I spent about a year searching for the perfect FXR for my dream build. After looking at over a dozen different bikes, I finally landed on this one. Located in San Francisco CA, this bike belonged to an old man who was the original owner and babied this bike. He kept it in a show room under lock and key and had only put 5,100 miles on it in its short 23 year life. The man had simply gotten too old to ride and was looking to sell. His asking price was a bit high but i was able to negotiate a price we were both comfortable with. I paid the man, loaded her up, and took her home. I immediately started removing the parts I wasn't very fond of. The big windshield, reflectors, blinkers etc were the first to go. I put about 200 miles on the bike before I realized I was going to kill myself with the stock suspension set up. I contacted Race Tech in southern California and ordered 2 14" fully adjustable rear shocks and the springs and emulator kit they offer for the front end. I was also looking into upgrading to a dual disc front brake setup as the stock single disc just didn't cut it for me. I found a guy up in San Jose California getting rid of an entire 39mm front end, forks, trees and all for 200 bucks. I took the trip and got the forks back home. About that same time, I had most of the bike pulled apart down to basically the frame and motor. I was looking to get all the little miscellaneous parts powder coated satin black. I originally wanted to go with a completely blacked out look with the bike and paint every possible part black. So when ordering the Race Tech rear shocks, I opted for the all black finish. When they arrived, they were the black and brushed finish. At first, I was upset that a mistake had been made but after doing a mock up on the bike, I decided to go with a different paint scheme. Since the majority of the bikes you see nowadays come factory blacked out, I decided to mix it up a bit. Add a little satin black, keep a little chrome and add a little gloss black. I was hoping it would make the bike stand out a little more and not be so monotonous. I think it came out just right for my liking. I installed all the fresh powder coated parts and began to reassemble the bike. I ended up having to hunt down a bigger MC for the front brakes since I was converting to dual discs. That was a little harder than I had expected. Needless to say, I got the job done and couldn't be happy with the upgrade and stopping power. I ride a bit fast on the freeway so the wind tends to a bit of a pain while trying to hug my knees against my tank. I looked into fairings and didn't want the typical 1/4 fairing everyone and their mom has these days. I wanted something that would actually shield the wind and redirect the flow of air around my knees not directly into them. The T-sport fairing was a perfect match. The lights were the next upgrade I wanted to do since the stock headlight is about as useful as holding a candle out in front of you at night. I went with the Moto Illumination Led headlight and I am extremely happy that I did. It is a great light and puts off a TON of bright light. With the bike assembled and cosmetically sound, I began to put the miles down and actually get a feel for the new machine I had created. I come from a sport bike background so being so accustomed to that kind of power was a little disappointing when it came to the stock evolution motor. I went into this project knowing that I wasn't buying a harley to go fast, thats what the crotch rocket is for. Although, a little extra poop is always nice. After installing the thunderheader on the bike, I had my friend Bernard from Bernard's Specialty Cycle in Oceano CA do a "budget" port job on the bike along with an EV27 cam and tuned CV carb to wake this eve motor up. I didn't want to push huge horsepower numbers, I just wanted to add a little more punch to the throttle while retaining the reliability of the Evo. That was probably the best thing I could've done to the bike. I slapped on a pair of brand new Michelin tires and called it good...for a while. There are probably a few things I forgot to mention, but you get the big picture.
List of mods:
Thunderheader 2-1 exhaust
Race Tech GS-1 adjustable rear shocks
Race Tech gold valve kit w/ springs and emulators
Mustang fastback seat
Kuryakin smoked led tail light
Custom lay down license plate
Moto Illumination LED headlight
West Coast T bars MX bars
Arlen Ness MX style grips
JD Customs T-Sport fairing w/ 15" blacked out glass
Dual disc front brake conversion
Fly Racing MX pegs
San Diego Customs fork brace
San Diego Customs timing cover
San Diego Customs bar bag
San Diego Customs seat screw
Arlen Ness FXR side covers
Powder Coated satin black, wheels, foot controls, strut covers, fork sliders, rear pulley

 

Oh...and everything was done in the spare room in my house =)

 

turned out sweet...nice work!

 

If you were gonna do all that, Why start with a pristine Bike???
Just wondering...

 

It definitely looks better than when you brought it home....

 

^^????^^

Everybody Rebuilds [swaps Sheetmatal and Paint] a Bike to Be different.
Then they "build" it to look like Everybody elses!!!!
Good thing you started with a Well cared for Example..that OE Pain is expensive!!!

 

great job, looks awesome.

 

Looks great!

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess your not married. Lol. Nice bike.

 

You did a real nice job on the bike ricky. Let's face it, stock bikes ain't for everybody... especially when there's so much room for improvement!

Enjoy!