Nice, now I know why you chopped the fender where you did. I was afraid you would have some unintended overlap there with the covers.
I hated those cosmetic frame covers from the beginning. The struts are part of the frame. A well exposed part. Why do they put them on? Maybe because it's cheaper to fab up some flimsy tin pieces to cover shitty craftsmanship than it is to do some quality welding and finishing. Just my opinion. I didn't like them.
Exactly...can't believe I paid to have mine soda blasted and powder coated, then again I still have fantasies about chopping my struts off all together.
I just spent the last hour reading this thread...amazing craftsmanship! Sounds like you have a fantastic relationship with your son in law as well. My FIL and I get along very well and are both Harley guys, but I don't think we'd ever be tight enough to tackle a project like THIS!
Thanks Wakko. We get on very well. He's got a blacked out 750 Kawasaki bobber that is really what started me thinking about getting back into motorcycles about three years ago. He recently replaced the front end on it with a fat front tire and it's looking really nice. We should look pretty good going down the road together.