69 gen shovel i’ve put thousands of miles on. not without some breakdowns but i think it’s pretty dialed now.

New (yellow) light is LED which i dislike. But honestly its probably nicer on my charging system so I'll leave it.

I built a sportster engine from split cases up using 883 jugs and pistons from eBay. Built the engine by the book with torque specs and endplay measurements. Decked every surface flat, used chinese cheap gaskets. Im about 5k miles after rebuild and I was wondering if anyone else hones cylinder walls like I do.

3 stone tool from harbor freight with wd40 till theres only hone marks, no vertical scoring. Then hand polish under water using 1000 grit wet sandpaper to knock down the sharp hone edges. The hone crosshatch is still very visible but doesnt grab fingernails like it did right after the stone. Getting the cylinder completley white glove clean before oil and piston install was tough haha!

I have good compression and reused the rings that came in the kit, recently rode the bike on a 2300 mile trip through the desert to the coast. About a half quart to 3/4 quart oil consumption over 3k miles. My 98 stock EVO dyna uses more oil than that.

This is simply a boredom prompt for discussion, I am an A&P mechanic and have built a few engines over time but I have never seen anyone else do anything to the cylinders after a hone.

Is anyone know where I can find an outside primary top cover?

We have a good swap meet focused on mostly older pieces and parts but AMCA is 35 years or older so even some Evos have aged in. The weather looks great and there are still a few spots available if you have any thing good! As usual, there will be a fair amount of bikes and frames for sale. Come on out!

Next year’s focus will be shovel heads. We are looking at a dedicated display area for choppers and bobbers.

I want to keep my wagner master cylinder, but do not want to run the original banana caliper. I'm not sure what caliper I want to run yet, but am considering PM or a tokico. The 3/4" bore is too large for these. Has anyone seen a wagner style that is 5/8 bore? Or what caliper can I run with the original wagner? Thanks

Stripped the paint a while back and thinking about repainting. What do y’all think?

My father in law has been painting choppers since the 1960s, and he is helping me fix some of the stupid mistakes I made when I was young like rattlecanning over the flame paint job my first sportster came to me with.

I never liked the flames, but now 20+ years later I am finally getting ready to repaint my tins and it was cool to see them reappear again during our prep work.

Question for the painters: he suggested we spray it with an acrylic enamel, but wasn’t sure where to source paint nowadays.

Any suggestions on a good acrylic enamel black paint and where to source it?

I am based in the SF bay area California but we are painting down in SoCal

Anybody have any idea what would make an intake valve with good seals make that squeaking noise you hear?

Don’t remember what the year was but it was a fun project. My buddy here did a lot of the work as he is more familiar with the metric bikes. I was the apprentice on this one lol!

I have a 1996 sportster 1200 that I’m lengthily the forks on. I pulled the forks apart and I found that the main spring seems to be a little shorter then stock which I assumed was from west and tear. But then when I pulled the lower tube off I for the damper has 2 springs installed on it. Every where I’m looking online it seems it’s only supposed to have 1 spring on the damper tube. So I wondering if I have a lowering kit or something else going on I don’t know about. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Did anyone make it out to Wauseon this year? Lots of cool stuff there and some decent deals if you looked hard enough

1969 triumph.

I’m able to send about 6 wires up the centre post and along the back bone pretty easily.

I’m planning on drilling a hole in the bottom side of the backbone for a few wires to drop out.

Ideally I’d like another hole up near the neck for headlight.

Should I weld a bung into the backbone to maintain strength?

And I know a bunch of you have drilled an exit hole in the neck, but I’m pretty cautious of that.

Hey everybody. Thinking of picking up one of these hardtails from ocean beetle. Anybody run one of these? What are your thoughts? I’m not seeing much feedback online. Thanks

https://www.oceanbeetleusa.com/products/beetle-hardtail-kit-for-sportster

First build from about 8 boxes of parts lol

Chain weld by @hotnheavymetal + Stained glass by @sloeeyedsolder (me)

Edit to clarify safety nets put in place to protect from vibration:
I have silicone fit in the exterior zinc frame to try and keep vibration to a minimum. I have a glass buddy who did a sissy about 6 years back and used a thick rubber band border in her frame. Her glass pieces are bigger, so more susceptible to breaking and it's still going strong!

We're raffling it at a shop party, so assuming whoever wins it rides frequently, we can test out its durability and see how we can approach future orders!

Thanks for lookin’ y’all!

I’m getting close, hope to have her rideable by September, will tear down and paint this winter 😎