Kyle rode his bike home today.......

Well, Kyle finally was able to ride his '00 Sporty out of here today. What started out a couple months ago as "just a hardtail...." on Kyle's part soon turned into more mods as he saw it progress along. Originally, he wanted the Led Sled's hardtail, a sissy bar, and a Red Tail Leather solo seat. Then he decided on a full frisco'd tank, 2" shorter front legs (we used 2" under tubes), Lick's ultra-narrow 12" apes, Goodson Little Breather, full braided brake lines, and wanted his old long drag pipes modified to follow the frame legs, with turnout tips.......

Originally, Kyle wanted to keep his final belt drive, but both pulleys were worn cock-eyed, and the new longer belt would always track into the worn area on the trans sprocket, eventually shredding the side of the belt. We decided to go with a chain conversion. I used an '82-'85 Sporty rear sprocket, and opened up the center hole to fit his '00 wheel. Then I took a '91-'92 front chain sprocket, and about 45 min. crossing and re-crossing H-D part numbers, and some carefull measurements, discovered that the early Softail 5sp chain drive front sprocket seal and spacer would fit his Sporty case, and line up his chain sprockets perfectly!

We gutted about half his wiring harnass out, moved his coil between his cylinders on the L/H side, and left him just enough stuff to get by on. Kyle's coming back for a complete rewire in late Fall, along with an internal throttle, bare-bones hand controls, and a 16" spoked rear wheel. He may even go for a Labriola foot clutch. Until then, he plans on putting as many miles on his bike he can before the snow flies. I can't blame him!

I used Kyle's stock '00 Sporty gas tank. I dropped the tunnel, raised the filler neck (it's an Acme Choppers solid brass vented cap unit), relocated his petcock to the lower LT. corner, and used four rubber isolated platform mounts under his tank for the mounting - you have to look for the mounts to see them. I don't remember who did the paintwork right now, but they did an excellent job!

Here's the sissy bar I made out of 1/2" cold rolled, and you can see the detail on the turn-outs on the ends of the pipes. You can see how ultra narrow those Lick's bars are, they have that really nice "butterfly wing" shape to them. They look killer on a 39mm front end.

I was able to tuck Kyle's OEM 4 piston caliper inbetween the frame rails ala a Softail by simply adding a 1/4" thick tab on the lower frame tube, registering into the old adjuster slot on the caliper body. Nice, clean, simple mounting of a stock component. Why buy a new custom caliper?

The tail light/license plate mount is one I've been making for clients since '04. Basically, it's a 1/2" cold roll bar that I bend to fit the plate and their choice of tail light. It plugs into two sockets on the frame rails w/hidden bolts, and is removable. If you look on my website, you'll see several variations of this mount on my builds, including Part-timer Steve's bike. They're super-rugged, believe me.

The tail light is one I found a couple years ago. It's a 30 element, dual function LED lamp, and it measures 3 3/4" long x 2 1/4" in dia. This lamp is BRIGHT! I found this when Part-timer Steve wanted the Heartland teardrop tail lamp for his chopper, and nearly had a heart attack at the price. This unit is about a 1/4 of the price of those, and is brighter. A couple summers ago, when we were riding thru Utah late at night, with no moon, I could see Steve's tail light about a 1/4 mi. up in front of me clear as could be.

If you're interested in the license plate mount, or the tail lamp, let me know. The lamps are $65.00, and the license mounts themselves are $150.00 in bare steel, less the LED lamp, and illuminated license plate frame ( I can get the LED frames for you, too) + S&H. I can accomodate your choice of most any tail light you'd like to use.
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