Hey all, I have been eying Sportys for about 5 years now, but have yet to pull the trigger. Last week the wife suggested selling our dirtbikes and buying a Harley. We had a KZ650 about 4 years ago that we put about 5k mi. on in about a year's time, but I didn't trust the bottom end and didn't feel the bike was worth investing any more into, so I dumped it with the intention of replacing it after getting our house. Well, before that happened we had a son and a **** load more responsibility aside from that, so it has been on hold.

I have decided that I have to have a Stage 2'ish Nightster bobber with drag bars, though I'm undecided on the seat. The stocker is alright, and a Badlander seems damn close to it only with passenger option. However, I have been sitting on a few Nightys around town and I just can't get comfortable. It seems like I'd need to sit back and down a little further and the forward controls would need to be pushed up about 4". I am 6'2" 210 lb. I want to lean over the tank with my arms straight out and even with my shoulders, then my legs to be as straight as reasonably possible.

Now I know that a bobber isn't suppose to have a passenger seat, and I'd really like to do away with the fender struts, and chop the fender, but I HAVE to have a passenger option. She doesn't want her own bike yet, and seemed quite comfortable on the back of a custom. She did actually complain that she had a hard time getting her leg over the Custom, so she was glad to hear the Nightster would sit lower. I don't mind going with some sort of high dollar custom option, but I think the fender struts are still required for supporting the weight aren't they? I want to sit as low and back as possible with a low profile a passenger area as possible. I would consider keeping a second fender, seat, and fender struts as well as having the chopped fender, fender struts, and springer seat if this was an option and fairly easy conversion between rides, but not sure if the fender struts are bolt-on or not. The stock bars on the Nightsters seem like 7/8" bars...??? I'd like to go 1" + with as little rise as possible to get reasonably comfortable. Directly on top of the upper triple clamp would be preferable.

As far as other mods, I plan on something like a Heavy Breather intake with exposed K&N, either Side Shot, Short Shot staggered, Sikpipes, E.C. Fuelies, or similar pipes, as well as N4 or N8 cams and dyno tuning. This of course brings up more concerns like will the intake and exhaust be clear of my legs in my desired position, as well as the extended forward controls and passenger pegs. I also wonder about the Sikpipes and Fuelies collecting water in the event I got caught out somewhere, and how loud or uncomfortable these would be for a passenger. My buddy has a Fat Boy Lo with Short Shot's & V&H quiet baffles, and I actually don't think these are too loud at all. I'd possibly even end up w/o baffles. My F-150 is louder than his FBL. Ground clearance is a concern.

Weighing 210 and her about 150, I also plan on doing something with fork springs and rear shocks right off the bat. I can't stand chrome and don't care for paint, so cosmetics will have to be addressed as well. I plan on relocating the coils, ignition, and considering a tank lift. Would also like to upgrade the headlight / HID conversion, and make the signals as low-pro as possible...smoked out or LED. I'd like the rear signals to be brake and turn indicators if possible, if not just braking and I'll do away with turn indicators all together and the controls on the bars if possible. I'll be exposing as much of the belt drive as possible considering the passenger. Has anyone welded some Snap-On deep well sockets directly to the swingarm bolts instead of doing factory pegs? I'll be relocating the speedo and adding a tach somehow.

As far as price, I'm looking at pre-owned with under 4k mi. Paint doesn't really matter since I will eventually powdering everything flat or satin black after chopping the rear fender and removing the front. On craigslist they are going for 6,500-7,500 and 7,000-8,000 at dealers.

I'm looking for any and all input, opinions, and advice on my desired setup. The wife and I aren't looking for touring comfort or endless miles of road. The most we'll probably go would be about 4 hours away once or twice a year. As often as I'd have to full up, we'll have plenty of breaks and I plan to give her the shortest sissy bar I can buy. We are use to the tired old KZ650 with worn out oversize single seat, bottomed out rear shocks, and wickedly uneven worn out tires, and anything will look & feel good by comparison.

About the only thing holding me back right now is the uncertainty of being able to accomplish this with the Nightster or I'd have one by the weekend. Thanks guys!

 

It sounds like you've got a good plan... especially with picking up one that's 2-3 years old. However, since you'll be riding with a passenger, take a glimpse at used Street Bobs while you're at it. You can pick up an 07 or 08 for around 8-9k... and it might suit the both of you a little better.

Now, don't get me wrong, i love my sporty... but i just do solo-riding. I can't imagine having a passenger on it with me.

 

Thanks man. I sat on a flat olive green / black Street Bob yesterday and aside from much larger tank, it didn't really feel like it offered much more than the Sporty frame. Then again, I haven't ridden either, solo or 2 up.

 

The sporty is a lot more fun around town solo, but on the highway or two up my 11 Iron is not that much fun. I went on a ride with my buddy who has a dyna and we switched half way. It was all curvy back roads along the canadian border. Hes bike was a nice smooth ride, but mine was WAY more fun! If your going to be doing more long two up rides I would go with a bigger bike tho....

 

Thanks for your input man. I'll probably be about 50/50 solo / 2-up. I found 17 Nightsters and 3 Street Bobs within 4 hours that I would consider.

 

Hi Jackal. Sounds like quite a project you have planned but what you want to do is possible. I'm going in a similar direction myself with a whole slew of mods this winter.

First, the Nightster handles 2-up riding fine. My wife and I did several 2+ hour rides on all kinds of roads this past summer and the bike handles/performs without a hitch. Most importantly, she's comfortable on it. It's no touring bike, but for afternoon rides in the country, the occasional interstate, or around town the Nightster is fine, even with the stock suspension. I'm only 160 and the wife 150, so our gross isn't as heavy as yours but we enjoy the ride. I recently purchased a pair of street glide shocks (12") off of ebay and they are at http://bitchinbaggers.com/products/drop-shocks/ right now being cut down to 11" to maintain the stock Nightster height. They should improve the 2-up performance significantly, and they're black instead of the crappy chrome coil overs, which is a huge plus as well.

For switching back and forth between solo and 2-up I purchased the passenger pegs and the HD passenger seat for the Nightster off of ebay along with an HD wrinkle black low quick detachable sissy bar and back rest pad. The whole seat/sissy bar set up takes about 5 minutes to put on so when we want to go for a 2-up ride it's a quick install. The sissy bar makes for a much more comfortable and secure ride for the wife, and when we're done the whole thing comes off in even less time than it takes to install. I'll also say that while I prefer the solo look of the Nightster I don't so much mind the look of the bike in this 2-up configuration (I'm sorry I don't have any pics of the 2-up), though it always goes back to solo as soon as we get home. My plan is to buy or craft a separate, smaller solo seat this winter...I'm not a huge fan of the way the stock Nightster seat looks anyway, and then I'll be able to keep the 2-up seat configuration as a single unit. That way when we want to go 2-up the whole thing will pop on and off in under a minute and I'll have a better looking seat for solo riding. At this point I'm planning on just leaving the passenger pegs on all the time unless I can figure out a quick way to get them on and off. I did purchase a set of DK Customs Bulletproof footpegs for her because she was complaining about her feet tending to slide around on the stock passenger pegs. Don't have them installed yet because the bike is in total rebuild mode for the winter, but they are a well crafted piece of gear and I think she's gonna like them. Still waiting to see what they will look like on the bike.

I'm with you on chopping the rear fender and fender struts but we gotta make some compromises for the 2-up option. I think I'm gonna be able to chop 2-3" off the fender without compromising the passenger seat mounting integrity. To keep the detachable sissy bar the struts will have to stay, unfortunately.

Hope this helps and good luck!

 

Thanks man, sounds like we're on the same page pretty much. I'm getting more comfortable with the idea of the 2-up setup though. I actually found the HD black bobber style sissy bar for Nightsters in their 2012 catalog and am considering it since it looks like it has a removable pad. Just depends on how it looks without the pad, I've never really been a fan of sissy bars. I just hope I can get the geometry right for me with the drag bars and extended forward controls. I'm sure I will, if not I have plenty of options.

 

stock bars on the nighty are 1" like the rest of the family and most if not all american made bikes. 7/8 bars are typically seen on jap bikes. i say you chop the ***** up, remove as much crap as you can and really bob it out and go rent a bike from the harley dealer when she wants to ride or get a used bike for 2up rides. that's my 2 *** hairs. leave the word bobber for true old school bobbers, what you have there is a customized sportster. good luck bro.

 

That's why I put quotes around it.

Picked up one yesterday and rode it till 11AM in the freezing *** cold. Was the best ride of my life. Then I spend the entire night tearing **** off of it. Here's a before and after:







It doesn't look like I can flip the mirrors until I relocate the signals to the forks is that correct? What is needed to make that happen?

Where can I find a spike to fill the rear fender hole?

I'm going to have to research getting the shocks swapped...those babies seemed to be under some serious pressure when I attempted to give it a shot. Need a lift I'm sure.

 

Regardless of what you want to do, and what you want to call it, I would suggest getting a factory service manual and most certainly some sort of a lift.

I hope you're able to make it what you want, and enjoy the ride!