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What I have enjoyed having a Cross Bones is the variety of eras that can be explored through your personal style and can be changed as your riding evolves. When I first bought the bike I immediately tore it apart and rebuilt it in the old 40’s style. I didn’t enjoy the upright sitting with low bars so I replaced the bars with apes but kept the old bike look. After years of this I decided to bob the fenders and lighten the load. The Cross Bones takes on different looks and personalities easily and stands out in every crowd! When I retire my bike she will go in the living room!
As you will have seen in one of the pics above, the heads were off. This was to facilitate the the fitment of an S&S 110" Big Bore Kit., which includes jugs, pistons, rings, adjustable pushrods, cam plate and their high power oil pump, and of course cams. Being that I very seldom travel over 140 kmh (87 mph) and Doha speed cameras are everywhere, I chose an S&S 583 cam which concentrates on torque over horsepower, for 1500–5000rpm range. This has been married to a Dynojet PowerVision with Target Tune, and wide band O2 sensors welded onto my exhausts. You can't see much of this in the pics, so what might you notice in the following pictures?
Changed the headlight from 5.75" to 7" LED (Fatboy)
Changed the 4" spots for 5.75" LED headlights (so now have dip and bright over the whole front end. To accomplish this, I had to get an old Road King front light bar, and modify to fit onto the springer front end without affecting my windshield.This afforded an opportunity to change the turn signals for the old-fashioned big "lollipop" ones, and I tried to do the same to the rear end also.
I managed to get a few more pieces blacked out too.
Too many additions to mention, but questions welcome.
Hoping someone who still has their stock Crossbones seat can help me out. I am trying to make something work on a 2019 Heritage which for reasons I will never understand the MoCo has not tractor style seat option.
On the stock FLSTSB seat, what are the measurements between the two mounting holes on the back of the seat for the springs and the distance between one of the spring mounting holes and the front mounting bracket holes; are there two bolts in the front for mounting; are they two in a line or side by side; what are bolt hole sizes? Thanks in advance.
I think I misread the post. Apologies. And sense I cannot fully delete it, I will shamelessly leave the link to the awesome set up i am selling here! LOL.
PS, Hope you are still enjoying those Iron Bags! I just picked up another set! LOL.
Hello Jay - good to hear from you again.
About the Irons Bags - I have really loved them, and think that they are really the only thing for my X'bones. But unfortunately when my company transferred me from UAE to Qatar, there was a blockade operating (some theological argy-bargy between Qatar and the rest of the Gulf States) and I couldn't bring my bike. So it sat for about 3 years in a company warehouse there. The storeman (who used to be a mate) did not look after the bike, so when they finally lifted the blockade, all the leatherwork was stuffed, and the windshield stolen :-( .
I have picked up replacements for windshield,
seat, pillion and tank bib, but not yet the Iron Bags. They are really perished on the "hinge" and about most of the straps are almost cracked right through. I have done as much as I can with all sorts of leather food, but its not enough. I dropped them off with a cobbler yesterday, and he will replace all the straps, and place thick patch (riveted and sewn) to re-enforce the hinge. If it looks bad, I will have to buy new. If you (or anyone else reading this) see another set 2nd hand, I would be interested.
Having been re-united with my Bones, I sold the Cholo Deluxe I had built in the meanwhile, and dumped most of the money into "refreshing my bike" as you will see from my last few posts above. The S&S 110" kit with the 583 cam have grown on me - at first I wasn't sure, but now I just can't stay off the gas, LOL ! The more I play, the more she drinks !
Anyway there was a little bit of money left from the cholo sale, enough for a down payment on this:
2011 model with very low miles.
For those who don't know me, yes, I know I can't ride two at once! But I am an ex-pat spending 11 months a year in the Middle East - so when I saw this for sale in Cape Town, and with me going home for a month soon, I could not resist. Would you?
Now I am more of a crusty old school biker, and cannot leave well enough alone, but the changes should be conservative. So I will be doing a number of mods over the month that I am home. First to go will be the orange tins - they are in perfect condition. I was thinking it would be a shame to paint them over, when I spied a set of tins for sale on FB:
These were being sold by a wonderful Italian fellow called Federico Pitari (ciao, Federico!) who was selling his X'bones sadly (his injured back needs a couch) along with some take-offs. So I snagged his tins, and found he has a lightbar and passing lamps that he sold me at under cost.
Knowing just how much it cost me to do my "Fatbones" conversion, the spares I bought from Federico and the shipping to Cape town were less than 60% of what it would have cost me otherwise. So I was a happy camper.
Next I found a great guy in Nova Scotia who happened to be selling his windshield - he has bobbed his 'Bones, and really doesn't need it - he let me have the windshield for a song, and threw in all the quick release mounting hardware, an OEM pillion, and a left side toolbox.(shout out to Colin Schnare).
Over the last few years I have bought a few extras that are duplicates for some of the mods on the '09 Bones, and I have added a number of others, and now the piggy bank is definitely emaciated!
I am hoping that by Xmas the bike will look close to what Federico's bike looked like:
At the moment the tank has silver bar & shield badge, which are not quite in keeping with a restomod, so I will have them off, and have a painted graphic which is a bit darker.
I have 3 large boxes of bits for the new bike with me here in Qatar, and have had most of them powder-coated black, but between the cost of the excess baggage (the airlines all charge more than double the amount for Africa than any other destination) and the exorbitant customs duty the South African Revenue Service levies on everything, even second hand, I will be a pauper when I land. But a happy pauper!
Before the questions roll in "How did your wife agree to all this?", I have to say that:
a. She is an actual Saint.
b. She has something very special in her Xmas stocking, and
c. She loves to ride, but a combination of damaged inner ear (permanent vertigo) and a very badly set broken coccyx from childhood, has shortened her riding career even as a pillion. What with her vertigo, and my prosthetic left leg, we had a couple of near disasters with her losing balance getting on my old bike (2010 CVO Ultra) while mounting, pulling us all over. She knows that as soon as I can afford it, I will be adding a sidecar, which will lower the mounting point, sort out the balance, and give her ample room for a comfy seat for her poor bottom. Bonus points will be accrued because she will be able to take up to three of our beloved poodles along.
So when I retire (at 70) I get to have one 'Bones as a solo rider, and the other as a family estate version.
Thanks for listening/reading, I will sign off now - hope to post some pics of the conversion here in January.
Cheers and happy holidays from Peggers (mad monopod of Doha)
HDBones1971,
I love what you've done to your Xbones. I wanted to ask what size wheels are you using? What size and brand of tire? Did the larger wheels and tires require and mods? The new paint job is really nice. Love the Lyndall rotors!
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Iron Bags
My Christmas Present....
