Rode west up 72 off of 93 in the foothills. Lots of single lane road work and snow melt crossing the road.
Was looking for a picnic spot I used to hit on my 81 'Sturgis edition Wide Glide back in the day.
Looks like they built a house on it?





A GREAT ride today. Gonna really miss the mountain twisties. Have to play it cool with the Ex so I came come visit in the summer!
JM

 

I am diggin' the *** on that bike. How did you make it, and what is that tail light assembly off of?

 

Thanks! "he likes my ***" Blushes :-)

Kind of went Gorilla on that part. Just added tooling foam, sculpted to taste (followed the stock lines out)
Then just wrapped with carbon.. You use 3M 77 spray adhesive on the first layer. Bagged the next for strength and to compress the fibers.
Then it takes about 3 rounds of "surface coat" epoxy, some filler and then I will be ready to paint.


Tail light is the stock assembly on a custom made bracket.
Really wanted to do custom lighting but it was nice to keep the wiring intact and I actually like the layout, (enough for now)

Only have the last 2 weekends into the project...

Now I can pull a proper mold of the finished part if I get orders?

Will make an inner fender, cut the back plastic on the stock inner fender/storage compartment for access and have some more storage.
Also started templates for some SEXY hard bags. Front fairing too.
My vision is a "Sport-Touring" Softail. Like the Sport Glide but with cooler stuff.

I really LOVE this bike!

JM

 

Cool Deal 👍 this is really going to be interesting you make it sound simple when it's really not.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm usually function over form and normally geek out a lot more for mechanical mods on bikes but this upgrade is really turning my crank. Something has always been "off" to me in the looks department on the FXDR but I have to say you really nailed it! Kinda looks like it's going 150 mph standing still now.

So when you fabricated the extension out of builders foam you just adapted it to the existing body work, then laid the fiber over all of it and started layering? How many layers of fiber did you go with, and where do you buy fiber sheets?

I'm gonna speculate body work is something of a passion for you. It really shows.

 

So, I use "tooling foam". Used in mold making. I make carbon fiber bikes and guitars for a living, (and passion).

Did choose to "sacrifice" the stock fender. Didn't need to . But again, BIG hurry to get it done and get on with it.

Could have waxed the stock fender and pulled a mold of this "plug". Would have been more days.
Don't care about "preserving" any stock parts.

I buy carbon 100 yards at a time. Boeing Mil-spec industrial epoxy resins are used. Very low VOC's.
6K or "thick" fabric was used. 2 layers outside. (don't want it to get too thick as I will pull molds off this part)
1 layer will be added underneath, along with an inner fender for more storage.

Chin spoiler was straight up, plug, mold, part. Could make as many as I wanted now.

I saw the bike when it first came out and did the usual,,, HMMMM???
Fender kind of looked bobbed or chopped and not well thought out. That TOW BAR???!!!

Looking past that I saw, the rear swingarm, dual front discs, the tank shape and capacity.
Even considered just completely changing the rear fender. But I kind of see where the inspiration came from. (flat track rear sections)
Those pointy "wings" are also aerodynamic. You see that shape on a lot of wind-tunnel tested stuff.

It is still a little longer than intended. The rear lights could be chopped up and modified for a cleaner, custom look.

Really happy so far and I think the paint scheme will further "lighten" it and tie it to the front.

Thanks!

JM

 

No mods, just a bath today and some cruising. Working my way to the 5k service.

 

Keeping mine stock.

 

Looks Like Fun --

 

"Keeping mine stock......


ACCEPT the mirrors ;-)

JM