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

gearhead231 said:
So Im making an attempt to save the ignition module. I cant afford a new one since they are 300 dollars. I taped off all of the wiring as best as I could. I ordered a new petcock and fuel hose. Unfortunately for me my tank is aftermarket so it does not use OEM Harley fittings. After searching for a 3/8th NPT LEFT FACING fitting for hours, I gave up and bought a right facing fitting. Im hoping that gravity and vacuum will be on my side. At least till I get a new tank.







Since my girlfriend bought me the new battery I thought it would only be fair if she was there for the first start up. That and I need someone to put me out if I go up in flames again.

Get rid of that tank (I think it's a Mustang) Get a 3.3 tank, a Pingel petcock, dump that Carb. for a Mikuni 42 and a Screamin Eagle ign. module. this will make the 1200 run pretty well. Most people think mine is a 1200 by the way it runs (even before I had the Buell heads put on). Get a manual. These are extremely easy bikes to work on and you tube has many videos to show you how they work. You'll love it once it's sorted. They aren't the best at anything, but they do everything pretty well and once sorted. Don't listen to the haters, I have owned dozens of bikes and own three now. I always have a Sportster in the garage, always. They are dependable and a solid ride. I own an Aprilia and a Triumph, and have recently sold two Yamaha's, but I always have at least one Sportster. Once you get this thing right, there is just something about them, like my Triumph, I think it's just a proper motorcycle. That solid lump just gives you the feeling there is something of substance under you.... Get that beast together and ride the wheels off it.....

By the way, I didn't see you were a minimum wage earner, so this might take you a little time, but if you want to be in the bike game, you'll need to earn more $. You do have a great start there. Cool thing about Sportsters is there is literally thousands of ways to modify them. RYCA has a great Café kit for them, and used parts are plentiful and cheap. I'll look in my garage and see if I have anything you can use. I've sold most stuff, but maybe have something, let me check....
 
Yeah the tank is going to be the first thing to go. Like you mentioned, I dont make much money. Im still in college, have limited resources and time.

All of those mods sound great, but itll take me time to afford that stuff. Right now I just need to running 100% again.
 
SHE LIVES! I got it fired up and have taken it out on multiple rides.

During my investigation/repair I found out that both of the mounts for the battery tray are broken off. Next order of business is to either weld those tabs back on or buy a new oil tank with them already attached.
 
I may have a few things I could donate as well, old set of drag bars and a fork brace come to mind if you're interested.
 
So I was at the bar tonight. A couple friends and I had a few drinks. We started walking home and a see this super clean Honda CB 550 sitting infront of one of the bars. The owner starts walking out so I try to talk to him about it. I was asking him some questions about his setup and what not. The guy was a huge dick, and Im pretty sure he just bought it with the clubman bars. I was excited to see something like that in Iowa City...Guess it wasn't genuine....
 
gearhead231 said:
So I was at the bar tonight. A couple friends and I had a few drinks. We started walking home and a see this super clean Honda CB 550 sitting infront of one of the bars. The owner starts walking out so I try to talk to him about it. I was asking him some questions about his setup and what not. The guy was a huge dick, and Im pretty sure he just bought it with the clubman bars. I was excited to see something like that in Iowa City...Guess it wasn't genuine....

Shoulda kicked him in the balls and took his bike for a spin
 
It's been a while since I've been here. Gearhead, there's a place called CV Performance (http://www.cv-performance.com/tuners-kits/). I know the quality of this is good. It was one of the first things I did to my Sportster.

Also, I was looking at the photo with the air cleaner lid off. I noticed you have standard bolts where the "breather bolts" should go. Do you have crankcase breathing set up differently?

I bought my Sportster back in January and sent my little Suzuki off to live with someone else. The Sportster has been an absolute joy. And, I've learned a lot in that time too. Both about the bike and myself.
Since this is a bike that can be ridden for distance, my initial plan to do a cafe style bike gave way to a riding position I can actually be comfortable on for hours at a time.

Good luck with the carb kit. The stock CV really isn't a bad carb. And tuning parts are easy to find, as is EVERTHING Harley!
 
gearhead231 said:
Has anyone had any experience with these? http://www.jpcycles.com/product/4000294

As long as you aren't expecting a 30 h.p. gain, they're pretty good. Really all it does is take some of the factory leanness out of the stock EPA carb. Which is actually a very god thing. It helps get rid of that back fart that most Harley's have. I hate taking off from a light only to have the thing fart through the carb. hesitate then take off. I remedy that with a Mikuni carb. but this kit is cheap and works pretty well to clean things up. You don't see any huge gains in anything, but it does make the bike more enjoyable to ride. There are a lot of guys who say the CV carb. is superior to others when sorted correctly. I spent a summer going through one and even though I got it to work pretty well, it didn't hold a candle to the HSR42, but... I'm by far no genius and the CV kit is far and away better than a stock CV, and in my opinion worth the $30. As long as you understand it just cleans things up and doesn't turn your ride into a superbike.....
 
I appreciate all of the input! I was looking at that kit because my bike is still running rich. Im not looking for any HP gains. Im looking for reliability and smooth power. I have to idle my bike a lot. Iowa City is not known for smooth flowing traffic. So Im thinking either my jets are too big which I think is unlikely or my choke cable is defective....or both.

Mike: The crankcase breather is now going through a small pod filter. It was like that when I bought it. You seem to know a lot more about these old Sportys than I do. Was that a bad decision on the PO's part?

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE:

I HATE the tank I have on the bike now. The PO had zero F*cks when he put it on...Come to think about it the PO didnt really care about anything at all. Anyways, I want to install either some tracker style bars or some cafe bars (clip ons or clubmans) so I need a skinnier tank. I really do like the stock sportster tanks. I keep coming across these "king" tanks which have larger fuel capacity. Are these "king" tanks wider oor what?

And secondly, does anyone have any recommendations on inexpensive seats?
 
gearhead231 said:
Mike: The crankcase breather is now going through a small pod filter. It was like that when I bought it. You seem to know a lot more about these old Sportys than I do. Was that a bad decision on the PO's part?

ON A DIFFERENT NOTE:

I HATE the tank I have on the bike now. The PO had zero F*cks when he put it on...Come to think about it the PO didnt really care about anything at all. Anyways, I want to install either some tracker style bars or some cafe bars (clip ons or clubmans) so I need a skinnier tank. I really do like the stock sportster tanks. I keep coming across these "king" tanks which have larger fuel capacity. Are these "king" tanks wider oor what?

And secondly, does anyone have any recommendations on inexpensive seats?
Typically, you'll get some oil misting out of the breather bolts into the air filter. The bolts are simply hollow bolts that attach the air cleaner back plate to the heads. Either the PO didn't know that or figured he could stop the oil coming into the air filter housing by using solid bolts. Bad move, without rigging up an alternate path. It'll just start blowing gaskets out and leaking somewhere else. The most common method is to use banjo bolts and attach hoses to a small filter element under the bike. Another method is to drill and tap the cam chest housing, and run a hose under the bike with a small filter.

Your tank is simply the wrong year for the bike. It looks like its from an old ironhead sportster. The bung is supposed to be on the opposite side for your year bike. Then the peckcock won't be jammed up gainst the carb top. This is what the stock tank looks like (with Mustang solo seat) and Biltwell Tracker bars.
harley7.jpg


On seats, you can probably find something used on one of the HD forums. Cheap is a relative term tho. A place called Sick Saddles is less money for a custom seat, that some of the more popular companies such as LePera or Mustang. Biltwell has some fairly inexpensive seats too. I bought their so called "Cafe seat" and it was sitiin' on a plank.
 
Mike, I appreciate your quick responses. I still cant decide which bars I want.

Nick your bike looks good. How does it sound with that can on it? How do you like your clip ons? and is your rear end lifted?
 
Bars and risers are easy to change. Probably the easiest to swap bars of any bike out there. You have to be honest with yourself about what kind of riding you do. If you're gonna do short snappy rides, then you can get away with something that's not really comfortable, but looks ultra bitch!n. If you wanna do long distance rides, then bars that won't hurt you will be better.
Flanders makes a bunch of really cool bars, I kinda like the "Low Cafe" and the Bad Boy. Burly has clubmans, Biltwell has a few options. There are hundreds to choose from. Maybe you could save some money and just change risers and keep the drag bar. Your risers are pretty tall
 
Never understood the point of a tank lift on a cafe, but to each his own I guess? Pretty sure that pipe is a D&D Bobcat, sound good and costs $$$
 
I have drag bars from my KZ that you can have and some cruiser bars that were on my KZ when I bought it. They are like 6" rise maybe? You can cut 'em up and weld something together.


EDIT: forgot your bike actually has drag bars on it now.
 
coyote13 said:
Never understood the point of a tank lift on a cafe, but to each his own I guess? Pretty sure that pipe is a D&D Bobcat, sound good and costs $$$

Yeah, I'm with ya on the tank lift. But, that's one of the things that makes dinkin" with bikes so great. We can do 'em up anyway we like. If they were all the same, it would be boring!

I have a question for that exhaust for the owner of the bike....
How's is run? I have a 2 into 1 has makes the motor really soft in the lower RPMs. Once up past 3000rpm, it's like a light switch and just comes alive. Also, I get about 40mpg around town with the 2 into 1, and about 44 with the SE 2-2. I'm wondering if it is the nature of the beast for a 2-1 header to be that way.
 
Mike Lawless said:
Yeah, I'm with ya on the tank lift. But, that's one of the things that makes dinkin" with bikes so great. We can do 'em up anyway we like. If they were all the same, it would be boring!

I have a question for that exhaust for the owner of the bike....
How's is run? I have a 2 into 1 has makes the motor really soft in the lower RPMs. Once up past 3000rpm, it's like a light switch and just comes alive. Also, I get about 40mpg around town with the 2 into 1, and about 44 with the SE 2-2. I'm wondering if it is the nature of the beast for a 2-1 header to be that way.


To be Honest (and I know this is odd as its my bike) I am constantly in 2 minds about the tank lift. Sometimes I really like it and other times I hate it. It really depends on the angle you view the bike from.

Yes it is a D+D Bobcat. I like the sound it makes; still loud and with a good note but not obnoxious like a V+H straight pipe setup that everyone else seems to run. If you get on the throttle it gets nice and loud.

I get around 210kms per tank and mine is a Carby EVO 883 jetted to suit. I'm not sure if that is good or bad but the bike runs very well and is responsive through the rev range so I don't complain. I can't speak for a 1200.

On an injected sporty motor I am sure you could get better economy from it.
 
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