Finally got myself a bike. and its not a honda...

After years of searching for affordable Honda CB's I finally have a bike. Its not a Honda though. Ive always wanted to build a Cafe/tracker style bike but have never had the money, time, or a bike. Randomly my uncle called me and started telling me about a Harley Street Glide (or whatever) he test drove. He just had to have it. Keep in mind this guy already had 4 Harleys. He wanted this new HD so bad but he could not justify having 5 harleys...(I know, I know five harleys) Anyways, he offered me his very first bike. A 1988 Harley Sportster 1200. It had 23k on the clock and was a runner. I decided that if I was ever going to buy a Harley this would be the one to get. It is not a show bike, and it is pretty bare. Most of the chrome is pitted and grungy and everything needs new paint.

I love how un-clean this bike is. All of the old guys with their big shiny land yachts (big harleys) snear at it because it actually gets ridden, through rain, dust, anything.
I never grew up having some sort of weird fascination with Harley Davidson, in fact I still really want a CB series. But I do like this bike alot.

So hopefully my DoTheTon family will approve and we can have fun with it!

Photos Soon!

Here she is:

Excellent. I do not share the distaste of HDs that many cafe racers do. I secretly yearn to cafe an 883 Sportster. I will follow this build for sure.

A little inspiration for you.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/344877283936268556/

You have avoided the first pitfall of a noob..... You bought a bike that runs! You would kick yourself every time you looked at a non runner. Now you can fire it up and ride any time you want while fixing it up. Harley Cafe bikes stripped down are bad ass. Or Bob it out and enjoy it while looking for that CB. Good news is parts are plentiful and cheap for really nice quality stuff.

awesome bike cant wait to see where you go with it. I bought a non runner on a budget and spent 2 years riding my scooter to work dreaming of gears. You went the better route lol

HAHA! Yep, I knew that I would hate my life if I bought a bike that didn't run first. All of my friends that are building bike in town here are building choppers and bobbers. They are cool and everything but not for me. Cafe is the way to go. This is kind of what I would like my bike to look like...

Heres a video of the bike in the photo:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBHmToxVuvs

HolyRoller, that bike is sweet! The frame layout looks really close to mine. I might have to use that as inspiration.

Sweet looking for sure...but the heat and sound of that pipe might get old fast....I would consider moving it lower,or back some.

Ellwood, I completely agree with you. I would probably run straight pipes straight down to the ground. Its hard to explain, but if you look at "performance" harleys some of them have it.

On a side note Ive been having issues with my plugs fouling. I ran across this page and thought it may be of some value to otheres.
http://www.ngk.com.au/spark-plugs/technical-information/spark-plug-analysis

HolyRoller said:

I secretly yearn to cafe an 883 Sportster. I will follow this build for sure.

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dg1, why an 883? Im glad I got the 1200cc. Im not sure the 883 would have enough power to put a smile on my face.

883's can be had cheap, and can be turned into a screaming 1200 or 1250 for very few bucks as well. This one was mine until recently...

the fuel tank looks like it's from a completely different bike, just placed on so it has one to make it go. seems very odd.

HolyRoller said:

Excellent. I do not share the distaste of HDs that many cafe racers do.

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My daily ride is a 2008 Sporty that has been turned into a cafe racer.
Ive never heard a hoot from anyone bad about it.
But then all they see is my tail lights

coyote13 said:

883's can be had cheap, and can be turned into a screaming 1200 or 1250 for very few bucks as well. This one was mine until recently...

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That's it!!!!

Want.

dg1 said:

That's it!!!!

Want.

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Haha could have been yours, it was in the classifieds for MONTHS. Seems winter's a tough time to sell motos, but in the end it went to a local guy who was really digging it. I think he posted it on Dallas Craig's recently, check it out!

/threadjack

Brad, you are 100% correct. My cousin (who is NOT mechanically inclined) had the bike for about 3-4 years. About 2 years ago he discovered a gas leak from the tank. The tank was rusted badly near the petcock. Long story short, that old gas tank now sits on my deck as an ornament. The tank he bought was over priced for the quality put into it. Then he had it painted by an off duty cop who let it shoot off his work bench when painting it. Needless to say this bike is odd. Also the new tank is much taller than the old one so we had to raise the handle bars.

On a side note, Ive been going though spark plugs like it was my job. They are carbon fouled. I looked it up and apparently the insulator resistance is failing or something. On top of that I dont really know if Im running rich or lean. I got the bike warmed up, idle set, and I screwed the enrichment screw all the way in and all the way out. Didnt really make much difference.
Now for you carb people. I have a K&N reusable filter on it, and straight pipes. The Jets looks like that have been swapped out. Unless the enrichment screw head is busted, why would it still run if it was all the way in?

BTW if you haven't noticed, carbs are like witchcraft to me.

I would imagine that the jets are too large and you're running very, very rich. Would explain the plugs fouling and the enrichment screw not working. Pull the carb bowl and see if you can tell what size jets are in there, then check to see how far off they are from stock. With the stock air cleaner (and K&N filter) and drag pipes, you should only be a step or two up from stock (if even that) on both the pilot and the main.

Coyote, I dont know if this makes a difference or not but I believe the whole intake is K&N. I tried putting a stock are filter on it and it was not the right fitment.