Sportster on a diet

Those of you that know me amd my habits are aware that I spend much my "free" time obsessing over "garage" projects. I usually memorialize my car/truck projects on web forums with like-minded enthusiasts but my latest time waster is neither a car or truck. It's a Harley that I traded a truck for and I don't really fit in with the Harley forum crowd, plus I have a few friends who may want to keep track of this one. So here goes, my first blog of any kind.

After trying to sell my '87 silverado for dang near a year I struck a deal with a gent down the road to trade for his 2003 Harley Sportster 883XLH. It was the ugliest dang sportster I've ever laid eyes on but as usual I only see my projects through rose-colored safety glasses. Nothing a little tweak here or there couldn't fix, right? ...RIGHT...!...I rode it straight into my garage making sure nobody cool could see me on this abomination of a machine and promptly relegated it to a frame/engine on a stand and three boxes. So here's what I started with:

This is somebody's attempt at making a "Phatster" which is a fatboy-sportster. They added a fatboy front end/wheel, dyna or "fat bob" tank, sweeping rear fender, HUGE seat, highway pegs and a bunch of other crud that just don't belong on a small bike. YUCK. Ok, so I kind of get it, it's like a big cruiser for a small person. But I am definitely not a small person so this bike's got to be reprogrammed with some MOJO. I had Jessie take a picture of me on it because I knew how silly it would look and boy was I right...just like a cow it a tu-tu riding a tricycle.