So we picked this Sporty up for a decent price, and immediately had to go to work. It had a ton of aftermarket parts- billet forward
controls, GMA brakes, Crane ignition, 1200 conversion, and dual plug heads, but the front cylinder was off. Well, never buy a bike
that doesn't run assuming it would run- THAT'S why it was a decent price! We got the front head on, fired it up and it made some
strange noises, we pulled the primary cover and tweaked the chain tension, addressed a lot of other safety issues we found, and
fired it again. It lasted about ten minutes before it flattened a cam and spit a bunch of metal chunks into the cam cover. SO, we
tore it down again.
In the meantime we added some 18" apes that I narrowed 4" in the center and cut another 1.5" off each grip, lowered it 3",
swapped headlight housing and lens , bobbed the rear fender, new throttle assembly, switches off the bars, rewired it, rebuilt
brake calipers and master cylinder, new rotors, painted the frame satin brown and bodywork satin sand color, solo seat, no front
fender, shaved fork legs, and rebuilt the engine from the flywheels up. Got it running, installed new tires and rode it for a bit. The
brown paint was less well received than I'd hoped for, so I repainted it again in Yellow and engine turned some chrome.
That didn't float my boat, so I said screw it, and redid it to my liking, forget conventional. Narrowed and shortened a Sporty tank,
friscoed it, fabbed the bars, narrowed the forward controls, rolled the fender way up, and fabbed a tail light mount. We also made a
license plate mount, points cover, neck tube gusset trim, seat base trim, battery box and ignition trim and air cleaner out of the
same channeled aluminum on the tank and fender. Narrowed the seat, rigid struts, custom shotgun exhaust, welded rod
chainguard, cut the cam cover, bars, frame rails and more. Lots of brass accents and holes drilled everywhere set it off and I'd call
it about done.
controls, GMA brakes, Crane ignition, 1200 conversion, and dual plug heads, but the front cylinder was off. Well, never buy a bike
that doesn't run assuming it would run- THAT'S why it was a decent price! We got the front head on, fired it up and it made some
strange noises, we pulled the primary cover and tweaked the chain tension, addressed a lot of other safety issues we found, and
fired it again. It lasted about ten minutes before it flattened a cam and spit a bunch of metal chunks into the cam cover. SO, we
tore it down again.
In the meantime we added some 18" apes that I narrowed 4" in the center and cut another 1.5" off each grip, lowered it 3",
swapped headlight housing and lens , bobbed the rear fender, new throttle assembly, switches off the bars, rewired it, rebuilt
brake calipers and master cylinder, new rotors, painted the frame satin brown and bodywork satin sand color, solo seat, no front
fender, shaved fork legs, and rebuilt the engine from the flywheels up. Got it running, installed new tires and rode it for a bit. The
brown paint was less well received than I'd hoped for, so I repainted it again in Yellow and engine turned some chrome.
That didn't float my boat, so I said screw it, and redid it to my liking, forget conventional. Narrowed and shortened a Sporty tank,
friscoed it, fabbed the bars, narrowed the forward controls, rolled the fender way up, and fabbed a tail light mount. We also made a
license plate mount, points cover, neck tube gusset trim, seat base trim, battery box and ignition trim and air cleaner out of the
same channeled aluminum on the tank and fender. Narrowed the seat, rigid struts, custom shotgun exhaust, welded rod
chainguard, cut the cam cover, bars, frame rails and more. Lots of brass accents and holes drilled everywhere set it off and I'd call
it about done.
Above: As we got it- '87 Sportster
"Hey, Dude!" Lookin' gooood. Live
to ride, ride to live, bro!
"Hey, Dude!" Lookin' gooood. Live
to ride, ride to live, bro!
Sportster 1200