1st jaunt with the new air cleaner and mirrors went well.

Motor seems even a bit smoother than before, butt dyno ain't sayin' much. Maybe a little? Still a bit of a knee-knocker, but that's true of all of them, ain't it?

The mirrors are great, not much in the way of vibration, at least not nearly as bad as the stocks were. I think the points are going bye-bye. Someday.

Nice day for a ride, breeze died down. Might get rainy this week, we'll see.

1905 miles on the clock...

 

Mirror points duly removed.



Joker didn't make it easy. Fellas, if'n yer gonna machine a ball joint, gimme a hex socket in the ball so I can remove yer RED-LOCTITED ball/screw from the stem. I assume they meant for the friction of a seriously tightened lock/socket nut to be enough to get the screw to move. It wasn't, not with red on there.

It's a good thing the points were going bye-bye, vise-grips on them were the only way to go. Then it was just a little time with a file and some stones.

The rest of the parts for the riser swap/speedo flop are here, should be able to get to it this weekend.

I ordered a pair of +2 fork tubes, we'll see how I feel about tackling that myself, at some future date.

1939 miles on the clock...

 

nice bike!

 

Thanks!

"I don't think I'll have any cable/harness problems"

Yeah, right. Famous last words.

I got going on the riser swap/speedo flop, and it went pretty well, to a point.

Here's where I started;



It is a bit like laying out preparations for surgery;



All the bits needed for the job at hand. Grade 8 bolts for the risers? Yup. Overkill? Yup. But overkill rarely fails.

The Steiger Performance bar-end weights are great, well made and nicely done. Won't fit in the Biltwell bar. They're kinda made for standard H-D bars, the Flyer is heavier with considerably thicker walls. They barely slide in after removing the anti-vibe tape at the one end, and are contacting the dimples before the expanding retainers (which are also too fat for the Flyer) even get close to the end. Looks like I'll need to lop off about an inch to make them work. Some other time...

Everything else worked fine. Kinda-sorta.

Here's the headless Sportster;



And some of the chrome flaking I mentioned at the bottom of the Custom riser;



And after much fiddling, fussing and a small amount of frustration, the finished product;




Everything's hooked up and works. Mostly. I did gain just a little bit of height, which I was looking for. It's nice to not have the speedo hanging out over the tank, and the flip-up fuel cap works just fine. So why is the lo-pro cap still on? Turns out I like it better. Go fig...

Back to the "mostly" part.

Throttle cables were no problem, electrics are OK too, although I think I may route them in front of the risers instead of behind. I was trying to keep stuff off the front of the bike. That's easily enough fixed.



The stock brake line is too short. I had some Goodridge fittings and robbed a hose from the "V". While it ended up being a little longer, it's still not long enough. I could probably ride with it, but I ain't gonna risk it. It's good to the first clamp point, but I can't even get it to the second one, and that's the one that keeps the hose from getting pinched between the lower triple clamp and the frame. You can kinda see it in the side shot earlier.



Besides, it doesn't have enough length for proper fork cycling;



I have some longer hoses on order, but I'm afraid the Sporty is down until they arrive. Maybe next week?

The stock clutch cable is too short. I tried routing it behind the triple clamp instead of through and it works, but I don't like the way it looks.



Longer cable also on order. Maybe next week?

The new "Get-a-Grip"s worked out OK. The throttle one was easy. I was very dubious of the left grip installation. I'm used to glue-on left grips. The Diamond Blacks I installed on Alanui are there to stay. This one doesn't use any glue, and seemed like it would just pull off the first time I went out. Until I got the clutch lever clamp installed. Now it seems pretty solid. We'll see.



So, with the exception of a few miscalculations on my part, I'm fairly chuffed about the change. The speedo isn't down so low anymore, all the indicators work and the grips are just a tad higher. I accomplished what I set out to do. I just won't be able to check it out for a week or so. Dangitall!!!

At least I have Alanui to ride.

Heck, I even got the work bench mostly tidied up after all this...

 

Looking Good!

I just picked up a 2014, and am liking your direction on this so far! Nice reading your thoughts on the different parts also, as I plan what to do to mine.. Thanks!

 

Thanks! Hope I'm not yammering on too much about stuff.

There, got the electrics moved. That looks better;



With that done, I'm hopping on Alanui and going for a ride, it's a beautiful day...

 

The gods of rapid delivery were looking favorably upon me...

Everything arrived today Hot damn!!!

Got the brake line done first, I ordered a +4 (40") and a +6 (42"), the +4 worked fine. I'll keep the +6 for when I get to putting on the +2 fork tubes.

I used a couple of Adel clamps in place of the H-D ones. All bled and ready to go;



Plenty of flex now, no worries. Plus, it's all Goodridge, so the feel is a lot firmer.

And now the clutch cable, back where it belongs;

Barnett Traditional, also +4. Fork tube change won't affect it, so I'm good to go.



Got my nickel gap at the lever, and it feels smoother than the stock cable.

One last thing;

I kept looking at the Performance Machine Max HP that I went to a great deal of trouble to install on the "V" and wondered why I didn't go that route for the Sporty. Wanted to keep the intake and exhaust matching V&H, I guess.

Besides, I figured the Max HP had too much flat black on it, I was kinda going for all gloss black. Then I saw a better picture of it and decided there's enough gloss to make it work.



It's so low profile, and such a solid design. Very few parts makes for a super clean installation, and it'll be easier on the knee for sure. Now, if I can just get the horn sucked in a little closer.

Everything is double-checked and ready to go. Test ride tomorrow...

 

Don't you love it when things just work?

Went out for a ride today, I made sure I had a few tools along to make any necessary tweaks.

I had to adjust...





... the mirrors. A little.

It was great.

The bar position is right on, the height is what I was looking for and my hand position is perfect. The Flyer is much heavier, and thicker, so vibration is way down. I may still modify the Steiger weights to fit later on. The mirrors are in a much better position, and it's easier to see what's going on back there.

The clutch is perfect, although I do expect to have to tighten it up a little bit after the new cable stretches some. They all do.

The front brake is really firm, and it's nice to see the line moving the way it should during suspension cycling. I will most likely be making a rear brake line upgrade soon. I probably have the parts necessary already.

I can see the speedo just looking down with my eyes, instead of moving my head, and the indicators are really easy to see.

Overall, it looks and works for me so much better. Although, I do see the electrics being routed inside the bars someday. Negotiating that 90º joint oughta be fun...

The Max HP air cleaner is waaay more comfortable, and it feels like the bike likes it better than the Grenade.

The Get-a-Grips are fine, the left one seems to be holding fast so far.

On top of it all, it was a gorgeous day for a ride.

1988 miles on the clock...

 

Sooo, I wanted to add just a little flash of color to the engine. I used a pair of the Orange Screamin' Eagle Phat spark plug wires to offset the orange rear springs on Alanui, and it worked out pretty well. I wanted to try to pick up the red pinstriping on the Sporty.

Lessee', 2015 Sportster XL1200C - OK. Screamin' Eagle Performance parts. Annnd they make them for the Sporty in Orange with black lettering. Uhhh, no. Or Black, with orange lettering. Again, no.

Why don't you make them for the Sporty in the Red with black lettering, like you do for darn near every other bike in the lineup, hmmm?

So I took a ride over to H-D, in case there was something I was missing.

"Hey Marc, can I get a pair of the Phat wires in red for the Sporty?"

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because it's something YOU want."

Story of my life.

"What are my options?"

"Well, they have a kit for building cables, but I'm not sure you can get the Phat wire, or in red. All I see is black"

I really didn't feel like building up a pair of cables. I shouldn't have to.

"Or?"

"Let's see if another scoot's will work."

Now, I had done some searching, and all I was seeing in red was Taylor's or Accel's, but Taylor's didn't show a part # for anything past 2006. I'm fairly sure they'd work, but they didn't look all that great.

Accel makes a set for the 2015 in red, but the red doesn't look right.

Marc brings out a pair for a '99 and up Dyna. "Here, take these out to the bike and see how they look."

I could tell the front one looked like it would fit, will the rear one be long enough?

The front definitely works, and the rear looked long enough. I decided to take a chance. I've blown $30 on sillier ideas.

Off to the garage...

While I waited for things to cool down a little, and seeing as I had to raise the tank anyway, I took care of a little detail that bothered me.

I really didn't like the "hardware store" look of the front tank bolt.



So I went to the hardware store (see what I did there?) and picked up a few items to deal with it.

First, I removed the bolt. (of course)

Then I busted out Mr. Hacksaw...



OK, time to Die...


(pardon the vise marks, it spun a little when the die really started to bite)

Voila! Double ended bolt. A couple of flat acorn nuts in chrome and washers. And I keep the H-D bolt. It has plenty of length for both nuts with the washers, and I Loctited the heck out of the nut on the short thread end.

Looks so much better...



Oh, the red phat wires? They work. Just.


(Sorry, that side of the bike is facing the "dim" side of the garage, a situation I hope to have rectified soon.)

They're a smidge tight, but I don't think they're going to unplug themselves. They are touching right at the top of the heads where they head inboard, we'll see how well the "high-temp silicone" holds up, or if I experience any shorting.

I'll let you know how they "work" tomorrow. It's too late to fire up the beast right now.

And the stick-on "bar-and-shield" emblem on the Waterfall horn cover decided it didn't want to anymore. Oh well.

2026 miles on the clock...

 

You're getting it to look damn nice! Good work.
Makes me want to check out the new forty-eight special I just heard about.
I might need a new toy