pack to.










Everything is really solid and so far I'm very pleased with it. Next will be to find some saddle bags. Im trying to keep the whole thing under $400 if I can.

Ride safe.

 

very interesting, i love the 03s , its lowered nicely

 

Thanks. Ive been digging your bike.
The bike came with the Legend shocks on there and I had them pretty low in that picture.

 

Deuce is an awesome bar-hopper but terrible for road trips. I've done something similar to mine but it is completely detachable. Check it out: https://www.hdforums.com/forum/softa...p-mods-82.html

 

Thanks fourhour. I had actually been checking your setup out. Great job.

I guess it all depends on what kind of bike youre accustomed too. I rode an Intruder 1400 for 5 years and put 50K miles on that thing. I did three summers in a row where I rode 10 days straight. 15+ hours at a time.
So the Deuce is like riding in a limo

Do you have a closer picture of your mounting brackets? My pack comes off pretty easily but it takes a little bit of time since I have to remove the side rails from the fender.

Ride safe

 

Deuce Bagger, looks cool, like the rear seat set up and the top box,also wanted to do something with mine in the line of fixed saddle bags, love my Deuce, do long tripsnwith the club, added 2 solid bags off a v rod a mate gave me, removed vynil as it was shot, covered in leather myself and dyed them black, had to relocate the indicators in the box, was not that difficult, now I am in between wether or not to look for a bat wing to complete the look? I have a switchblade detachable screan on at the moment......any ideas?

 

Very cool setup with the bags. The batwing has been cool but it took a lot of work to get it to actually work right. Buffeting was really bad. I spent a lot of time working on the right height and angles. And I ended up getting wind deflectors for the side and a taller recurve windshield. Now that it's setup it's great. Just be prepared that it may take some work to get it into the right place.

 

I admire the ingenuity and dogged determination it took to try and make a touring bike out of a cruiser but as a Deuce owner, I just can't see hanging a bunch of luggage on a Deuce. I have mounted a detachable saddle bag to the left side of mine to carry tire repair, extra shirt, bottle of water, etc., have a tool bag strapped to my Ness Lo Fly bars and a tank bag; you do have to be able to carry some basic stuff. But tour packs, bat wings, windshields; sorry guys, no offense intended but I just can't go there.

Freelander, you are focused on luggage carrying capacity and while that is important, you should be as focused on comfort for you and more importantly your female passenger. The Deuce is a softail and even with the counter balanced motor, softails have an inherent buzz in the bars and foot pegs that you don't notice on short trips but will definitely notice after a 500 mile day. If you have not taken the Deuce out for a 500 mile day, you might want to take a shake out run, luggage and all before you embark on a 7-10 day road trip. Nothing worse than discovering the bugs in your modifications before the end of the first day on the road.

If you want your female passenger to be comfortable, get rid of that seat and replace it with a Mustang or Corbin. Both of you will have a major case of monkey butt in about 100 miles on that seat. She will be miserable from then on and the trip might not be as much fun as you are anticipating. If you don't believe me, get a buddy to ride you around on that pillion for 100 miles and see how you like it.

The photos look like the rear suspension has been lowered. If that is the case, raise it back up to stock ride height. The bike will handle much better and the extra travel might save your passenger from a few bone jarring jolts when the lowered suspension bottoms out.

I will also tell you that I don't think you will find the stock bars very comfortable on a cross country trip. The ergonomics may be just right for you but the stock bars were not designed for touring; pretty hard on the lower back after a long day in the saddle.

Seriously, not trying to be a smarta$$, just sharing what I have learned over the years. I now also own a 2002 FLHT and once you get on a real touring bike, you will understand. A 500 mile day on that old FL is a walk in the park.

 

Damn that's cool! Baggers softail.

But with the Tourpak attached does it affect the handling? Why 1 Big bag instead of 2 saddle bags at the side?

 

What he said! I'm willing to bet whoever designed the Deuce, didn't have fairings, tour paks, saddlebags, and long two-up trips in mind for that model.