*** a hardtail. swingarm sporties is where its at. watching closely, great job so far bro!

 

At least some chopped down RK's or 440's.

 

Right on street, I hear ya. I'd love to do it, but as it stands right now I am being restricted to just one motorcycle ("It's not a motorcycle baby, it's a chopper." My wife is getting real sick of that line...) and in order to allow for the occasional 2-up (we take it to dinner and cruise about once every other week when the weather's nice) I am compelled to keep the swing arm configuration along with the HD passenger seat and detachable sissy bar. My plan is to buy a solo seat and run with that 90% of the time. Seriously looking at this one...



...but it's a little expensive. Or something similar. I'm still looking.

I'll keep the stock solo seat with the passenger seat attached as a unit and they, along with the sissy bar, will pop on and off in 30 seconds when needed. I need to come up with a way to mount the new solo seat while keeping the stock seat attachment post that hooks the bracket on the bottom of the stock seat pan. Also need to be able to attach/detach the new solo seat relatively quickly and easily...anything around 10-15 minutes is fine with me. But apart from this concept and browsing for the solo seat style I'm looking for, it I haven't given the actual mounting much thought. That's still down the road a bit.

 

haha Thanks man!

 

Absolutely! Got the 12" Street Glides shocks cut down to 10.75 inches by BitchinBaggers sitting in a box on the work bench.

 

If you like the Tripper I put on mine Ergo it only attach's with one bolt in the back. You can leave the original attaching bolt up front...it just isnt used/needed with this seat. There is a hole in the seat pan for that bolt's clearance. There is a matching pillion pad available.

 

Thanks Rick! That's good info. I do like the look of that Mustang Tripper on your bike. At this point I'm leaning toward the smaller spring-style seat, hard mounted to the frame. But the Tripper is definitely an option.

 

Wouldn't it have been cheaper for you just to buy an old Sporty or just a frame, and the parts separately? Or maybe you didn't have that project in mind when you bought the Sporty?

I'm just curious. I admire your work and this thread is awesome. I am also very excited to see the end result!

 

10.75's? Nice! I just did 11's...even then I was afraid 2-up would bite me in the *** later on. I rode em with no air, 15 lb. and 20 lb. 15 felt PERFECT, so I went with 20 till we can get a 2-up ride in. Always waitin' on parts, now the weather is here. :\

 

Thanks Voony, and ya it's a good point. In fact, my wife asked me almost the very same question a few weeks ago, just not as politely.

Had I known then what I know now, I probably would have done it differently. I decided back in the Spring that after 20 some years of not riding I was gonna get back on a bike again, and for some reason I can't really explain I wanted a Harley. Took me a couple of months to get the wife used to the idea...she is not a biker babe and didn't realize she had signed up for that...in fact, she's still getting used to the idea... But anyway, I was browsing the local want ads, saw the Nightster and decided to buy it. I knew enough about stock bikes from my youth that I was anticipating doing some modifications to it. But the more I got into the whole thing the more I wanted to change/improve/modify to my taste. There was the whole engine paint problem, some rust on the frame, etc, that wasn't all that noticable when I bought it and I hadn't realized how bad it was until I really got into it. And that kind of thing bugs the **** out of me, knowing it's there even though hardly anyone but me would notice. This forum hasn't been any help at all either...or it's been a huge help, depending on your perspective. Reading about all the mods, seeing the pics of all the great sportys...I got the bug. Bad. I'm addicted. I feel compelled to really turn this stock Nightster into MY bike. I want to make it as unique/badass/bitchin/awsome as I am capable of, within a modest budget, and within the parameters I'm stuck with, i.e. - has to remain 2-up capable and it can't be too loud.

It's a creative outlet for me, something I can craft into a unique work of...dare I say...art. I am not an artist by any stretch, but I love being creative. I'm not a machinist or a carpenter but I love taking wood or metal and making it into something else, even if it's not very useful or pretty. The very kewl thing about motorcycles is that you don't need to be a master machinist or ace mechanic to turn a stock bike into something very unique. Those things help a lot if you really want to get serious, if you're building or rebuilding motorcycles, chopping frames and one-offing most or all of the components. But for us average Joe's, we can really express ourselves through our bikes without too much in the way of KSA's (Knowledge, Skills and Abilities). And you don't have to buy everything from Joker Machine, Roland Sands or god forbid, Harley Davidson, to do it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and no offense to Kevin from DK Customs from whom I've already purchased a few sweet items.
But this sportster platform allows so much mixing and matching of purchased, crafted and altered components that everyone can be creative, regardless of your KSA level.

As I said in an earlier post, I am extremely fortunate to have a son-in-law that has his own machine shop and a wealth of KSA's when it comes to motorcycles and fabricating. I would not have gone near the extent I have if it weren't for him and his shop, to which I have complete access. That, and the long upstate NY winters which allow me at least five months of non-riding weather to do all the work. The more I thought about my bike and the things that I needed/wanted to do just sitting there for five months, the more creative I got with my plans.

I'm learning as I go, and loving every minute of it.