Simon, the simple Shovel

[swade41]

It's got to be simple because I have no clue what I'm doing, just learning along the way. I've been working the search function and looking at lots of examples trying to figure this stuff out.
I'm a Hot Rod car kinda guy so I know how to use some tools but most of the time I feel like a tool around the bike. I had a rigid shovel that I bought then later sold to fund some home improvements and managed to screw my back up along the way. I went 10 long years without and decided to buy myself a Christmas present in 2012, needed suspension this time around so an FLH it is. 3200 miles on fresh engine,tires, battery and a paint job I didn't mind.





Bagger just wasn't me so started stripping stuff off and learned how to rewire the front half to get all the lights, signals working and brake pressure switches to get some brake lights and new brake pads. Rode like this the last half of 2013, not my "big vision" but hey was back on the road !




I was collecting parts as they would pop up, bought a lot of wrong things do to my lack of knowledge too. A week ago I decided to start putting these parts on and getting it to more of my liking. Tried out the SBF fender strut, 11 inch shocks and made a fender out of a shirt box and tape.




This looked a little to main stream for me, which isn't who I really am. I took the SBF back off and started sliding the cardboard fender around and trying out different angles and placements of a sissy bar.




I liked this, so I cut out a fender from the old 1936 Ford spare tire ring, put a piece of 1/2 inch rubber fuel line under the fender to see what it looked like.

[swade41]

I bought some Mkll's for front and rear, figure it's a big bike and can't hide that fact so lets put some bigger sidewall tires all around. I also had bought some factory shovel spoke rims to replace the mags to keep things a bit older looking.
I noticed the rear brake disc is not the same, can I just unbolt mine and bolt it on the spoke rim ?

[shovelpan69]

Should be able to just swap out those rotors

[swade41]

Should be able to just swap out those rotors

Thanks, the wheels are the next move, painting the rims black to match the tires for bigger sidewall look. Then back to reading the manual to figure out how to get my rolling stock off, funny to me to have to do this, but never done it before. All I know is that I will be further ahead in the long run by doing it myself.
Didn't mention it earlier but it's a 79 with a 80 ci.

[Frog]

What he said. Other than the 10" rotors being counter-bored rather than the counter-sunk 11 1/2" the holes all line up. Funny . . I just went from spokes to those 13 spoke mags.

[swade41]

What he said. Other than the 10" rotors being counter-bored rather than the counter-sunk 11 1/2" the holes all line up. Funny . . I just went from spokes to those 13 spoke mags.

Man if we only knew...I could have had you come over and take off both sets...ha ha Yeah I bought new tubes and inner rubber rings just to make sure they stay up.

[CaptCaveman]

Your doing it right do one section at a time or you could turn it in to a basket case and sell it six months later due to extreme frustration. Wheels tend to be pretty easy since HD tended to only change the design specs rarely.

[swade41]

No big developments here, but managed to get the rims stripped and painted. Front rim must of had a cold spot or something because the paint wrinkled on a spot, stripped that back down and re-rattle canned that baby. Swung by a couple shops today to get the rear tire mounted but no dice, so hit Harbor Freight up for a different spoon and some plastic thingumajig to help protect the fresh paint. Two hrs later and lots of cussing the tire/tube is mounted on the rim and only managed to booger up one small spot.




I had a 20 ft piece of 1/2 bar stock up in the rafters so I started bending the sissy bar up, it'll get something in the middle but no idea yet. I had a nice tight radius up top but then realized it wouldn't fit over the fender so I stretched it out, looks kinda generic like this but we can make it work. I just need to figure out the caliper/chain guard clearance to bend the legs down. Not sure if I'm just going to hammer it flat on the end for mounting or weld a tab on it, probably hammer it.




Also picked up some 3 1/2 gallon tanks to replace the 5's, to thin up the middle a bit. That's it, not much but slow progress

[Guest]

That's good stuff. Love to see that little tank on there,I'm sure it'll be sweet

[swade41]

Got the old rolling stock off the rear and got the new stuff on, pretty easy other than lining the axle shaft back up. Also figured out half way through it would be easier with the caliper removed instead of trying to slide the rotor up in there withe axle shaft lining up too. I knew the radius of this tire was bigger but didn't plan on as much as it is, looks like I'll be adding a couple inches to the bottom of the fender... ha ha

[bhp]

This is the same direction I'm going with my flh. Can't wait to see how the sissy bar turns out

[swade41]

Some small updates, new medication had me down and out for a week but hey what are ya going to do. Most of this is sissy bar related, just trying to get it right so more mockup of course.




Bending the round stock is easy when you can get a pipe on it for leverage, but tight corners make ya grab what you know will work, a big 1 1/4 inch wrench !




The end results

[swade41]

Do you guys think this will be an acceptable way to mount this ? Weld the tab to the swing arm then drill and tap the sissy bar to accept a bolt that will run through tab and into bar. Maybe two bolts per side ?

[iain]

good progress so far. looks ugh better already!

[nuklhd]

if you mount the sissy bar to the swing arm wont it make your rear fender move up and down????