Nightster Winter Makeover
#992
08-05-2012 | 07:48 PM
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Road Master
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,167
Likes: 7
From: NY
Headlight bracket - Ozzie had an old headlight off of something. I don't know where it came from, but it had a small round stud-type lower triple clamp mounting bracket on it. I don't have a pic of that, sorry. It's round about an inch in diameter with a threaded hole in the bottom, and it's about an inch and a half tall and slightly conical in shape. It's got another lateral hole running through it near the top. It sits directly on the lower triple clamp and is held in place by a bolt that runs up through the clamp. The headlight is the stock Nightster, flipped and modified. Oz cut off the big bolt that sticks out the bottom (originally the top) and welded a small plate over the area where that bolt used to protrude from. Then he welded two pieces on that spaced to fit the mounting bracket. Really simple and clean.
Sand blasted, some HD Texture Black engine paint and it was good to go.
Sand blasted, some HD Texture Black engine paint and it was good to go.
#993
08-05-2012 | 08:08 PM
Thread Starter
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Road Master
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,167
Likes: 7
From: NY
License plate bracket - Ozzie had a friend with a water jet cut out a piece of 3/16" stainless plate in the shape of the license plate. I got it into position about where I wanted it and then bent that plate to roughly the shape of the primary cover. Two of the primary cover bolts are used to mount the bracket so I measured and marked the plate and Oz welded two small SS tangs on the back of the bracket to line up with those bolts. Then he welded on another larger piece near the top to accomodate the ignition switch. There is no plate light. My decision. We screwed around with several different options for that and in the end I didn't like any of them. In the first pic below you can see one idea to fasten the Nightster plate light LED to the small tab at the top. Nahhh. If it becomes a problem I'll deal with it later.
This was also blasted and painted HD texture black to match the engine. Solid as a rock on there. And the backside is the perfect location for the ugly NYS Inspection sticker...as soon as I get that taken care of.
This was also blasted and painted HD texture black to match the engine. Solid as a rock on there. And the backside is the perfect location for the ugly NYS Inspection sticker...as soon as I get that taken care of.
#996
08-05-2012 | 08:57 PM
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Road Master
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,167
Likes: 7
From: NY
Some observations from the first 20 miles:
1) Everything works perfectly. It starts immediately and runs smoothly. All the lights and switches work. It tracks straight with no wobbles and handles great. There were no annoying rattles or unknown noises. Everything seems good and tight.
2) It's low. Much lower than stock. You really get the idea in this picture.
It's probably an inch or two lower than stock. I'm surprised it dropped that low... we only raked it 4 degrees and chopped the rear shocks to 10 and 3/4 inches from the stock 11", but it is not a problem. I'm lovin it. The only issue is the front part of the kickstand mounting bracket that's welded to the frame does grind on hard left turns. No biggie. I'll grind that down a bit more (it does seem to hang down quite a bit more than necessary) and paint it. I didn't touch anything on right turns. But it's early yet...
3) It runs great. It's fast. Noticably faster than it was with the screaming eagle slip ons. Smooth acceleration and lots of torque. No doubt from the 2 into 1 exhaust. As I said earlier there was some decel popping at first but that mostly went away during the ride.
4) And speaking of the exhaust, the V&H Blackout 2 -1 sounds awesome. Very nice low rumble and loud, but not obnoxiously so. Crank on it and it blasts low and deep, but normal riding it just rumbles along. And because the pipe exits near the back of the rear tire, most of the noise is behind you so riding is a pleasure. No ear plugs required. I am very pleased with it.
5) The fat front tire is definitely less nimble than the narrower 19". But not in any way that's annoying or dangerous or bad. I like how it handles. It cruises down the highway beautifully and seems much more comfortable riding than the stock configuration. It tracks beautifully and turns easily. You just don't dive it into a corner the same way as the stocker, and the slower you go the more you feel that fat front end. It feels heavier but you get used to it quickly. At speed there is very little difference from stock.
6) The Mother Road Customs seat coupled with the 10 3/4" RK air shocks (zero psi) is a very comfortable combination. On the 20 mile run yesterday I didn't notice any discomfort or harshness in the ride. I did hit a couple of big pot holes and it slammed pretty hard but my *** and back didn't complain. I don't know, maybe I was too happy to notice, but I felt like I could ride for hours without a problem.
7) The small switches work flawlessly. Because they are small they are not as easy to activate on the move as the big bulky ugly HD monsters but I didn't have any problem. In reality, it's just the 2 turn signals (I don't use the horn and the starter button is easy enough when sitting still) and I am sure that with a few more miles riding it the postion of the switches will become ingrained and I won't even think about it.
8) The brakes work great. They squealed quite a bit at first but now that they've been scrubbed by the pads the noise is gone. As you can see in the above pic they've worn off the black coating where the pads rub. Not unexpected and as far as I'm concerned they still look good with the black center.
9) The small bar end mirror is perfectly functional. You don't have a panoramic rear view but it's easy to pick up and see what you need to see.
I don't remember which pics I posted yesterday and which ones I didn't so I'll just put up a few more at random.
There will be a lot more in the days ahead.
1) Everything works perfectly. It starts immediately and runs smoothly. All the lights and switches work. It tracks straight with no wobbles and handles great. There were no annoying rattles or unknown noises. Everything seems good and tight.
2) It's low. Much lower than stock. You really get the idea in this picture.
It's probably an inch or two lower than stock. I'm surprised it dropped that low... we only raked it 4 degrees and chopped the rear shocks to 10 and 3/4 inches from the stock 11", but it is not a problem. I'm lovin it. The only issue is the front part of the kickstand mounting bracket that's welded to the frame does grind on hard left turns. No biggie. I'll grind that down a bit more (it does seem to hang down quite a bit more than necessary) and paint it. I didn't touch anything on right turns. But it's early yet...
3) It runs great. It's fast. Noticably faster than it was with the screaming eagle slip ons. Smooth acceleration and lots of torque. No doubt from the 2 into 1 exhaust. As I said earlier there was some decel popping at first but that mostly went away during the ride.
4) And speaking of the exhaust, the V&H Blackout 2 -1 sounds awesome. Very nice low rumble and loud, but not obnoxiously so. Crank on it and it blasts low and deep, but normal riding it just rumbles along. And because the pipe exits near the back of the rear tire, most of the noise is behind you so riding is a pleasure. No ear plugs required. I am very pleased with it.
5) The fat front tire is definitely less nimble than the narrower 19". But not in any way that's annoying or dangerous or bad. I like how it handles. It cruises down the highway beautifully and seems much more comfortable riding than the stock configuration. It tracks beautifully and turns easily. You just don't dive it into a corner the same way as the stocker, and the slower you go the more you feel that fat front end. It feels heavier but you get used to it quickly. At speed there is very little difference from stock.
6) The Mother Road Customs seat coupled with the 10 3/4" RK air shocks (zero psi) is a very comfortable combination. On the 20 mile run yesterday I didn't notice any discomfort or harshness in the ride. I did hit a couple of big pot holes and it slammed pretty hard but my *** and back didn't complain. I don't know, maybe I was too happy to notice, but I felt like I could ride for hours without a problem.
7) The small switches work flawlessly. Because they are small they are not as easy to activate on the move as the big bulky ugly HD monsters but I didn't have any problem. In reality, it's just the 2 turn signals (I don't use the horn and the starter button is easy enough when sitting still) and I am sure that with a few more miles riding it the postion of the switches will become ingrained and I won't even think about it.
8) The brakes work great. They squealed quite a bit at first but now that they've been scrubbed by the pads the noise is gone. As you can see in the above pic they've worn off the black coating where the pads rub. Not unexpected and as far as I'm concerned they still look good with the black center.
9) The small bar end mirror is perfectly functional. You don't have a panoramic rear view but it's easy to pick up and see what you need to see.
I don't remember which pics I posted yesterday and which ones I didn't so I'll just put up a few more at random.
There will be a lot more in the days ahead.
#999
08-05-2012 | 10:43 PM
Tourer
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 288
Likes: 1
From: N. Virginia
