Finally on the road again after having been hit last year. Bike needed all painted parts except tank and one side cover, and after sourcing used pieces here and CL and finding everything in black, decided to find a black tank and just go that route for the time being. Even the pin striping worked out! I loved the Sedona Orange and will revisit color some day whenever I come up with custom paint scheme I really like, but for now a change is nice.

Updated to Rushmore front end incl trees and forks with stem conversion kit from Big Bear Performance, and decided to save some $$ over Ohlin and give the RWD fork cartridges a try. First impression is positive, a bit stiffer than I expected--though I don't have any frame of reference coming from old forks and Works Performance cartridges. After struggling with ABS brake lines (old lines wouldn't mount the same way to Rushmore bottom tree, and Rushmore ABS lines weren't going to work with earlier ABS unit) I had machine shop build me a bracket that mounts to backside of bottom tree and allowed me to use original '13-earlier lines. Only other mod needed for conversion was drilling/tapping 5/16" hole in top of frame to install allen bolt with thick hardened washer just behind neck for the fork stop tab on Rushmore top tree to contact.

Front fender is like new take off from a forum member's RK Special and I decided I at least wanted the Road King badges so I made a jig and drilled holes in new fender--hated to do that but I think it turned out really nice and better suits my bike w/all the chrome. Decided I really wanted the 2008-10 RK Classic tank badges and after almost giving up I lucked out and found a NOS tank in black on ebay with those badges already attached.

Took the opportunity to install Carlini flying apes in 14" on the ~4" risers that came with my HD Fat Minis for a rough equivalent of 16" bars and am really liking it so far. Since I had all the wiring pulled anyway went ahead and installed Kahuna internally wired heated grips as well. Other electrical wiring included a dedicated circuit from the Active Exhaust fuse position to run heated grips and passing lamps (so they'd stay on with high beam), and also USB port for phone charging.

Chrome profile spokes off CL since my ~2 year old fat spoke-look front wheel was bent when forks twisted and broke at axle. Special order offset Softbrake pedal to go with floorboard spacers, and HD "Half-Moon" footboards for softail (had to grind a bit off top of front brackets to make them work, but they were f'd up and needed paint anyway). Magnaflow motorcycle exhaust guy cut me a great deal on replacement lower shield and tip, and I had Swain Tech in NY coat the pipes with their thick exhaust coating.

Anyway it's been a long haul but feels like having a brand new bike, and hopefully I can go another 26 years without incident--knock on wood.



Current



Spring of 2018 after previous round of upgrades incl 107, cams, wheels



Ca. 2012 still mostly original

 

Looks good! Glad you are back riding.

 

Looks great, especially the front fender.
Would look awesome with beaches.

 

Good for you, great rebuild and upgrades !

 

Nice man, enjoy getting back out on her!

 

Great AC/DC album, bike looks great, digging the pipe.

rk classic.

 

Appreciate the comments. After fighting black paint on a couple vehicles I swore I'd never do it again, but it does look really sharp and I'm very pleased with it.

RK, the pipe is a Magnaflow Rockstar, and is LOUD A. F. Funny thing, before I sent it out to NY for ceramic coat I pulled the baffle out and it looked like inside of an old cherry bomb muffler w/louvers, which were facing backward as installed by manufacturer(!) and no batting/muffler material at all. I'd already put in a lollipop from DK Customs to deal with the lower-mid power snafu from short pipe (which, incidentally, actually made a noticeable difference in throttle response even before retuning) and didn't want to turn it around and retune again so I wrapped some fine wire over stainless steel wool around the baffle and crammed it back in--took a little of the sharpness out of it.