XLF Plug

When I started building my 1980 Harley Sportster, I knew absolutely nothing about Harleys. That's when I found www.xlforum.net. It's a killer forum of Sportster fanatics who are willing to share their wealth of knowledge with you. Armed with a service manual and access to XLF, I was able to complete and troubleshoot my chop. There are some members of XLF from Idaho and I'd love to get them together for a ride. I posted a thread on XLF talking about it. Hopefully sometime soon!

Northwest Motorfest

Some cool rides from the show

Pipes, Ignition and Tool Bag

Seems like everyday I'm working on something for the chop. I got my Dyna 2Ki installed and the bike runs great. Sure enough, most of the problems I had was from the ignition. I also got my pipes all buttoned down but I really should have added another 6 inches the the 2.5" pipe. Oh well. I like how she's going for now.




I also realized my need to have tools on the bike, so I busted out the leather working tools and made a tool bag for the front. Haven't done much leather work but each project is better than the last. After I ran out of fuel the other day, I realized that my reserve on my petcock isn't functioning for whatever reason so I came home and really quickly made a fuel sling. It's ugly but at least it works for now.

New Fire for the Chop

Nothing but problem! well not completely. Even with the new exhaust, I'm still having the same problems with the bike loosing its juice throughout the RPM range. About the only thing I haven't changed out is the coil and ignition. In 1980, the XLH came stock with a factory electronic ignition. It's now been on the bike for 30 years and I know for a fact the wire on the module are kind of stripped, so I'm hoping that it's shorting and causing my problem.

Todd suggested the Dyna 2000 ip and mini coil. It's on its way! Hopefully this is the ticket.

Results to come!

24 Years Old and Free

Not bad for a free old dirt bike. People give up on old bikes all the time as soon as they have any problems. The PO on this one couldn't start it for a couple years so he gave it to me. I guess it never occurred to him to pull the carb and clean it then add a fuel filter. Started up after a few kicks and runs awesome.

Volumetric Efficiency

After some good advice on exhaust from Adam and Todd at Pro Power Performance, I've started to learn about volumetric efficiency and realized that my old exhaust was holding my bike back. Already had some 1.75" straight pipe but I went to Boise Muffler and those guys sold me some U bends as well as expanded some pieces for me. I tacked my pieces together then took a crack at making a merge collector that is running into a 2.5" pipe. I hope this really helps the bike out. I like the race look of the exhaust and over all think it really helps the looks of the bike. I could stitch it together with my MIG but since I'm not wrapping it, I'm taking to a guy to TIG it up tomorrow.

Note: yes the 2.5" is sagging but that will be fixed when I mount it.

Day at the show and swap

Spent Saturday down at Pro Power Performance in Boise. They had a ride in bike show and swap meet. Sold some stuff, bought some stuff and had a good day. Picked up a 21" front wheel for the XS650 project for $60!

She's Done!

The sporty is running and registered! Finished all the wiring and wrapped the pipes. I was dumbfounded that is started right up. It rides really well and at first I thought I had a problem with oil delivery but after priming the oil pump a few times and checking the flow I got her going. Since the wrap is new, it smokes like crazy but that should only last about a week.

See a couple more pics by clicking below

Biker Movies

The "THIS" channel played three classic biker movies back to back last night. I wanted to watch all three but only caught one. I watched "Glory Stompers". Cool movie with some awesome examples of 6 choppers.

If your interested in looking up the other 2, they are "Hells Belles" and "Hell Drivers".

Rockin the Stache

I don't know...thought it would be a good idea...

1965 Honda Trail 90

Picked up this little scoot the other day for a friend. Shes doesn't ride but wants to and wanted a cheap scooter. These trail 90's are great. They're abundant, cheap, and don't have a clutch so they're also perfect for beginners.

Electrical on the Harley

Been making a ton of progress on the wiring. I ordered a bunch of cloth covered wire and got to it. I don't want to hide my wiring. Everyone knows it's there, it's nice cloth covered wire and I want it to be easy to access.

Progress on the XS650

Made some progress on the front end. After getting the front end on and getting the wheel to the proper height, I marked the legs where I wanted to cut them. (Note, I added an extra 1.5" to the front end which will put the bike slightly off level but give me a tad more clearance as well as compensating for the weight that will be on the forks with a rider and the weight of the motor)

XS650 in Harley Frame Build

So, I just realized that I don't have a forum to post this build in. I love xlforum.com but it's only for Harleys and the guys at Jockey Journal have decided that they only care about american and brit bikes. So It's just getting posted for my enjoyment here I guess.

Harley Wall Art

Sometimes you have to take a break and relax. This is what I did today. Rather than work on the bike, I made a little piece of art out of an old tank I had.

My old chopper at Utilikilts

Did a Google search today for "Utilikilts Chopper" and sure enough a picture of my bike came up on Flickr at the UK showroom. That was a weird sale for me. The guy shows up to look at the bike and steps out of his truck wearing a kilt and storm trooper boots. First thing he does is walk over to the bike, button his kilt in the middle and hop on the bike to roll it out of the garage. I had to stop him there. I was like "dude, what are you doing? Do you want to take it for a test ride?" He said yeah and was suprised that I wanted cash in hand before I let him scream around my neighborhood on that beast. So I got the cash from him and he trys to kick it over a few times. After watching him do it all wrong for a few minutes I stepped up and showed him how to kickstart a bike. Strange dude, slightly strange product.

Two of my Previous Bikes

My first love is Kawasaki KZ650's. I've had 3 and this was my favorite. They're cheap, run great and are fun to ride.

















This is a 1965 Harley XLCH. I traded a roller for it. I was getting ready to move to Idaho and wanted to get rid of my roller. A guy approached me with this bike and wanted to trade. The bike was cool and made you feel like a real bad ass to ride but ultimately I didn't feel right riding something I didn't build. I sold it after a couple weeks and made some cold hard cash. The guy who bought it happened to be the owner of Utilikilts. It's now sitting in his store in Seattle.

The Next Project

I'm not even done with my Harley but I had the opportunity to trade my AR-15 for a Yamaha XS650. The guy I traded with was the former owner of Beasleys Old Skool Bobbers and Choppers out of Garden City. Out of the deal, he got an AR-15 and I got an XS650 motor (rebuilt), hardtail frame, axels, fender, head and tail light, seats, brackets, exhaust, bars, tank and a bunch of other stuff.

First thing I need is a rear wheel so I can set up my chainline and make my motor mounts. Next is a front end. I have a couple options. I would love to go cheap and Vintage Cycles on Chinden is willing to give me a dirt bike front end with triple trees and wheel for $75 plus a box of bike parts I'm never going to use. I would rather not do business with them since they seem to act like jackasses most of the time, but it is my cheapest option. If I go with the dirt bike front end, It will give me a chance to use my lathe to spin up a 1" stem and weld it into the dirt bike triple tree. I recently made about $400 selling some crap on ebay so that's all I'm going to use to finish the bike. Shouldn't be a problem. Really all I'm looking at is a front end $75, rear wheel $50 and a stock wiring harness and carbs. Add in all the small things and I don't think I'll have a problem staying below $400.


















At the junk yard
If you got a rear harley wheel you want to sell me, let me know.

About my Bike

So this sucker started life as a 1980 Harley Sportster XLH. I picked it up in Northern Washington for $1700. I welded on a hardtail. I took pictures of the whole build and probably have a couple hundred pics. The tank is an old sporty tank that I cut the bottom out of and mounted frisco style. I made the bars, seat, all the mounts, taillight, license plate mount, all the small fabbed crap. I'm running road rashed and chipping Jaybrake foward controls that I made mounts for. Just finished up the pipes and have a used S&S Super E on the way. The list of things till she's finished is down to 6 things. While I'm only posting a couple pics here, you can see the whole build with all the pics on the XLForum HERE.

Here she was the day I brought here home:

Here's how she's sitting now:

Well, this should just be the beginning. I'll not only post about my bike, but also about projects, new tools, your projects, events or whatever. Feel free to comment!