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I agree with Springer. Bottom line it is YOUR bike. Do what serves YOUR interests, not other people's.
For one, I dont believe that these bikes should be brought back to stock. Hell, the dealer that sold me my 1983 FXRT NEW in June of 1983 sold me a bike that had a LOT of DEALER INSTALLED mods installed on it before it hit the pavement for the first time in its life.
He convinced me (rightfully I may add) to : ADD a Jag oil cooler, Bleep-can the monstrous air cleaner and go to a sleek hi flow number, reroute the whole oil vapor breathing system, isolate the inner primary oil from the rest of the motor, Get rid of the stock pipes and the ugly crossover...install good old Cycle Shack slash cut with baffles.(The Super Trapps you have are fine, BTW) This is the bare minimum you want to do. These mods are modest cost wise really and add a lot to the drivablity of the bike and a significant power gain. Adding a BIG INCH engine is another, better way to go. Just make sure you modify the swing arm internals to Sta Bo or CCE (Custom Cycle Engineering).
LET ME REPHRASE THAT. The very first thing you should do is replace all the swing arm internals and motor mounts and stabilizers with heavy duty items. V Thunder, Sta Bo, CCE spherical bearing and complete pivot shaft kit.
Good advice is to replace EVERYTHING in the swing arm pivot area. ALL of it. Go strong and for minimum flex. This was a weak point on the FXR frame. Once the that is corrected, you are on the way to bring out the incredible qualities of the FXR.
If you have an FXRT with INTACT air system that does not LEAK, a simple fork brace by CCE (Beautiful piece) will work wonders on that skinny 35mm set up. You dont HAVE to junk it.
If the air system is no good, then look for a complete front end from a DYNA sport model. Not sure what years. Rare and hard to find, but not too expensive. 39mm narrow glide with ADJUSTABLE rebound or compression, I forget which. It is supposed to be a great fix with much better brakes too. The brakes on early FXR's were dismal. Need help.
Are you tall? If so the frame will shine for you. if you are vertically challenged the function of the frame takes a beating. Shortening the shock length significantly hurts handling. lowering an FXR defeats its purpose. The FXR's purpose is to OUT HANDLE all other Harley frames. By maintaining proper shock length of 13 to 13.5 inches you retain a big LEAN ANGLE and excellent ground clearance for versatility (curb jumping etc). A 13 to 13.5 inch shock lenght gives you plenty TRAVEL in your suspension for it to do its thing.
The worse thing you can do is lower ONLY the rear shocks. If you MUST lower the bike to ride it safely, make sure you lower the front end the same amount. Even stock from the factory the frame is not plumb with the road. It sits a bit low in the back which actually changes your effective rake.
Rake at the neck is 30 to 31 degrees. That rake is only realized on the road when the frame is parallel to the road with you sitting on the bike! I bought shocks .5 inch LONGER than stock. the result was MUCH improved handling, quicker steering, easier parking lot speed maneuvering, better high speed stability, better function from the forks.
You can go 13" or 12.00" at the absolute shortest in shock length. Just adjust the height of the front end to keep the frame rails on an even keel.
Taking a stock FXR and just tweaking it is a lot of fun. We are not talking major surgery or cutting or welding here. Just tuning the geometry. The results are absolutely fantastic.
Tank: Too small. Get a bigger tank and a Pingle hi flow petcock
Headlight: Upgrade that too. There are threads on this. i just added PIIA lights. NOT the ones for 400 bucks made for motorcycles. The same ones for cars are about 150 bucks. PM Pilgrim here for the model #. He was the one who told me.
Motor: The sky is the limit. 124 ci is perfect!
Ignition: Daytona Twin Tec in SINGLE FIRE. Try raising the rev limit to 6400. My engines do fine and make good power up here. The shift points are now better for doing serious boogying. Just because the rev limit is 6400 does not mean you will use that every shift. But trust me, it is real nice to have it available when you want/need it.
Rubber: STAY AWAY FROM 21 INCH FRONT WHEELS!!! They look cool, but are better off on a bicycle rather than a performance motorcycle. Handling is terrible with these. The stock 19 inch is fine. use Avon matched tires front and back. 100 or even a 110 (can be done) UP FRONT AND a 140 to a 160 in the back, You may have to go with spacers and offset sprockets to fit the wider 16 inch rears. Thats OK. Remember, you are not cutting or welding.
An 18 or a 17 inch front is fine too. The 19 is an easier size because it is stock.
Replacing the rear swing arm with a stronger new one might be a good idea if you are going big inch in the motor dept.
If you are tall, do the forward foot controls...MUCH more comfortable than mids. Remember, you have choices now of 2 or 3 inches MORE extended forward on the foot controls. Nice for me being 6' 4"
This is what i would call a basic rebuild. By the time you are done you will have much more money invested in your bike than you could sell it for. BUT, you have something very special. You have a bike with almost no compromises. it is set up exactly for you and your ergos and riding style.
Read this rebuild I am doing of a 26 year old Motorcycle. i will have a HUGE dollar investment in it. From a strictly financial standpoint it would make MUCH more sense for me to buy of finance a brand new or almost new Road Glide. But that is NOT what i wanted to ride.
Before you decide to REBUILD, make sure you are doing it for all the right reasons:
1) It is a labor of love
2) SOMETHING special that NO ONE else has
3) 100% custom to YOU and your needs
4) Refusal to settle for a cookie cutter bike. The rebuild you would do on an FXR is way more than paint and chrome
5) You are using the FXR platform because you are COMMITTED to performance first and looks second. There are much better venues for poser bikes. An FXR is about kicking some ass. You will run circles around any Borget or Orange county chopper. FXR's are for driving hard and a true love of CURVES. Life is more than a straight line.
If you are scraping something on a turn/curve on a 6.5 inch ground clearance FXR, well then my friend, you are really having some fun!!!
While we are on the subject of chrome. Wait until i post up pix of my chromed INNER AND OUTER primaries on my FXRT Stunning.
Dont forget that anodizing and powder coating are other means of covering boring bare aluminum. If it needs to be polished constantly and stains easily (hello! bare aluminum!), then coat it with SOMETHING!
I re read your post. it seems you are anti chrome. Thats fine. In that case I would definitely powder coat. Powder coating is the NEW CHROME, LOL. Seriously, powder coating is 100 times more practical than chrome. Tough stuff. Lasts practically a lifetime. And it LOOKS so good these days.
I think you sound like you know what you want and are on the right track. That is all up to you.
I can offer through 26 years of experience, advice on weak areas on an FXR that are easily addressed these days by aftermarket parts. ALL of my four Harleys are FXR's
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FXR forever! Word
Last edited by 1M$man : 11-07-2009 at 02:02 PM.
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