Putting the Sporty back under the knife

Most of you will remember when I first showed up here with a Sporty that was a bit sick, seemed to have a cold, it coughed alot and didn't run well.

Then I put her under the knife and made an 05 look more like a 55. She has done well the past couple years but I grow bored with this look and she is lookin a bit tired too. So like any old woman it is surgery time to give her the lifts and tucks where she needs them to make her my pagent queen again. No one else may like the look but I sure loved my ol girl, and figure she has more than earned some new makeup LOL.

Ok here is the deal, I have a rear fender off an older Softtail, which is 7" wide. My rear fender struts are spaced at 8". Thus the fender fits through there Quite nicely but it won't stay...HMMM Go figure.
Option ONE: split said ST fender and add 1"ish through the middle (discussed before long ago).
Option TWO: Put in 1/2" spacers on each side (mostlikely some kind of brass or chrome job) Leaves big spaces between fender and struts, which I think will look like crap but leave plenty of room to tie to. (BTW I do NOT run bags on my Sporty, might as well put a windshield on too if you are going to do that JMHO).
Option THREE: I want to put a tall (2.5-3') Sissy bar on the back. Again something to tie to and to keep any passengers that might be back there on there. Thoughts are I have to build brackets to hold sissybar anyway (yeah I have original but don't want to use that) and I plan to build the bar from 1/2" square stock (buddy is a blacksmith should be able to con him into making something a bit different). With that in mind I could make the brackets fill the gap between struts and fender and simply weld the bar to it. Keeps that section rather clean with little or no visible bracket.

I would like to keep the fender narrow as I plan to put a Cat's Eye under it with the plate (if I don't axle mount plate) and don't want an awning over my light. Also my bike is a factory 150 tire, but a 160 will fit under there now no problem, again don't want the extra gap if I can keep from it.

Ok folks Chime in what option would you pick or do you have another suggestion. Also pics of my Sport with the bobbed off rear fender currently on it is on here somewhere, maybe in my gallery.

Here check tis out.

OK, I wasn't able to to say what I wanted to because of that stupid limit, so here it is. When I changed mine, i too was looking for a ST fender to put on my bike. I wanted a wrap around so I was looking at the Fat Boy. Problem here is that the soft tail fenders are wider than the Sportsters. So what I did was I had a custom fiberglass fender made. The fender was really reasonably priced and it fit like a glove, a little tight, but it works great. I like the look of the wrap arounds way more than the bobtails. JMO Hope this helps.

I guess I am not a big fan of the huge sissy bar. A guy that I worked with bought me stock tins and he put a big sissy bar, (he has a bobber now), and I just do not like the look. You could always put a smaller back rest on it too?

only thing I dont get is going with a bigger tire is I still run a stock size, and maybe could go up one size, but you can only go so far due to the distance between the tire and belt, I know you can go alot bigger with a chain, you can pick up a 7" rear fender through custom chrome at the indy for 40 bucks. Mine is all the way to the bottom of the frame and still covers 3/4 of the tire, I'm shure on a stock frame you could wrap the hole back of the tire. Or you can spend the couple grand and get the bolt on kit and put a 300 on there, looks silly but to each there own. I like the long lean look myself. Sportys have a nice lean profile and I've seen people bulk them up with those fat boy style kits, and to me if not done right just look silly, jmo A simple Idea to solve your space problem with out shiming it, just cut the fender strutt off and re-weld it to fit, they also sell weld on fender strutts pretty cheap, or leave them off and go with a strutt, shock for a hard tail conversion, they sell chrome one's that look like shocks cheap. just some more ideas for you, good luck.

Based on the option you had listed, #3 seems like the best route, using the sissybar brackets as spacers kills two bird with one stone, and if done right would look pretty sharp too.

Thanks everyone, just got back to the electronic world today.

JB this is what makes the world go round, I would not have that much fender on a car much less the rear of my sporty thus that is not an option for me.

Chuck, Cowboy, and Panthera, Option three is what I was leaning toward although I will not be going wider than a 150 or 160. I have 160 now and ordered 150 back to stock for replacement this time. Only went 160 last time cause I was headed to NC and had dang near a slick on the rear and that is all shop had in stock to install that day LOL.

Sportsterboy, that is a bit out of my range man. I ain't choppin my frame LOL. I change my mind too much to make changes like that right now LOL.

Weekend report work done: I already have the ST fender so I went to work on it. Previous @$$hat that owned it welded up the hole for the seat nut attachment, so I went to re-open that. Discovered a nice thick layer of bondo over the entire fender. GRRRRR, anglegrinder, wirecup, & 45minutes later that wasn't an issue anylonger. Down to a nice clean fender with a welded up hole LOL.

Went and dug out (8) 1/2" Brass Spacers from the lamp repair bin at former employer. So if I decide to go option 2 I have identical spacers for all pass through points. Also my rear turns are currently spaced with Brass Lamp Parts so that will kinda tie that together too.

Cleaned the red paint off the airhorn and polished the chrome back on it.

Broke my new Crankcase Breather tube (GRRRRRRR) trying to bend the tube enough to clear my choke bracket on top of the CV. Note to the rest of the DYI guys don't try to bend those tubes without a GOOD bender, the ring will pop right off there LOL. Used the new bolts, old rings and 3/8 hose again with a brass T. Cut the lines a little tighter this time and tucked them mostly back under the airhorn (1937 style air cleaner with no element thus air horn).

Removed the exhaust, took off heat shields, and cleaned the wrap off. Painted with Grille Paint (black) seems to be holding up well.

Installed the new CV Spring and needle I just got from Ken. DANG DUDE, very little tuning was required (I may end up bumping up my Main Jet one notch but otherwise SWEET ADD) The rest of you DYI guys need to jump on this setup if you have a CV and haven't already.

Removed the Red from my coil and painted with Duplicolor Chrome paint. BLAH, just a really silver silver paint and I didn't have great luck with it like I have with their other products.

I will get pics ASAP and post them up for Was, Progress, and IS when finished.

That was the plan with option 3. Fill in the entire gap, maybe put on some half link of chain in a couple places to make tie points. Going to make the rails look really like a ledge. Don't know jury still out. All I know is the Sparto has got to Go. Too little light in the back and I keep losing those stupid lenses.

Well left the back and went to the front for a bit. Me Pops bought me a set of Z-bars for her for my B-day. Yet another piece of chrome back on my little flat black beech. I started to order the 6" but then reading it said I could keep factory cables and all with the 4". Being as Pops gave me enough for bars and not all the other goodies I opted for the 4". Now that they are installed I am pretty sure the 6" would have been fine too. So if anyone is looking at Z Bars for a 04-06 Sporty I truly believe you can go up to the 6s and not have any cable/wiring issues. More to come later.