Top 5 Saturaday

Top 5 reasons you should buy a sportster.

Number1. Price- You can get on any Craigslist forum and find a Sportster for under 3,000. A running bike for under 3,000 is insane. You can buy a 500 dollar jap bike and then spend easily 3 grand building a chopper then when its done it is worth 2 grand. All Harley's hold there value.

Number 2. More Bang- For the money you spend you get a fire breathing ass kicking monster. The big twin guys have to spend all kinds of money just so a stock sportster won't kick there ass.

Number 3.- Building platform. Sportster motors look good in any form. Chopper, Digger, Cafe Racer, and bone stock they look good. I would guess the unit construction helps that it is all one big lump.

Number 4. Race Pedigree- Once you take a minute and look up the racing history of the sportster you will want one. From the early 60's almost all kinds of racing records where held by sportsters. Drag racing was a specialty as well as Bonneville. 68 and 69 Daytona races where won by Sportsters and if you where looking for something fast you bought a sportster. The XLR flattrack bike is the most beautiful race bike of all time. It wasn't until the 70's that Japanese/British companies built big bikes to compete with the sportster.

Number 5. Hands on- If you own a old Ironhead you are gonna have to learn to work on it. So people love them or hate them which goes along with how much they like working on there bikes. Me I love tinkering on my bike. Once a month I check over my bike and check all components. During good weather I ride my bike everyday so the routine of checking over everything is key. I check all fluids, pushrods, points, and look for missing bolts/nuts. Loctite is key. When I put my bike together I used grade 8 stainless allen head and nylock nuts on everything. One little dab of blue loctite and have not had a single thing fall off. My top motor mount likes to loosing up so I hit it with a 9/16 wrench when ever I think about it.

Funny Story Not Really

So it is Dec 29th and in KC today it was 60 degrees outside. Insane so I high tailed to the shop and got the new bars on my bike. Installed the new kickstand and then pushed it outside. I was seriously so happy to get the bike out. Bikes been sitting for a month or so but after a few kicks she fired right up. I am staring at my bars as I bounce through the parking lot at the shop. I pull out and give it a few good whacks of the throttle. It is a Harley and all Harley dudes make this kind of noise. There is no point of doing this but they all do it. I crank it up down the main drag. First, Second, Third, Blah. I was out of goddamn gas. I was so fucking pist I pushed my bike almost a mile and set it in the shop and drove home. Motorcycles are a pain in the ass and will always break your heart. I still love them.

Looks Good in Primer

Decided to Get all the parts in one color. It is hard to see all the pieces when they are all different colors. Did the first round of filler on the tank and about 100 more hours and I think I might be ready to paint. I am gonna hustle some parts and get the 63 motor for this bike ASAP. No sissy bar but I am thinking some crazy tall exhaust. I love the tank so far and the fender flows good.

Chrome Gets You Home.

Got our chrome parts back. Holy shit they look good. Not cheap but man when you see this sissy bar your gonna have to pick your jaw up off the ground. I got my bars on and the kickstand. Don't even want to lay the bike on the stand now. I mocked up Shea's pipes so they flow with the sissy bar. Looks proper.

Sheet Metal Crazy

Took apart the Ironhead and started on the tins. I set a stock fender next to my skinny one. Huge difference when you take the skirt off and just one inch out of the middle. On the tank I Ran a piece of 1/4 round stock around in a panel shape so I can mold it all in. I am thinking the whole bike will be silver with some purple fogging around all the molded bits. We shall see in the future where I go with this.

Top 5 Saturaday

I decided I will list the 5 most important tools in my shop. These are the tools I use on a daily basis.

Number 1. Sawzall- The ultimate tool for chopping a bike up. I bought my Milwaukee Sawzall over 15 years ago and has probably chopped over 50 bikes apart. Spend the money on the quick release one you won't be disappointed.

Number 2. Welder- I am not going into the kind of welder you need but you do need one. It was like the light of god showing down on me the first time I stuck some scraps together and they did not fall apart.

Number 3. Tool Box- Again with out a proper tool box to keep your tools in, you are in hell. Try finding a socket on the floor after you've kicked it. Where did I leave that wrench? Fuck I need a .016 feeler gauge. Get it. I scored a super sweet old John Deere Factory tool box at a auction house. Best 100 dollars I have ever spent ever. Check pic for box. Tons of drawers and is heavy duty.

Number 4. Grinder/Cut off- With your standard 4.5 angle grinder you can change a plain piece of steel into art. Cut off wheels fit on and now you are cutting sheet metal like a surgeon. You have your flap disc ready for cleaning up the cut stuff and now you look like a pro. I own two , one with a cut off wheel on it all the time and the other with a 80 grit flap disc.

Number 5. Air Compressor- With out air you will die. Yes if you don't have a air compressor you can't even imagine all the uses. I have bought a ton of cheap air tools and now you have a way to paint, fill tires, blow off grips, clean off parts, etc etc. There is always a magic moment when I hook up my 1/2 impact and tear some god damn shit up with 160lbs of pressure. Clutch hubs are no match.Rusty bolt, fuck it just hit it with the impact and break it off. Welding a spot that needs to be cooled off fast, hit it with air. A must in any garage.

I will not even start on the fact that you need hand tools. If you want to start your sweet tool collection just start hitting up swap meets and buy hand fulls of good used tools for a fraction. When I first started I would write down the tools I was needing then start the hunt. Some stuff like screw drivers are best bought new. But I have bought entire sets of snap-on sockets for 5 bucks just because they looked kinda crusty. Pliers, vise grips, wrenches, hammers all can be bought and cleaned up then put into service. You will feel more manly and will be happy to work on your cycle knowing you have the tools to do it with. Later

Having Fun

Well this is what I do when I am bored. All the bikes I have built lately have a huge sissy bars so this one is getting none. Small struts, narrowed up the fender one inch and cut the bottom flange off. Now fender fits the Goodyear perfect and is nice and tight. Tried every tank and every set of bars in the shop, but this looks pretty good. This is not the motor I am gonna use so I need to wait to go any further. Had the cover for the seat laying around so I took a shitty swap meet seat and recovered it. Looks good and with the 3 inch springs I should be bobbing down the road in ease. These pipes are not the ones I am leaving on but for about ten minutes of fun I like them. I love the inbetween the strut and bell hanging out. We shall see what sticks. Later