Yesterday stuff

Finally had the new front tire mounted on the softy.  It needed it more than I thought it did and I'm pretty happy with it now.  Thanks for mounting that up Darrin!

Brad finished up the last of the tapes last night and we gave it a final fit check.   Greg came by to intimidate us with his Rip Van Winkle style beard and offer support.

Snubified

Received my shock over the weekend because the seller was awesome and used the US postal service.
Made a snubber out of some motorcycle junk and mounted it on the bike.  I still have to do some testing but it should be pretty close.
  Rather than milling the new billet shock I simply stuck on the stock Harley bar and shield tag from the original shock.  It looks classy this way and doesn't stick out, witch follows the basic design that I have been sticking with ( other than the paint ) .  Im going to take off the carb and clean it out later today for good measure and do some math to find the maximum amount of shock travel I can get away with.

Springer shock solution

I stole this used billet springer shock from ebay the other night for $50.00 .  It will be much easier to snub this shock than to hack up the stock one . Not to mention it is a performance upgrade as well.   I'm not in love with the look of it but maybe I can stick it in the lathe and rib it for my pleasure or maybe carve it up, ball mill it and put a sticker on it.   Either way I'm pretty stoked.

The weekend saddle project

Recovered my seat over the weekend .  I figured I had a big piece of leather just getting dusty on the shelf so if it didn't work out I would get over it.  Gave it a bit of an antique or a worn finish and slapped it  on the bike.   On another note, I took it for a spin on Saturday ,  seems awesome except for a witness mark on my front tire from it touching the bottom of the shock.  Hopefully I can take the front damper apart and add a bumper to limit the suspension just a hair. 

Done for now, Mid day post

Last night I moved the head light back about 3/4 of an inch, witch is about the max I can go without grinding the chrome off of something.  I also eyeballed a different seat that I had for it.  I was talking to Brad last night and mentioned that I hated the square back and we both agreed that its is ugly but its better than the flames. We both think the shape on the flaming seat is nicer.  That being said I will most likely recover the flame seat.  The question is , should I make a mild tooled leather cover for it or just stretch some vinyl over it ?    Either way I locked her in the room with her evil siblings. 

Bulls eye points cover

This points cover turned out nice and matches the ball milling on the rest of the bike perfect.  Think this is good item to offer in my planned web shop ?    I have several things that I make all the time that I can add but haven't wanted to start it without a new shirt design, if that makes any sense at all.

Moved the head light down last night

Well last night I made this fancy little headlamp drop bracket for the springer.  It dropped it down 2 inches and forward just a bit.  Its tough to find the best position for the headlamp because it looks good in person but when I look at the pictures it looks high. Maybe I will cut out a 3 inch drop one later just to see if it makes any difference.   Also I have noticed that it needs some color in the front , I hope a white wall on the front will cure that.  either way I'm going to stuff it in the storage room till the weather thaws out a bit. In the mean time we will move on to other things.

Finishing touches

Stu trying it on for size .    

Thanks for all the good feed back .   I finished bolting on the fender bracket last night,  changed the oil , made a brake line and fired it up.  So much quieter with the long pipes, should make the long rides a little more tolerable.

It feels so much lighter and comfy with the front chopped down. My ride from the garage door to back on the hoist was awesome, I cant wait till the weather breaks.     Just have to adjust the jiffy stand a little, mess with moving around the head lamp until Diesel is happy with it, continue screwing around with the seat and touch any little details before I take it off the hoist and put it in the bike room. I do need a front tire , probably do a white wall there to and the battery is pretty tired but that can wait for a bit

Almost done with it

Took my time over the weekend assembling the ole girl.  Made a new points cover, and some nifty brackets to hold the fender closed.  All that is left now is to make a front brake line, oil change and decide what I'm doing with the seat.  I have a couple of seats I'm going to set on to see how they look and decide from there. 

I'm going to get my daughter to take a couple shots of it to see if she can capture the flake, It's pretty spectacular in person .

Candy Apple

I did end up getting my candy concentrate in the mail on time due to some miracle.   I put a couple coats of clear on it but I will have to block it out to level everything and its just easier to re-clear it after that.   Maybe Monday I will have a picture with the tins on the bike.

More paint

I will be starting the candy work tonight if FedEx doesn't fuck me over again.    I fucking hate FedEx........

More softail stuff

Stu came by again and helped finish up the foot boards and pegs yesterday while I tackled the hand controls and switches.  

 The old school tech was so much better looking....  It makes me wonder if it looks better to me because it reminds me of vintage styling or did it always look better ?   If it always looked better , who is the idiot that changed it ?  Is it because Honda had ugly switches and cables so Harley had to have them to .  Or is it another clash of design vs. regulations ?   

More

Worked on the fender for bit today

Still painting

Thanks for all the awesome feedback Homeys !

Something Fishy

Worked on this for a bit .

Floor boards

Stu stopped by and helped me polish the floor boards while mini-b and I messed with the sprint alternator conversion.

Sparkle horse

Laid down some flake on the tins today. Much much more to do.

Fish on!

Got My pipes today and put them on. I found a good deal on the head pipes through Dennis Kirk and I bought the fish tail pipes and zip tube baffles from lowbrow customs. Just have to make a couple of brackets and I'm done with them. I'm still working on paint and taking my time.