Burly Lowering Kit Install Video

Been a while I know. Still stalled on Project Bobber till I get my ass permanently to FL. However, here's a hot chick wrench-in on lower-in kits to sate your lust. Scroll to the bottom of the Blog to see that piece of tech tit......I mean tip.

Project Bobber is not forgotten.

Hey bro's and sis's,

Project Bobber is not over, nor have I forgotten about it or you guys out there reading it. It's just getting really close to where my sweetheart is going to retire from working and we'll finally get our old asses down to FL and our home full time.

So right now what's going down is a massive pre-pack by me alone. I'm really trying to organize what we take with us or more accurately we're going to sell allot of out current furniture and belongings in yard sales when we get there so I'm sorting stuff and boxing it accordingly so when we get there we'll know exactly what we're keeping and what gets sold.

We're moving from a 4 bedroom over 2500 square foot situation into a (pre-renovation) 800 square foot situation. When we get the new master bathroom addition  done and the 4 seasons room on the back of the house we'll be back up to around 2100 square feet. But for now we down size.

Anyhow, we're going to rent to purchase a shipping container that we'll put on the back end of the property where no one will see it Already told Suz I will Mural it with my airbrushes to make it blend into the FL jungles. That where we'll store the extra stuff we can't fit in the house.

When the garage is built it will be strictly my bike shop. I plan on building one custom a year, to sell to some lucky American biker to supplement my meager SS. Up above the Man cave will be the Man lounge.

You know how divorces can go ugly right? First wife was a loose Goose (best way I can put it) any way I should never have invested 15 years in her I was always drunk though and when your drunk a horses ass looks good. (actually looks better than her) I tried to be amicable, and she apparently wanted to be the same but little did I know she had been seeing some frikin fruit cake for weeks before I told her I couldn't stand her anymore and wanted out. He, if he's a he, to me he was a weasel. I should have popped him in the mouth out of principal but I thought it was a far better thing I was doing to him by giving him the X.

Well she was acting all amicable at first then calls me up, tells me I have to come get my shit on Saturday or its on the sidewalk. When I got there on Saturday all my shit was already on the sidewalk with exception to all my expensive tools, compressors, air cleaners, and bike repair stuff . They cleaned me out. Aww well tough lesson learned.

My current wife of 13 years is my soul mate and I appear to be hers. So all is good anyways, I gotta buy all my tools all over again several thousands of dollars worth of stuff. Which is why I'm also waiting until we get to FL, why lug it from TX to there right?

So, when we get there and settle in, Project Bobber will commence. So hang in till then Bros.

Fascist-book

I gotta laugh at Facebook. A supposed social site based here in the USA, meaning it should be bound by the Constitution just like any other US entity however, such is not the case in their case. Unless of course your a rainbow hypocrite, Pedophile or some other sexual deviant or if your an Atheist or Satanist, and if your anti-white or anti-Christian your also fine. All the rest of us, if we use typical descriptions to describe these deviants we're banned. For me I have been banned about a week now, other than the friends and family contact I have through Fascist-book I could care less about being banned it's just their unprofessional way of doing it.


Facebook doesn't tell you why they deem what you wrote as offensive, they just paste your words in a box and ban you and they give you no idea of length of ban either.


People like Miley Cyrus, Al Sharpton and others can get away with Heterophobic or racist comments against whites, Christians and traditionalists and even show graphic soft porn to the children on Facebook and not be banned. Women are running escort services or soliciting themselves through Facebook and they do nothing.


 Liberals can bash Conservatives using any amount of vulgarity and profanity but if it's reversed then the Conservative finds themselves banned. Socialist Facebook is joke and one sided anti-free speech propaganda tool for communist advancement and that's it.


There is an alternative site which is much more Constitutionally based. In fact it's called the Tea Party Community @  https://www.teapartycommunity.com/  here you can at least say what's on your mind with out being banned well so far anyhow. The site has allot of features that facebook doesn't. There are a few qwerks here and there but this site is much nicer than the buggy facebook. So if your looking for a good place for Constitutional information and the same social aspect that facebook was supposed to offer come there.

H-D 2013 recall potential clutch issues.

http://www.inquisitr.com/995929/harley-davidson-recall-due-to-potential-safety-issues-with-some-2013-models/

Jap gets pwnd by Rat Harley

Fuckin "A"

"That's what im-ma talkin' about"

Awesome video for yer entertainment. This here gray beard on his rat bike will show you whose boss hog. Enjoy! *cheers*

Adam's Harley-Davidson Texas Free March Bike raffles.

Well the project is stalled for a bit due to cash reserve so I'll post any bike events I happen upon in the meantime and it just so happens that every Saturday the Month of March the good folks @ Adam's Harley-Davidson Texas were giving their customers (me) a 1-5000 chance at winning a Softail for FREE and since Texas has some kinda law called the blue law or something like that, you can actually go there and not be swarmed by sales people (They can't sell bikes but they can give one away). There was free grub, coffee and lots of bikes to look at and ogle.

They also had a wrench out on the floor tearing down and reconstructing a Softail for those of us grease knuckles that get off on that sort of thing ( It's like strippers but no pole). He would answer questions about assembly and dis-assembly as he went along and even put up with me snapping pictures.

Saw the new CVO Road King a cool salesman there (I could point him out but I forgot his name, the curse of old age and senility) let me sit my old scraggly ass on the CVO and although I was told to control my excessive drooling I was even allowed to start the bike in the showroom. We didn't talk sales just cool stuff like what's this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, .......you get the picture?
If I hadn't just paid off my 2006 FLHRCI (Only 10k miles on er too, saving them for m' retirement).

This is a fine example of Panhead right at the door of the dealership.

I fell in love right there.

The small video was an accident I am still an amateur pho-tog but will get better as time goes on.

Here's the Pan-Head again for those that like a lasting pix. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

Talk about sexy. Look at that engine! I coulda stood there all day lookin at my reflection in it *twirls beard between fingers*.  I keep hoping that Harley will do what other reappearing Motorcycle manufacturers are doing and that is, reconstructing their old classics with the new technology incorporated. Could you imagine a brand new 1947 Knucklehead with fuel injection? Improved oiling system etc? Boggles the mind.

CVO Road King, Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

Here's the CVO (it's mine don't anyone buy it OK?, naw just kiddin) She is a  beaut though huh? Nice bike has all this one touch stuff, I guess they asked today's liberal weekender what appealed to them most and touching the bike just once was the answer, go figure? I'd rub myself all over that. HAHAR. Also I gotta admit the flaky green looks awesome on the showroom floor but I'm still OLD SCHOOL and green is a old school bikers unlucky color. Now flat black? OOOOOO Baaaaby.

The Wrench, wrenchin' in the middle of the showroom floor. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

Good place for us old grease monkeys to hang around. Especially since when I went to the H-D Factory endorsed school to become a tech we learned how to make a 200k shovel-head. 110 C.I. motors cost a bundle and weren't to be found everywhere. Back then the 1340 cc/ 80 C.I.  Evo was still the new kid on the block. I can't believe my 87' 1200 S&S Sporty engine is almost 30 years old, that's vintage dude. I mean I had a bro (Byron Croakman) back in the day who rode a 38' ULH 80 C. I. Flathead. Now we considered that vintage. lol. Ah well everything ages and 30 years from now that CVO will be vintage as well. So watch-in this wrench work on the new Dual cam F.I. Engines was educational to me.

Another shot of the wrench, wrenchin. Oh labor of love.....I bet ya half the time he didn't even know we were there? I know I get so engrossed working on my bikes when I am that time just slips by. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

From the Dealership showroom you look out across the intersection to the Shop ( yeah this place is in two huge buildings) Will soon move to their new location under one massive multi-floor home close by. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

Lot's of scoots in the Parking lot. Everyone's here to see if they won my....err the H-D Adam's Harley-Davidson was giving away every Saturday in March. Was a beautiful day today in the Dallas area. Was supposed to get in the 80's today, feels like it's in a comfortable high 70' range right now. Yesterday Adam's had a bikini Bike wash :( I missed it cause it looked like thunderstorms (which did not hit). So I stayed home. When ya get to be an old gray beard like me even the slightest rain makes the bones come alive and not in a good way either. I'll make sure to make the next Bike wash though and take some pix for ya's.

More scoots. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

Still more American Iron. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

There's my sexy baby.  2006 FLHRCI with 10k miles. You know if I whistle, she comes to me. Note this is photo is copyright 2014 A.W. Buchen Event chronicle, 1st amendment right.

Well there's my little girl. Got me here from AZ, 1100 of those 10k miles. Even though she got smacked in the butt by a Mexican chick who likes gabbing and texting rather than driving with her eyes on the road. She got fixed up better than ever though and runs like a fine swiss watch. 

I did some drooling in the parts department while I was here as well. Drooled on some Vance and Hines, Rinehart, Screamin Eagle. They offer a nice performance package for my baby that I think I'm gonna hook up with. 

Anyhow, Thanks for taggin' along. I'll get back to Project Bobber as soon as the coin starts flowing again but I will do what I can that is free up till then. Keep the rubber side down until later *cheers*.

Note/Disclaimer: Photo's removed without permission from this site is subject to legal action. All photographic material included was taken by myself, is original and does not infringe on anyone else's copyrights but is protected as copyrighted material for my own use. The pictures herein depict a public event or function for which I exercise my first amendment right in reproducing for blog readerships enjoyment. No commercial gain is obtained from the photo's. A.W. Buchen is no way affiliated with Adam's Harley-Davidson Texas.

Week end update.

Well we left off with me looking for shit in the garage. But not just any shit, no this shit once was a beautiful custom XLH Softail. Well I've located the frame, engine (box), Wide Glide and tanks. Still haven't found the handlebars and risers, fenders and some other stuff, so the search goes on.

Won't be doing much until after vacation, Suz and I haven't had a vacation in over 10 years other than some weekends off so we're looking forward to going to the vacation home for some rest.

Actually Suz has a list. But before I let ya in on it. Know that vacation is really a prep for our final move to FL. I think what I'll do is make another Blog on Project Retire. I'll post a link when I get it up and you can go there if your into renovations and home decorating. I'll supply lots of before Photos and after as I get the jobs done until we're finished. OK? Cool.

Give me a  bit to get some of Bobber Project going here and then I'll update the Blog again. So see ya soon.

Oh where oh where has that little Sporty gone?

This article shoulda been before the last article with the engine photos but I got turned around, happens allot when ya hit 54 and you've been eating out of aluminum cans for 40 years.

Shit, looking for a needle in a hay stack would be easier. I just got through trying to visually locate the future Bobber amongst all the trash in the Garage and lemme tell ya I'm still missing a few big parts. They are in there I know it I saw them. But that was almost 3 years ago when we moved in.

Anyways, I have located the Engine box. Yes a cardboard box contains the complete UN-assembled 1200 cc. S&S Motor. The Engine has been torn down to split cases. While going over all the factory specs those years ago I discovered the rear rod has excessive play in it and have determined it needs to be re-bushed. Now since my X cleaned me out for allot of my shit, Tools, a compressor, air dryer and tons of other stuff just because she was evil and vile and the 1/10 dick dim wit she shacked up with kept goading her on to bust my balls. You know how it is. Anyways, I will eventually get all my tools replaced and get a press and some larger shop items when I get settled in FL. But I will get the flywheel pressed out and the bushing done at a local H-D Shop. The rest I can do as far as the engine goes. The frame welding and any other welding will have to wait till FL as well cuz my welder is located down there.

So here's the game plan roughly I may change it again especially if funding changes during the project.

First thing is to organize this garage. I'm in a rental house and I never thought we'd be here as long as we have been. I find it disgusting to rent for this long do you realize that a g-note a month is 12k/year? X3 =36k That's what I've dumped into my landlords pocket in three years for this shit pile. He won't fix shit unless I hold a gun to his head. Anyway, we had no choice so here we are till we can retire all proper like. Back to the garage it's roughly 3/4 filled with crap and boxes. I need to sort it and repack the boxes throwing out all the trash and reclaim some of this space so I can construct a work bench and start rebuilding the engine.

This may take me several weeks to several months, I'm not as young as I was and I'm disabled so doing takes time. OK enuf whining for now.

Step Two, will be build the work bench and procure a vise and some other essentials that were stolen from me by the X the..... You always gotta have a clean work bench at least waist height if not a bit taller an organized tool box or roll cabinet and some specialty tools for H-D models on hand as well. Usually your bike manual will list all the special tools you might need as you construct a total ripped down scoot rebuild.

For the engine, I'll need to take the lower end into a good shop here in TX to have that rear rod re-bushed. Adam's H-D seems to be the place nice folks there and I've adopted them as my new dealership while in the TX area. So I'll need a price for the job. Then I'll have to secure all the parts I need to button up the bottom end like Loctite, gaskets, bearings, spacers, Cams, etc

The tranny needs to slip back into its box to spec.

We will need new piston rings, The cylinders will need the bore checked and to be cross-hatched again. We'll need a complete engine gasket set and whatever other small parts we're missing.

The S&S Shorty E will need cleaning and blowing out maybe a replacement carb rebuild kit we'll see when we get there.

I also need to sort all the rest of the part boxes and put things together like wiring harness with electronics and lights and relays, Ignition module and coil.

This is a good start and I'll keep you post on how much I actually get done and when.

The Ugly Duckling.

Every project usually starts with some photos of the BEFORE that After photos and this project will be no different. Puke bags are your own responsibility. Disclaimer: Warning the photo's you are about to see may bring about dizziness, vomiting, and nausea. This biker doesn't give a shit about your weak ass stomach or offending your blessed vision in any way, shape or form. Man up, take it like a man or woman and let us get through this shit OK?

This pile of shit is covering the Tripoli Softail Frame. You can barely make out the Fatbob tank mount on top of the frame and the wishbone legs disappearing behind those boxes of crap.

I told you this wasn't going to be pretty. Chug some JD it makes it less painful, trust me. If your a total gluten for punishment you can click the pix for a bigger view, only if you keel over it's your own fault, fuck ya. OK onward to pix number two.

Can ya believe it? What biker would do such a thing? Oh fuck wait, err um it was me. There's half the cases (wipe's a tear from his eye) it's a big box and guess what the whole engine is in there. (sigh)

I know, I'm ashamed. (Can't speak) Next picture please!

This is hard. (Very emotional.) (Chugs more JD) I just wish the X wife was here so I could slap her this was her fault. Anyhow (takes a deep breath) in this photo you will observe the lower tank mount just above the wishbones, the tank (both halves) unceremoniously strewn below, you can also see the front rubber mount for the engine peaking from beneath one tank half, the $750 shocks are still attached to the swing arm and Tripoli frame, the shifter side of my Jay brake forward controls is also still mounted to the frame.

(takes another glug) How can things get so wrong? I have to be brave for the sake of this project. I must get through these pictures. Remember this frame is a bolt on for the early Evo Sporty engine and also introduces rubber mounts for engine isolation which were only available on the big twins at the time. 

The frame and tanks will look like new once they are sand/bead blasted and thoroughly cleaned. All parts of the Tripoli frame will be removed and cleaned then re-installed before being posted for sale, the tanks are not for sale.

Do you see it? Another example of my shameful behavior, the Wide Glide, stuck in the corner like some unwanted child. Covered in cheap plastic to hold the springs etc in the tubes. (Can you believe it? This front end was nicely buttoned up and sealed for moving by me when i came down from Canada. The movers disassembled the front end for what I have no idea and then couldn't put it back together so they taped it up and shipped it like this?) I was fuckin pissed needless to say.

Anyway, I haven't rebuilt this yet either needs seals and who knows what I have to finish ripping them apart and reassembling the front end before I sell it. The lower legs are shaved and chromed, it has a wide glide conversion kit by Custom Chrome. It will be minus the brake ass'y, rotor, headlight ass'y, risers and handle bars. But it will be a rolling wide glide for sporty for sale eventually.

Really, nothing some TLC won't fix. The Tripoli frame was well made, I'll have to give Tripoli a kudos for that. 

 Well there ya have it my confession of sorts of years of mechanical abuse to this Sporty. I'm ashamed, but I will make amends and transform this box dinner into a Fantastic Bobber Swan. Now folks don't forget to subscribe to the page before you leave and tell your friends about it as well. And we're not above taking cash donations either my PAYPAL is over on the right side bar of the blog. And cheers if ya do, just email me yer name and later when I get a few folks I will post yer name proudly on my blog.

See you soon...err as soon as I can clear a working spot or build a workbench for this Garage I'm in currently.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Reference material -To copy or not to copy, that is the fuckin question.

Alright let us begin Project Bobber shall we? Fuckin A. So what's bike building to you? To me it is like art and a Harley makes one hell of a canvas doesn't it? It's like sculpting, except instead of clay your putting together some fine metal to come up with the ultimate ride-able piece of art you can.

In any type of art what's the first thing you do if your an artist of sorts? You visualize right? You have to create something in images or jot things down on paper to give you a path to follow. In art it mostly involves images. Bike building is no different you have to collect pictures to help you decide the outcome of your new ride to be, I am in that process right now, flipping through photo and photo of XL(H) to see if there's something that grabs me. Now I am not going to copy someones bike down to every nut and bolt but, I will instead use the foundation to create upon. That being said here's my inspiration.

Not sure who built this one or where I saw the picture but it's the freak-en best Sporty

I've ever seen hands down. Awesome build whoever you are.

This Evo Sporty has it all. Great stance, simplicity, function and is way cool BUT there are  few things we're gonna do different or try to. 

First let's analyze this scoot shall we? 

Rigid frame - this is readily apparent , so we know this puppy is gonna have a somewhat hard ride. But I love it, and the frame stays in our build. Also, since we've now determined that we're going rigid we know we'll not be using our old Wishbone Rubber-mount Softail frame that we had from the previous build. So we'll clean that up, sand blast it down to bare metal and put it up for sale to help finance this project. We paid $5K for it so we'll ask $3.5K OBO as it's brand new pretty much (if I don't get any offers I just might use it after all). This inspiration scoot is using a twin straight down tubes, stock rake and stretch configuration or so it seems to me.

Springer front fork- I do not see a shock on the fork so we'll do without one too cuz really the shock just obstructs the beauty of the Springer in my eyes anyhow. This one's powder coated black which is where we'll differ, our engine is chrome so we're going to opt for a bit more shine on our build than this one's got so we'll either completely chrome out our Springer of we'll partially powder coat ours and chrome the rest. At this point we have time to think about it. OK since we know we're going with a Springer we can safely sell our old wide-glide Hydraulic set-up once we button it up and pop some fresh fork oil in her. We can sell the complete front fork setup for $1100.00 Ours is chrome this price is non chromed. Easy.

Engine we got covered. Ours is Chromed out so we'll be doing a bit more Chrome elsewhere on our bike than this one has. We also run the S&S E-Shorty as in the photo. Also ours is also a chain drive. My engine has been ported and polished, Contains S&S 3.5" pistons, S&S Push-rods and Andrews Cams among some of the mods I already did. To bring them pistons up to the 3.5" size and 1200cc displacement I had to bore out 1/2" out of each sleeve in the 883's jugs. No worries though there's plenty of meat in there for even several rebuilds afterwards.

Wheels- This ones got nice looking rubber and the wire half powdered half chromed look which is nice. Our old set of wheels includes the 19" 9 spoke front mag, 16" 9 spoke rear mag in great shape I can ask $300 OBO for the set and I'll leave the old rubber on them which looks new. I'll go with the 5.0 x 16's the inspiration scoot is using and the same rims. I'll keep my calipers and rotors and other hardware as well. So we're gonna hook up with those Avon 5.0 x 16 front and rears, and change from mag to spoked tubed wheel. The fat spoke really looks cool as well adding some beef to the wheel.

We don't need or like a front fender - either so I'll flog the original Sporty fender for $50. or leave it on the front fork assy. Same with the rear fender -  it's a fatbob not quite suited to our purposes on this project so out it goes, besides a rear fatbob with light and plate bracket is well over $150 retail I'll have all parts sand blasted prior to posting them for sale. As for our new bobber, we'll have to splurge and buy a flat-style rear fender and cut it to bob size like our inspiration scoot. Also need to make/find the sissy bar our inspiration bike is wearing (it's sexy too).

The oil bag - for the softail will go with the frame (if it sells) it needs work and mods to actually work with the frame I'll tell the buyer what they need to do when the frame sells. I'ts a horseshoe oil bag with battery box inside for electric purposes. The inspiration bike sports a cylinder oil bag which is how I will go as well, and stash the battery below it.                                                                                

Gas Tank - The original peanut sporty tank is long gone, so is the one piece 3.5 gal w/ old twin dash that I got after it, now I have a set of flat side 3.5 gal. early big twin tanks (which incidentally the softail frame is fitted for, the frame has the brackets already welded in place you just need to buy the hardware). The inspiration bike uses a peanut tank and we'll NOT go with that we're gonna use the split 3.5 gal. setup instead. (I hate stoppin for gas all the time.)

I have a Corbin Gunfighter seat which I may hang onto if I can adapt it to the Bobber if I should do a long haul on this rigid monster or just to change the look from time to time. BUT I am definitely going to fit the project bike with the same type spring solo seat as shown on the inspiration bike. 

Bars and risers I'll do same as the inspiration however, I think I see that the inspiration bike still uses the stock handlebar controls (start/stop/horn/turn signals) I may try to customize that some to make it look more vintage. The ignition switch will of course be in the fuel tank dash. Will use vintage round mirrors which means I may have a nice set of old style Arlen Ness mirrors to flog for a $150 OBO. Also, I will install vintage grips.

Electric wise - Keeping a battery and charge system, Head light and for brake lights and rear turn signals (if i decide to use signals, might have to, to pass the safety or registration in FL?) I'll use orange bullets and two red/black light bullets for brake lights. Also need to wire in the dash board on the tank, I have the original Sporty wiring harness but I may go for simplicity and make a whole new harness, custom and clean to be as insignificant as possible (and hidden).

Also unlike the inspiration bike I'll go with Russell braided Stainless where ever I can. For oil lines, brake lines, control cables, etc. 

Exhaust pipes - I like the inspiration bikes pipes but I am still in shopping mode on that one. There is a kit available from Paughco that has all these different assortments of bended pipe in it to allow you to custom fit your own design to your application (if you don't have pipe bending facilities) there's that route OR pick up the pipe vice and do it myself in 1 piece OR buy a different already pre-made style so the choices on pipes are enormous. I have no clue what happened to my original drag pipes but they were ready for replacement anyhow. This is the style I was thinking to replace the inspiration setup with what do ya think? OR I was hashing over the idea of makin a true dual set up with fishtails to fit the sporty engine and the custom frame?

Ground Pounder Pipes.

Anyhow, that's it for now I'll continue in a bit when I hatch some more ideas. Keep the rubber side down see y'all soon.

Bare bones Bobber.

Hey y'all,

You may have noticed that the latest craze in custom bike building is Baggers, or the FL Touring bikes all made to look like "big Wheels" those toy trikes we had as kids. Personally I can't stand the fad. I'm not particularly fond of the CA  "low rider" scene and if that hurts your feelings T.F.B.

I'm old school, when I started out riding Harley's (I only ever rode Harley's, a fact I'm proud of) the likes of late great Indian Larry and the late Arlen Ness were just starting to create some beautiful works of original art in H-D Steel. Their bikes were the ones bikers would kill for, figuratively speaking of course to get their oily mitts on, me included.

A bit of a history lesson of the bike scene back in the day. Some of ya may think this is bigoted and nasty but it's the way it was for the most part. Women for example were mostly looked at as the bike washers and the pee pad occupants and beer fetchers. I know what you ladies are thinking, what a bunch of cavemen (probably allot worse I'm betting though?) That's the way it was though for the most part, women just didn't ride around by themselves or on their own scoots very much except for the unusual ladies the ones that really didn't take shit from any one, I rode with a few. One of the famous ones was the late Marla Garber and her dog Scooter. She rode her Decker every where I don't think there was a guy that had as many miles on their bike as she did, including me. My hats off to her R. I. P. Marla.

Another common "attitude" of the day was "Jap Scrap", bikers do not ride Jap! IMO still that way. The Japanese bikes were called everything from rice rockets, crotch rockets, ying-a-dingers, singer sewing machines, Jap crap and some others. I even had an old saying in those days, "I'd rather my sister in a whore house than my brother on a Honda" That's how much displeasure there was for the Japanese models in my circles. I remember once I was at an Outlaw M/C run in London, Ontario, Canada when a guy pulled in on a "Chicken Wing" (Goldwing) He was profiling and acting cool and telling a lot of very large bearded individuals that his bike was cooler than any of their HOGS. Well in the morning when Mr. Wing got up and went to get something out of his saddle bags on the Chicken wing he was horrified to see it was gone, NO NOT GONE! WORSE! apparently his several hundred pound Japanese bicycle had a knack for climbing TALL Trees (like 50' up in the air trees) on a rope. Anyhow I couldn't help but piss myself laughing and they finally gave him a hand lowering his adventurous bike and he left promptly.

But all the sarcasm wasn't only directed at women and Jap riders, it was also directed at men who rode small Harley's. By the small Harley I mean in particular the Sportster or XL model line from 57' all the way up. Now don't get me wrong, you didn't get a full ribbing for riding one after all it still was American made and it bore the Harley-Davidson name so that made it better than the rest but so far as the rest of the HOG stable went this was the little brother, the piglet in the HOG pen. Well just so happens my first HOG was this particular piglet. So I heard all of the rub it in your face lines like "ah your riding your sisters bike where's yours?", "half a Harley", "Girl's bike" And a bunch of others. You just eventually got used to it, I mean from my point of view, it was all I could afford and it was a brand new Harley.

So my first one was a 1987 XLH 883 Sportster. Not a big bike for a 6', 195 lb. dude back in those days. I was married to the first wife back then (She is a bitch though and I hope Ken has a good time with her the asshole) anyhow, I kept the bike when we divorced , my idea was eventually I'd move up to an FLH and she'd get the XLH so there was method behind the madness. Anyhow soon as I got that Sporty home I got busy ripping it apart and changing it. First thing I did was lose the stock exhaust for straight slash cut drag pipes and an E-Shorty Carb from S&S. Then I put on 3.5 gal split gas tanks and an old style dash, lost the turn signals, and put on some highway pegs so I could stretch out my legs and I nice Corbin Gunslinger seat for my ass to sit on. I rode like this for a time. In fact the bike and I and the X (yuck) went clear across Canada from Ontario to B.C. down to Montana and all the way across the U.S. to Michigan and back into Canada. Rode to Pennsylvania and the mountains, did Daytona Beach, FL. Rode to Maine, Connecticut, Vermont. Back and forth in Ontario to hundreds of bike events and parties. Shangri-la Park owned by the Satan's Choice M/C in Ontario. I saw Steppenwolf there at least 3-4 times alone even drinking with John Kay, good times from what I remember.

In that time I also went to The only Harley-Davidson Factory endorsed Canadian school for technicians and got certified (1993). I was in Alberta during the coldest winter in a long time, like 35 below 0, only thing that kept ya thawed enough to walk was the booze.  Anyhow I gained enormous knowledge, the schools boast was you will build a 200k shovelhead engine and we did. This thing was so accurately built it would last 200k miles no problem. Anyhow, to get back to the Sporty, when I got home I had the bike builder bug again and proceeded to once again transform the Sporty. I bored 1/2" out of each cylinder and added S&S rods, 3.5" pistons, S&S adjustable Pushrods, High performance coil and ignition module, Tripoli Wishbone Softail Frame, Mid apes, and J-Brake Billet forward controls, and a wide glide conversion kit. Also ported and polished the heads.

1987 XLH S&S 1200 Softail rubber mount Wide Glide or as I called it the XLHSTRW.

That's the bike in it's last configuration. I rode it like this for awhile and then was thinking of even more engine mods plus I had a slack rear rod that I needed to re-bushed so I ripped it apart again LOL. Only this time I never got to put her back together. I split with the X ole' lady (devil incarnate) and the XLH found it's home in boxes, lots of boxes.  

So now has come the time, I'm 60 now soon to be 25. I am re-married to a God given Southern angel. Honestly dudes she is the BEST hands down guaranteed, and she can cook too. I got 8 grand kids the Step daughter keeps getting knocked up again. She needs to find another hobby. 4 of the future bikers belong to my Step-son, who's newly a single father his wife ran off :(  ah well ya know the old saying right? Ya can't live with em but ya can't kill em either.  Wife and I are going to retire to our FL home in a year or so (we're there now) and I am starting to line up some activities to keep me amused in a life of retirement. This is where Project Bobber comes in. Those boxes in the garage next to my 2006 FLHRCI are calling to me one last time. They beckon me to build the ultimate street fighter out of that XLH engine and now it will be a bobber.

If your not a biker and your reading this (you must be bored?) a Bobber is a bike style that originated in the 30's, 40's and 50's among Harley riders mostly but there were those that rode Indians before they went tits up in the 50's that also bobbed their bikes. So what is a Bobber? It's a stock motorcycle in those days mostly built on the rigid type frame, which has no suspension, hence the term rigid. The old bikes also didn't have the luxury of hydraulic front forks either and used what is called the Springer (a mostly rigid front fork that had a few pivot points and some large springs between those to help dampen the bumps a bit. But over all the old Harley's let you feel not only the vibration from the engine but all the nooks and crannies in the road as well. 

The biker of yesterday took their brand new HOG and did some things to it. They tore off the front fender, they removed the rear fender and cut it way back so it came up high on the rear wheel, they stripped off everything that in their minds was useless and bare boned that sucker. That's the origins of a Bobber. Later they even did more custom things to clean them up as time progressed. Now here in the year 2020, low and behold the Bobber craze has struck again. Well not only Bobbers, the late Indian Larry style builds are real popular right now as well. So I decided to jump on the Bobber band wagon myself. 

This Blog will follow my conception design through the mechanical process I will do until the bike is fully complete. Every nut and bolt, every piece of chrome steel and Flat black painted part will come together to make my new street Daemon. So kick up your feet, get the ole lady to grab ya a cold one (old habits die hard) and let's do this ride together, cool? Right on!