Chasing parts...

Collecting parts is going to be the hardest part of this project. I'm all about the deals mostly on Craigslist and Ebay which saves money but also takes time. The first week I was able to find a take-off sportster front end on Craigslist and I just happened to know the guy because he built me a transmission a few weeks back. So we struck a deal, I traded my ugly old fatboy front end and big seat plus $100 for nearly new forks, trees, headlight, axle and speedometer. Not too shabby considering that's about $1K in crap from the dealer. I also picked up a stock rear fender from EBAY for $36 plus shipping last week. Nice little score considering most go for at least $100. I used a program called snipeswiper for the first time which proxy bid for me at the last minute.

It took another three weeks to find a matching front wheel because they just can't be found and my new forks are for a 1" axle...meaning I had to use a later front wheel. Found one in Oklahoma City from an '05 Dyna with tire for $100. Luckily my buddy Kenny runs through there weekly so he picked it up for me. Last weekend I did this little project with the wheels:

Hopefully I don't regret using rattle-cans on these. I spent alot of time on prep and I am capable of spraying auto paint but it would have been another pretty good investment in materials. The duplicolor wheel paint I used gets some really good reviews so we'll see. I can always have them blasted and painted or coated if I'm not happy.

I took them to get mounted back on the tires today. My back tire is nearly brand new and the one that came with the front wheel has some good life left in it. I got lucky and they are both identical HD Dunlops. I stopped by the dealer and spent $46 on a small handfull of nuts and bolts, mostly for the front end. It was really tricky because the year of the front end is unknown so the parts counter guy had to help me look at every possible year till we found the right one.

This is a milestone because I am closer to getting the bike back to "roller" status. I just have to paint the front forks/trees and assemble the front end and mount the rear wheel and fender. So I'll probably be back when that's done, just have to remember to take lots of pics!

ALMOST FORGOT! Scored a HD service manual for $8 today from some web service. I downloaded it then printed and found the perfect heavy duty binder. So HD can take their $60 manual and go have a bonfire for all I care. It also came with the bonus electrical section complete with all the wiring diagrams. All of the maintenance, assembly procedures and specifications are in the manual with detailed photos and blow-ups. ROCK!

So I'll be back when the front end and wheels are on. Sorry for the crappy formatting I did used paragraphs but they don't post like that for some reason?