I've been jonesing for a fun and simple project. Not old, sacred and expensive. Not a late model "Modder" but a regular old rigid with simple wiring and nothing fancy. I've got some old left over and swap parts just hanging on the walls that aren't doing any good collecting dust.
One of my favorite riding buddies Joel has a garage full of primo projects, slab shovels, pans, etc. He's got an evo bagger for a shop truck and I'm not quite sure how or why he ended up with this RevTech-powered, Paughco-framed machine. We rode together in 2008 down into mainland Mexico with some other buddies and took a ferry across to the bottom of Baja and back up to meet the EDR crew in San Felipe. I was on a two-year old Triumph and Joel rode this damn jockey shift rigid the whole 2,000 mile trip with barely a hiccup. When we started out I told him "You don't have a speedo so why don't you lead so I can figure out where you and that bike are comfortable and I'll try to keep the speed in that range when I'm leading". Well, it was all I could do to keep up with him hand jammin' down the highway like nothin' at 95mph without a care in the world!
The point is, the bike is a strong runner, and that was with an old HD 4-speed. The RT is a 88-incher. I've heard there are good ones and bad ones. This must be a good one because it likes to run.
Joel needs to offload this machine so he can fund more projects but hasn't had much luck in selling it over the last couple months and even raped the trans out of it to mock up his shovel. I've got lots of respect for Joel and this machine but figured a little make over might help it be a little easier to sell come spring.
So, HalWade and I drove down and picked it up this morning and it took less than an hour to pull the tins and seat off of it and start playing what I call Mr. Potatohead with it. I played with different set-ups and think this is what I'm going to go for:
Flat-bottomed sporty tank, frisco mount
Narrow, rigid Le Pera seat
Keep the flat fender, remount
Rewire, hide capacitor under tank, relocate the single "on" switch
Install new Shinko rear 16" tire
Go 21" up front
Haven't decided on keeping the nice old PM dual discs and aftermarket wideglide trees or going to late model sporty narrow glide with single disc (I have already)
Short risers
Chumps or Apes, Windows if I go with the Narrow Glide
Some kind of new pipes, probably high
Afterhours Titmouse brass tailight (had it forever, been dying to use it)
New shorter sissy bar
I shot a bunch of photos of it today in various get-ups and this is what I settled on:
This is the "before" pic. Built for function, not fashion, it hauls ass and a bunch of gear but hopefully a make over will be fun for me and help Joel sell the thing.
These versions failed for one reason or another:
Thanks Joel, for letting me take a shot at this thing. I'll try to put up some updates and tech along the way.
One of my favorite riding buddies Joel has a garage full of primo projects, slab shovels, pans, etc. He's got an evo bagger for a shop truck and I'm not quite sure how or why he ended up with this RevTech-powered, Paughco-framed machine. We rode together in 2008 down into mainland Mexico with some other buddies and took a ferry across to the bottom of Baja and back up to meet the EDR crew in San Felipe. I was on a two-year old Triumph and Joel rode this damn jockey shift rigid the whole 2,000 mile trip with barely a hiccup. When we started out I told him "You don't have a speedo so why don't you lead so I can figure out where you and that bike are comfortable and I'll try to keep the speed in that range when I'm leading". Well, it was all I could do to keep up with him hand jammin' down the highway like nothin' at 95mph without a care in the world!
The point is, the bike is a strong runner, and that was with an old HD 4-speed. The RT is a 88-incher. I've heard there are good ones and bad ones. This must be a good one because it likes to run.
Joel needs to offload this machine so he can fund more projects but hasn't had much luck in selling it over the last couple months and even raped the trans out of it to mock up his shovel. I've got lots of respect for Joel and this machine but figured a little make over might help it be a little easier to sell come spring.
So, HalWade and I drove down and picked it up this morning and it took less than an hour to pull the tins and seat off of it and start playing what I call Mr. Potatohead with it. I played with different set-ups and think this is what I'm going to go for:
Flat-bottomed sporty tank, frisco mount
Narrow, rigid Le Pera seat
Keep the flat fender, remount
Rewire, hide capacitor under tank, relocate the single "on" switch
Install new Shinko rear 16" tire
Go 21" up front
Haven't decided on keeping the nice old PM dual discs and aftermarket wideglide trees or going to late model sporty narrow glide with single disc (I have already)
Short risers
Chumps or Apes, Windows if I go with the Narrow Glide
Some kind of new pipes, probably high
Afterhours Titmouse brass tailight (had it forever, been dying to use it)
New shorter sissy bar
I shot a bunch of photos of it today in various get-ups and this is what I settled on:
This is the "before" pic. Built for function, not fashion, it hauls ass and a bunch of gear but hopefully a make over will be fun for me and help Joel sell the thing.
These versions failed for one reason or another:
Thanks Joel, for letting me take a shot at this thing. I'll try to put up some updates and tech along the way.
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