'78 XLCH learning how to build, build.

[jaycagney]

Ok, so a little bit about me. I have zero mechanical experience except fixing my car with my dad, and working on my bmx bike. I still can’t figure out my mountain bikes. I started with an ’81 Honda cb650c, fixed it a little bit and rode it for a year or two. Then got a ’75 cb750k, which needed a lot of love so I was able to get my hands a little dirtier. Then I wanted to get into the chopper world, and picked up this ’78 XLCH sportster from a guy who owned it for the last 25 years. This is what it looked like when I brought it home-



Got it in fall, rode it around a bunch and throughout the winter since I was pretty close to work at the time. took the apes off cause I really wasn’t a fan. Girlfriend was a champ about it-



My opinion about bikes changes all the time as I get more into it. So the apes went back on. I think these forks are about 4 over, which I also wasn’t super into



So I put on stock length (maybe?) and some fork gaiters.



then put some biltwell chumps on there, since I liked the look of the apes but not the big rise. then rode it around like that for awhile. took it to some riding spots



another view of the chumps

[jaycagney]

wanted to start cleaning it up a bit, so I bought a grinder and started removing the reflector perches and fender mounts



after grinding I used some hand files and eventually some kind of sandpaper. could of been more anal about it but looked good enough for me



then I started thinking about hard tailing.. started collecting some parts and mocking it up. at the time I was stoked on how it looked



wanted to stop those pesky oil leaks, so googled how to take off the pushrods. and replaced the cork seals

[jaycagney]

in may I finally had enough cash to order the hard tail. went with the david bird because I really liked how it looked as a bolt on, and I had never touched a welder before. 5-6 week turn around time, so it arrived 3rd week in June. Strange Days was a few weeks later. time to start hustling.



new stuff



old stuff



well, time to start chopping

[jaycagney]

went on without too much persuasion, and I started laying parts on it again



rolling around



got a seat which I can’t remember the brand, some 3” springs, biltwell tongue thing and some spring mounts



started trading bottles of jack to my buddy to borrow his mig for a week at a time. this is literally one of the first welds I’ve ever done, in hind site I probably should of practiced for an hour or so, but I was too excited and just went for it. oh well



starting making a fender support to weld to the frame

[jaycagney]

had to cut away part of the hard tail to fit the tongue for the seat far enough back





more weld attempts



bent some metal to weld onto the frame for the first support, tried to match the contour of the trailer fender I got from lowbrow





fender mounted to frame at the chain stay and seat stay (hopefully those bike terms transfer) and spring posts and seat thing welded on



had to buy a tap for the sissy bar support

[jaycagney]

friend had a tank laying around, thought it looked much better





license plate bracket time



complete with walmart trailer light



instagram shot of welding





attaching the thing that the license plate bracket will attach to

[jaycagney]

my bike is turning into a storyboard of my welding technique progress







exhaust pipe was hitting the new frame, so I dented in that section by squishing it around some 1/2” round rod. I think I just ended up using a hammer, it was easier



clears just enough, more than it looks from this angle

[jaycagney]

made a sissy bar by putting 1/2” mild steel in the vice and just pulling on it real hard. don’t have the heat capabilities. used the lowbrow kit





almost there



then I had to move. that didn’t help the building process. borrowed the welder again and my girlfriend played with it



had to make exhaust support, so welded on this piece and cut it off above the lowest hole



now we’re supported, front and back



it’s together, and the test ride felt awesome. this was thursday night. Strange Days started the next day, Friday. phew.

[jaycagney]

rode it to work Friday morning, and it made it there and back. good enough, time to pack up for Strange Days







it was a blast to ride, and was tuned super well. started up first kick all weekend, and I was all smiles that it didn’t explode. kept riding it all summer, didn’t come without issues



let the girlfriend take it for a ride, she’s only ridden my hondas before this. she got kinda hooked

[jaycagney]

relocated my coil. in a very ghetto way



attempted my first set of handlebars. pretty much just took the specs from the biltwell H bars, figured no bends was in my ability





the next big thing was Gypsy Run. never done a trip that long, but this was the week before. scrambling to get everything sorted again. chopped the springs and lowered my forks another 2-3 inches



got it together. replaced my bald back tire, which is bigger, so had to make a new sissy bar. also made that bigger.



packed and ready for gypsy run. my girlfriend is joining on my cb750



it was super fucking awesome. great time.

[jaycagney]

until I broke down. I was at the back of the pack we were with and no one saw me drop out. luckily they didn’t get too far and came back. the guys from lowside tried to help me out, but my bike was toast. it was having problems all day, so I got a lift to the final camp ground. my girlfriend continued on with them, without me, with less than a year under her belt. gnarly.



so what happened is on day 1, my points went. luckily I had an extra set with me, but while I was changing them out I knocked the positive wire off my battery. I have no electrical experience so I pretty much had the worst electrical harness ever, and just mashed everything into a plastic box with electrical tape. my generator must of somehow became unpolarized, and my bike stopped charging. and it was way out of timing because the new points, and me not knowing how to set timing on the road without the internet. a guy Nick was nice enough to loan me his extra battery so I could try and ride home the final day, and it didn’t fit into my tray. so we got a little creative with zip ties. you can also see how bad my wiring was



it got me an hour towards home before it ran out, and luckily my buddy was hanging with his truck at the final night so we threw it in there



however, my girlfriend successfully rode the whole way home



the next week I got my generator rebuilt, got a new regulator, and was back on the road for brooklyn invitational. my bike was fine, but the cb750 fouled a plug and while we tried to get it out with needle nose vice grips due to lack of tools, we shattered the ceramic. the bike stayed in brooklyn and we went home at got the truck. the bike then sat until this spring when I finally got around to it, since my girlfriend picked up her own ’96 sportster.



new biltwell seat, so much more comfortable than the other one

[jaycagney]

had some sweet fall rides, with little to no issues except the bolt that holds the advance mechanism broke off in there, but that was an easy fix, just took me out of commission for the next few days. I proceeded to show up to the secret bike show on the back of my girlfriends sportster. everyone thought I was rad.



this is how she ended the year



so now it’s cold.. and I’m thinking longer forks. found a good deal on some 6 over tubes



girlfriend got me the sweet throttle addiction tank. I picked up a new solo seat



got my hands on my own tig welder. way harder than mig. I suck at it.



mockups of my new stuff and my old parts on my girlfriends new bike



well better than my first tig attempts



cleaned the garage, and got to work. started by chopping off the posts on the spring mounts, but left the fatter area of the bungs for the seat to sit on since the frame isn’t a straight line

[jaycagney]

engine came out, time to work on the frame



new seat



I dig the forks







wanted to try and make the david bird section look more natural…

[jaycagney]

what I don’t have photos of, I put a 1” bar across the seat spring perches to support the seat, and used a bit of bondo to kind of mold some of the areas around the seat to make it look more flowy. on to paint



nothing fancy, just flat black grill paint. maybe I’ll do it right someday, but not today



cleaning, and grill paint on the jugs



first time using scotch brite. can’t believe how well it works



starting to reassemble



made bungs to weld into the frame to mount the new tank in a more solid manner

[jaycagney]

fixed the honda, and rode it to work while this thing was in pieces



progress, all painted up



new coil that didn’t have cracks on it, mounted it properly and new plug wires. maybe should of taken care of that lower gasket while the engine was out. oops.



relocated key right under the right side of my seat so I can turn it off with my hand on the clutch



drew wiring diagram based off of numerous threads on here



old army box thing, and some bed liner for the battery box



the dividers separate the circuit breakers. probably could of done it better but, you can’t see it.