The Transformation Page #1

Creating the Motörheadster

The transformation began in the winter of 2008/09.
As mentioned in previous posts I purchased the Gimp handle bars first a few years back. I closed out the '08 riding season with the new bars on the bike.
Once I put the Harley up on blocks for the winter, I began the process of installing, fabricating and painting all the parts and new goodies.

The 5 1/2 inch Harley-Davidson headlight bucket was the second purchase.

The 'OG' head light, with it's classic eyebrow just didn't fit the look I was trying to achieve.

Nothing says bobber / custom like a big chrome headlight. It looks great and was relatively cheap. I bought it from a guy on a local buy & sell website.

The cost $30. The bucket came with it's own bracket, bolt and wiring.














You can see the internal wiring in this picture. Feeding the wires through the bars was easy.

I hid the wiring (from the bottom hole in the bars to tie into the head light bucket) using the black plastic tubing that covered the wires when they ran from the hand controls to the light.

The next item on the wiring agenda, the coil.

Moving the coil is no big deal, all you need is new plug wires and a bracket.

I picked up the wires from the local Harley shop, used a piece of metal off my garage door (cut it into shape & ground off the rough edges) and it was done. I simply made the bracket so it would fit on the existing motor mount bracket that doubles as a choke bracket. Again, another inexpensive and easy project you can do in your garage.

The next project I tackled was the seat.














The pictures just don't do it justice. It really came out well, even though it looks a little jagged with flat edges.
Don't get me wrong I'm no Paul Cox (incredible custom leather designer & bike builder) but it works.

Again it doesn't look great in the picture but what do you expect from a do it yourself job. I wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle it but after I realized my stapler could penetrate the vinyl and the seat pan, I grabbed the pliers and started pulling out old staples.

The seat now sits about 2" lower. In this picture I put the old foam next to the new seat and you can really get an idea of just how low it is.

The biggest surprise, in spite of the fact its only about an 1 1/2 high, it's actually comfortable! No kidding! I've hit some big potholes and driven on some rough roads (not intentionally) and I was shocked that I didn't break all the teeth in my head.

I'll add more pictures, if I can find them all, but for now that's it.
Please check out the other Transformation pages.

Ace ♠