Swing arm sportster chopper7/22/2023 I rebuilt the front end a few years back, turned the turn signal bosses off and polished the lower legs back then, so the front end is like brand new. The front end is off of my old 74 XLH, the engine of which now lives in my 85 "Fear No Evo" bike. On the plus side of this project, the frame is straight, I took it in trade for some work I did a few years back and then I got it powder coated in exchange for some work I did for somebody else. I've been saving stuff for 30 years and finally have enough to put a bike together out of left overs. Still, I expect the finished bike to be worth more than I'll have into it. And the rod bearings, main bearings and crankpin are shot, so there are some fairly extensive rebuild costs. I'm missing just enough major big pieces, clutch and cams, so that there is going to be a fair amount of expense rounding up the essential missing pieces. A good clean runner might be worth $3500 to $4500. Old XLs basket cases are worth about $1500 to $2500 these days. So does the idea of putting this pile-o-crap together make economic sense? Nope, probably not. Then, of course, there is the stuff that always needs to be replaced tires, battery, chains, brake shoes etc. So what major stuff ain't in that pile or stashed around my garage and workshop? Well, a set of cams, tappet blocks, push rods and push rod covers. I also got a pile of old Keihin carbs, maybe enough to make one good one. I also have the linkage and pedal for the rear brake and a couple of rear brake drums, although I think they are both shot. There is also a front brake wheel cylinder. Under the bench there are a couple of alloy rims and a front hub and a rear hub. Most of a transmission is sitting inside the cases. Look on the bench, there is a pile of heads and barrels and a set of crankcases. You see the frame in front of the bench, hanging on the wall is a front end. There is a Sportster there, it ain't put together yet, but it's there. Do you see it yet? Well, you ain't looking hard enough. I suppose this bike will eventually be for sale (since this story was written its been sold), so, if at some point you decide you like the looks of this project and have to have it for yourself, I'll be glad to sell it to you and you can have the build finished to your spec. I wasn't too fond of all black bikes until I rebuilt an all black 1980 for a customer, I decided I liked that bike and wanted to build one similar to it. The bike will be pretty much stock looking, because stock Sportsters look pretty cool to begin with. It is more of a "Flight of the Phoenix" type story. It is not going to be a restoration, because there ain't a motorcycle to begin with to restore. The goal is to put together a good looking, solid running, reliable bike. ![]() The idea is to chronicle the assembly of this pile-o-crap on the Internet and to offer up some how-to information on building XLs. Some of the parts are one step from the trash heap, some of the parts aren't too bad. This is the idea, I've been buying/selling/accumulating Sportsters and Sportster parts for 30 years (actually 45 years now) and I pretty much have enough bits and pieces to put an entire bike together out of the junk in my shop. The full sized version of pictures on this website can be viewed by right clicking on the picture and selecting "VIEW IMAGE", then use your browser back button to return to the webpage. I've made some changes and included some updates. Apparently then people like these pages and saw some value in them. I had intended to delete these pages and focus just on the commercial aspects of IronHeadCycle, however, the statistics indicated that these pages were frequently hit on. This web-site has been through a couple of redesigns since then and was just redesigned again in 2019. This series of pages was originally posted in late 2005 and early 2006.
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