Harley Ohlins shock upgrade & ride report

[sinfull]

Aint done a ride report for a while so thought i'd Photo document this one and write one up, as well as giving CKT a bit of a plug while i was at it !

As some may know i've had this FXR since Xmas last year (yes i spoil myself) and pretty much done nothing to it, apart from a set of forwards and a bit of maint.

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The old Koni's that it wore were getting tired and the bike was chattering under brakes, bagging out quite a bit loaded up with gear !
A mate of mine had purchased an old set of progressive shocks cheap off TM a while back and were sitting in his shed, so i borrowed them to try out while i decided what to do about rebuilding or replacing the Konis

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Well i soon found out why they were cheap lol, one of them started leaking oil straight away and they felt like shit !
Get into a sweeper at anything over the speed limit and it felt like it wanted to buck me off !
To the point i was thinking the clevebloks might be rooted as well so started investigating upgrade for the swingarm. Turns out you can get an upgrade kit that replaces the rubber clevebloks with Spherical bearings which gives you a far more solid ride (will look into this some more i think)

But back to my arse and the fact it was near draggin on the ground

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I had emailed Robert Taylor of CKT in New plymouth a week or so back, inquiring as to what shocks He/Ohlins had that might fit the FXR, we exchanged a few emails re some stock that was arriving in the next week or so and talked about price etc.
The Harley shocks that Ohlins put out are not much more expensive than the next best, (ok havn't tried the Hagons but a few mates have and do rave about em) , so i had to decide whether i'd save a couple hundy and go Hagon or run with someone i know would back up what he says, wasn't a hard choice really !

So plans were made to go and visit Robert the next week, no he doesn't send them to you, he wants the bike at his workshop so the guys can set the shocks up for the bike.


For someone that doesn't know what CKT are about, it means the shocks were fitted a few times while they changed shim stacks internally to optimise the way the shock works, then fitted and checked it over and over again untill they/you are happy with the way they're working

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Bloody cool workshop there Robert, wish my garage looked like this lol

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Ok so the stacks were changed a couple of times to get the optimum feel and we went with the long eyes to the full length, which are ten mm longer than the progressives that were on it, they even managed to gain another 4 mm internally !
There was plenty to play with there as it sat quite low in the rear !

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A quick test ride around his yard and then i took it for a squirt for 20 min up the highway, felt very firm but thats the way i wanted it, as i do carry a bit of shit in the saddle bags and are often two up (think kitchen sink)

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After the bill was sorted, Robert built me another coffee and we had a yarn about the bike and the fact i'd thrown some emulators in it the days leading up to my visit, he showed me a few tricks that he thought i should know about the front end, pulling out displays to help explain it to a layman ! Bounced on the front end a few times showing me a problem i will have to rectify and that being that the rebound was all up the shit (and how to go about rectifying it)
You cant buy that sort of service on the nett !! Add the fact that his parting comment was "anytime you feel you want to change the ride of the bike to bring it on up and he'll sort it for me" At no additional cost (within reason of course, not that that was said but hey, i aint unreasonable)


So there i was in Taranaki for the night on the piss with Dallas and Tarns talking shit and planning the next days ride !
The choices are endless for roads to travel up that way, but it didn't take long to decide on one that will give them new shocks and me everything a road can throw at ya !
160 odd k of tight twisties, straights, some nice sweepers, 3 cool saddles, a gorge or two, slips, 15 k of corrogated gravel, sheep, cattle, and lets not forget the shit they leave behind !

Forget the name of the road now lol nah how can it be forgotten !

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It is indeed a great road to test a new set of shocks, with coming across all i described above somewhere on the road

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The Issues with the front were sure as hell noticed this day, was a number of occasions i went into a sweeper and dropped into a depression in the road, then felt the front bounce out of it way ahead of the rear, you can see how easy set up could throw a lesser man out of controll hehe !

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The ride through the gravel was a plod but thats me lol, could have tried some MX action but i was enjoying the slow cruise and the view ! I will say i felt every corrogation lol but who wouldn't !

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Well that was sure as hell a fun ride and yes Robert, i tested them shocks out to the max ! Wasn't nannering it at all !
The day before, it would have been a nightmare ride through there with the bike wollowing out of controll and quite possibly throwing me off along the way if i had tried it at that pace !

The next bit of the ride was from Tauramanui to Turangi, good upkept roads that have a mix of big long sweepers that seemed to go on forever back onto themselves, then sweep back the other way. Fucking cool they were, the sprotbike boys would probably test out their kneedowns on these roads, Me , i was testing out my ground clearances lol !

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I had thought about doing National park and the Paraparas back into wanganui, but alas something had to happen and the saddlebags tore open on one side !
Well seeing i carry so much shit and heavy shit like a tool roll and now a spare set of shocks (dont mention gumboots lol Why i brought them i'll never friggin know was thinking slippers i guess seeing the riding boots aint too comfy off the bike)
So anyway, all of a sudden i had a shitload of wieght on one side and nothing on the other, grrrr so much for barreling through the Para's

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So SH1 it was, won't be all that bad i thought, nice bit of road through the dessert and stop in Ohingaiti and see if leatherworks was still there to get the bags fixed, then i'd take the vinegar hill route home through ashurst

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How wrong can one be ???? Friggin road works every ten bloody k with lights and lollie pop men everybloody where ! Dohhh !
Shit happens and i got over it ! (when i got to Ohingaiti and my hands on a beer !)

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Nobody over at leather works so had a feed at the pub and another beer lol
Thinking back the feed might have been a bad idea cause i just wanted to curl up and have a lie down by the time i got to vinegar hill lol (old yes)

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The K's between stops were starting to get shorter and shorter by this stage haha been a while since a done a thousand ks i can tell ya !
Couldn't even be arsed taking the camera out at Ashurst, but needed a sugar fix to get me home, so bourbon and coke it was ! Then another in shannon and a quick catchup with a couple of the lads there !
Home for a wake up shower before heading down to the clubrooms for a few with the guys !

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Impressions of the shocks ? Absolutely brilliant ! Rebuildable and i quite like the look !

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Service ? Friggin mint !!! Ya can't beat local guys telling ya to come back anytime if you want to change anything !

The Ride ?? Goes without saying really !

To the point where the next day i joined in for a poker run, did 5 k an hour riding the clutch for 2 or 3 k's to get out of town and sat in a group of 90 odd bikes doing 80 to a hundy ks for 15 minutes, got to the stretch coming up to my place and thought faaack i am over this ride already, pulled off and put the bike away !
Nothing to do with the fact i had pretty much scrubbed the last of any tread left on the tyre and was almost on a slick when i saw a bit of rain coming, not at all !!!! No way !!! Ahh Uhhh !

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Though i did cop a bit of shit for it later that night, back at Twin Cam !

[White trash]

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_3nZ66-Z8vBs/TO...0/DSC06011.JPG

Bwahahahaha, look at this fucken badass. Is he auditioning for a role in Sons of Anarchy or what?

[munster]

Great write up. Thanks for sharing.

[BIG DOUG]

Been running ohlins on my harleys since 2002,I think robert gets quite surprised how many ohlins he has fitted to harleys,now a friend of mine has just put an ohlins fr end,brembo monobloc calipers metal matrix disc's(1200.00 a pop) and bst carbon fibre wheels on his wideglide and gets his license back next week and he hasn't even seen the bike yet so should be a good surprise.

[twinbruva]

I'd second that; good job.

[Owl]

:shit:

You didn't do the Paraparas?:facepalm:

[sinfull]

Thought i'd carry the saga on in here as a bit of a blog !

As posted above i have been spending a bit of $ on the ride, to get the handling of the FXR to where I want it, As most who have ridden an HD at any sort of pace would know, they can scare ya if things have gotten baggy in the suspension and swing arm areas.
So i have been working my way around the bike, with the above visit to CKT for a set of Ohlins for the rear and playing with the front end .
And plans are underway to replace the old rubber swingarm bushes with spherical bearings to take out any movement in this area.

As some might know i'm a bit of a track day junkie and for some unknown reason the Mothers MC race meet has been on my mind since i last attended and raced on the speed triple.

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So of course i intend to race the HD in the HD races and have me some fun swapping chrome with a few i know who do these races !

So set up is important, as is practise and as there was a Motott coming up on the weekend, i needed to get as much done last week as i could, thinking there might be a chance to get out on track and test things out !

The front now has emulators in the forks to allow some controll over the oil flow for compression dampening and while at CKT i had quite an in depth discussion with Robert about the science of it all (bloody knowledgable and helpfull that man is).
Now someone at some stage had put progressive springs in the forks, which were great in their day prior to being able to controll things a bit more with emulators and the like, but they do make it hard to use the emulators they way they are designed, so it could be that a new set of fork springs are needed for the future !

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But right now it was a priority to get the sag right and get some rebound dampening happening as it was leaping out in the front way ahead of the rear, which entailed cutting down the preload packers and trying that, (as the emulators packed things up by 14mm extra and does effect rebound) if this still doesn't get the rebound i want, a thicker oil may be the shot (and adjust the emulators to suit a heavier oil) all trial and error stuff so won't happen overnight ! Good thing Mothers day aint till feb/march.

But first things first and after my little jaunt to CKT there was very little left of my rear tyre, so off with the wheel to get a new tyre fitted !

And Bugger

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Shit happens, so went out and sourced a new spocket 48 tooth which is 2 more than i had, sweet as gearing up a tad wont hurt, (and chain, i mean why wouldn't ya)
The HDs front sprocket is a mission, with the primary having to be removed to replace it, so was thinkin to do or not to do (quick inspection and the teeth looked ok, but bloody hard to see under there).

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Leave it for now i thought and we'll look at it prior to race day as there is a bit of oil seepage happening from the rear of the primary which needs seeing to anyway !

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So away i went on a ride last weekend with a new sprocket and chain and a bit of adjustment on my part (totally screwed that up, with a report on what happened that day here .

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/131768-Nothing-changed?p=1129924744#post1129924744

OK So i have surely done some damage to the front sprocket after this i'm thinking, so time to bite the bullet and replace it, so off to a mates place and up on the bike platform and secured. whipped the starter motor, primary, clutch etc off the bike so we could get to the front sprocket ! And yep good call, though i hadn't damaged it with trying to make the chain go around corners, it was looking a bit stretched between teeth !


Replaced that after some time working out how to get it off and having to turn down a large socket to allow the gear shaft to petrude through, weld a bar onto said socket and figure out it's left hand thread lol
Spent some time getting the rear wheel set dead centre in the swing arm and then aligning the engine so everything is exact ! Easy to do with the primary off and now i know where i'm at with adjustments etc !
New seals throughout and put her all back together, new oil in and yehaaa i'm thinkin, thursday night and i have friday left to work on the front, do the gearbox and engine oils and ride to the track on sat to test it all out !

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Well Friday morning came and went with heaps of shit needing doing, so had the arvo left. Chocked it up and started working on the front, pulled the packers out and turned 10/11 mm off these. back in the bike and checked sags (18/20 mm) all good i thought, leave it there and though the rebound still wasn't were i want it, the heavy oil i had may be too heavy, so will make do for the track day !

Gear box oils, well that was easy enough when ya have the right hex tool lol

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Two hours left till i'm due at the club to open up and kick back with the boys for a few !
No worries i'm thinkin, only takes half hour to change the engine oils and i'll even get to give the bike a clean wooohooo

Pull out the drain hose and peg it back so it drains out nicely, whip the filter off and stand that up on the drain tray.
New filter on and top up the oil res.
Run the bike and recheck level, all good, sweet drag out the compressor and make up my special mix of crc and degreaser to coat the bike, then hose it off, brakecleen the calipers and discs, hook up the air gun and blow dry hahaha no bloody elbow grease with this fella !

Sweet i'm thinkin i gots me an hour spare to clean up, poured the drain tray into my 20 ltr waste oil container and left that leaning against a wall to drip out, put all my tools away and had a beer !

Grab my helmet and jacket, head out to the bike to fuck off to the club and spot the drain tray, best give that a wipe and put it away !

FUCK !

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Needless to say i got hammered on friday night !


To be continued :

[sinfull]

Well another oil change and no more Alloy found so it was time to start from the top and work down, a lack of the correct tools has stopped me tonight but hoping it's not too deep ! A chipped skirt would be the best result i can hope for now !

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[SMOKEU]

Harleys have suspension?!

[Owl]

Now someone at some stage had put progressive springs in the forks

That would be Ted! They were put in prior to 2000 and apparently the best thing since sliced bread.:facepalm:

[sinfull]

That would be Ted! They were put in prior to 2000 and apparently the best thing since sliced bread.:facepalm:

Still are with most HD shops lol
Had emulators mentioned to me the other day at one while buying the primary seals, when i told em i'd put them in, the comment that came back was hmmm that will be interesting !
Not the same controll as you have with clickers of course, having to pop the tops, reach down and pull em out to adjust things, but it is at least some controll over the type of ride ya want lol

Sittin here looking at the beast with a quivering lip Al, Friggin jinxed meself friday morn talking to a mate about how much i spent on the handling and it'll prob... touched wood (but too late)
And i know the (Big missed gear) moment shit happened ! But still Ran like a bike possessed two up after it, just lucky it was due for an oil change or i'd never have noticed !

[BIG DOUG]

so you are saying the bits of alloy came from an oil change?,as the oil returns through the filter on an fxr so bits of metal should stop at the filter.

[sinfull]

so you are saying the bits of alloy came from an oil change?,as the oil returns through the filter on an fxr so bits of metal should stop at the filter. Correct ! The bits of alloy came out of the filter (well there were quite a few scattered around the pin ya hang the filter on the drain tray) Like ya say the big twin motor oil flow goes tank - pump - engine - filter - tank ! There was even one bit that looked like it had been folded like it had been through a small gear (oil pump smallish) but had that apart and no evidence, nothing in the cam gears ! It's got me fucked ! To the point i'm thinkin, do i need a locking cap on my oil tank ?
Tell me this Doug, have you done the big ends on an FXR ? If so, do the later (93) have an alloy retainer on the bearing or are they steel by then ?
Been right through the engine and that's all thats left, apart from a theory of an alloy crimp washer that was lost during a previous teardown breaking free and making me spend a fortune ! But unless that made it's way into the cam gears and then got chomped up ? I mean WTF ?

[BIG DOUG]

Yes I have done a few cranks,should have been steel by then (93 on) but considering the age of the bike it could have had a crank rebuild by now and somebody could have put alloy cages back in but I dont think it would have got past the filter the mystery deepens.

[Owl]

Hey Bill.........Wasn't that engine replaced with an S&S about 5-6 years ago?

[sinfull]

Yes I have done a few cranks,should have been steel by then (93 on) but considering the age of the bike it could have had a crank rebuild by now and somebody could have put alloy cages back in but I dont think it would have got past the filter the mystery deepens.

Got reminded today that in most motors there is always a bypass if the filter becomes blocked (but in no way did it looked blocked), though i did check the pump i didn't pull the bypass apart (so will have to check for swarf), So yes, still has me stumped ! Almost had the crank out last night and mains checked, but the lack of the right puller (cam gear shaft) made us open a box instead, so threw a sheet over it ! today, I went in one direction for parts ($$$$$) and the block went in another, for dissasembly and crank rebuild ! Should know of any (if any) collapsed bearings morra i hope !



Hey Bill.........Wasn't that engine replaced with an S&S about 5-6 years ago?

Cases were Al yeah, 50 odd clicks ago, so the way Ted is the crank might have been done then but hey, if it was sound, it may have been dropped in the new cases as is. The big end still looks and feels strong as, but turning the crank in the block up on the bench, we could hear a slight rasping noise coming from the charging (?) side, big spool of copper etc lol (must learn this terminoligy), but that was three cans into the box so the sheet was the best option !
Hope to hear some closure tommorow cause it's done, it's a poe tae toe, poe tae toe no more !
Come a week or so it'll be more poe poe toe tae tae poe poe toe poe, if it idles at all !

Goose is gonna be workin his magic with his dremill and seat cutters, and a few grenade bits are on order !

[sinfull]

Well i now have a well handling bike, that goes friggin nowhere (for a few weeks at least !)

Merry bloody xmas to me, "here, have a very expensive ashtray"

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But as a wise man said, could have been alot worse if i hadn't done the oil change when i did (but cant help think, i'm rebuilding the friggin lot apart from pinion gears and oil pump, or maybe i should) could have had the crank land in my lap i guess !
Can only laugh, dust off the triumph and suck it in, the gut that is lol, not quite the same as riding an armchair are they !

[Owl]

Holy shit!:gob:

That's nasty Bill, but a little heavy for an ashtray. It does look very expensive though:facepalm: Was that failure a freak of nature, low quality bearing, badly assembled?

If you're going to be dusting off the Trumpy, I won't ask to borrow parts to fix mine:shutup:

Keep us informed and good luck!:yes:

[sinfull]

, badly assembled

: Unfortunately yes, Crank had 12 thou run out one side and 8 the other, surprised it's lasted this long !

But i can pinpoint the BIG missed gear that finished the job !

Can move the bearing housing in the case by hand and see it move, simply fucking amazing the motor wasn't trying to leap out of the frame.... oh wait thats normal !

[Owl]

While that sucks for you, it's good to know you can pinpoint it to human error. I know who did it and I'm somewhat dubious about their skill, after seeing a Buell chain conversion this person performed. Downright fucking dangerous it was.:gob:

[BIG DOUG]

I had a very good engineer friend of mine repair my STD shovel cases 6mths ago and have been thashing it since,the thing with mine where that both sides were f**ked he is an old school engineer and bloody fussy and has fixed vincent cases so I think he no's what he is doing.Is your crank flywheels the one piece design or do they have replacable shafts I can ask him if you need to get them repaired.

[sinfull]

I had a very good engineer friend of mine repair my STD shovel cases 6mths ago and have been thashing it since,the thing with mine where that both sides were f**ked he is an old school engineer and bloody fussy and has fixed vincent cases so I think he no's what he is doing.Is your crank flywheels the one piece design or do they have replacable shafts I can ask him if you need to get them repaired.

Thats what i'm looking for Doug, opinions and experience !
Pretty sure its the replacable shaft crank thats pressed together, why there was so much run out, someone didn't spend enough time on it !

While the boys at Harley Speed are saying a repair could be done they're dubious as to the reliability of it !
Was gonna go talk to a few old alloy welders and engineers like the one ya mentioned above to get some opinions before spending the 2 k on new cases
Could you get in touch with this guy ya know and ask if he's interested to have a look ? Was gonna go talk to colliers in levin morra and another alloy welder i been put onto who's suppose to be old school and a genious ! Thought i might spend this week gettin a few opinions, cause sure as hell aint gonna get it done prior to xmas !

Ya can see the corrogations that look to have the alloy moulded around em

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226639

Was told on the phone today by one guy the S & S cases are machined out of a block of billet and the bushes are pressed in (looking at mine i'd say bollocks to machined billet lol).
And the more i look at them the more i believe the bush to be pressed into a keeper that could be of a material that must handle the heat of casting, but whether that material could be alloy welded is another story lol
And if so, how true it could be done as the whole lot's moving around now by hand and quite a few thou rattle i'd say, so the alloy's been stressed inhumanely

(speaking of stressed where's my bourbon)

[BIG DOUG]

Pretty sure the s+s cases are cast 356-t6 alloy,and they cast the races into them to stop them moving the pinion race is replaceable according to my s+s book,I will try and get a hold of john tomorrow if I dont forget lol so it might be alright as long as the cast in race isn't moving.normally s+s case's have a good rep but any hamfisted person who built the crank could wreck a good set of case's.

[sinfull]

Pretty sure the s+s cases are cast 356-t6 alloy,and they cast the races into them to stop them moving the pinion race is replaceable according to my s+s book,I will try and get a hold of john tomorrow if I dont forget lol so it might be alright as long as the cast in race isn't moving.normally s+s case's have a good rep but any hamfisted person who built the crank could wreck a good set of case's.
Doh !! Yeah i can see the race moving a few thou when i force it Doug, damn ! Sure wont be the race thats flogged out then will it

Only hope would be pinning the race some how maybe !

[Owl]

Would the original stock case be of any use to you Bill? It needs welding apparently, but can't be worse than what you have.

[BIG DOUG]

They do do oversize races,it would have to be line honed for the new race but if you saw my shovel cases you would of told me to throw them away and that mtr has just been to invercargill + back sitting on 65-80mph and in a hardtail to.

[sinfull]

While that sucks for you, it's good to know you can pinpoint it to human error. :

Heard a couple of stories today of HD cranks twisting and ending up with some wicked run out, due to the way they're a two piece with pin set up and the shear size of em making them flex with torque, one was from brand new and the replacement was tigged in place once trued up (now there's a thought), this guy was racing it and pinpointed the change down during hard braking (see next comment)
So there still lies the possiblity that the big missed gear, talking 5th to 3rd and sparks flyin out my arse type of missed gear, could lay blame squarely back on my heavy wrist !
One reconditioner/engineer i talked to even suggested that the keeper (which is cast in the cases when they're made) should not have flogged out the way it did, unless it was a little LOOSE from new and that would/could have untrued the crank wobbling around after 50 clicks, or in other words hehe whats that S & S email addy again


Would the original stock case be of any use to you Bill? It needs welding apparently, but can't be worse than what you have.
Love them, but i'd lie if i said i'd put them in this bike !


sitting on 65-80mph and in a hardtail to.

More to the point, how's ya bloody back never mind the motor !

Had two options come up with by engineers i visited today

A/ to machine the lot out and replace the Keeper(for the lack of the proper name), it won't have that corrogation the oem has, but the term they used ummm (ya shrink one and when it expands etc etc) might work, then put the oversised race or even one the same size and as ya say line hone the cases

B/ press the race out, machine some alloy out in places (drill) and pin the keeper with grub screws, but there aint that much meat there so that'd be dodgy maybe

Combo of the two might work with a meatier keeper (but as one of the above pics shows, the keeper would lose some of it's strength, it will have a bite taken out for the cam gear and bearing beside it)

But both opinions were, whatever is done to fix it, won't make it better than the original design and if you plan on keeping it, the best option unfortunately is the most expensive

[BIG DOUG]

I have punted my dyna twin cam around manfield a few times and when I pulled the mtr down the crank was out 8 thou one end and 10 the other so I got a good low milage crank but it has now started to get a bad vibe at 3-3-1/2 rpm so I suspect this crank is out now to (the bike has done 170,000km's)so I have another crank which I have trued and tigged the pin so hopefully this ends the problem mind you twin cams are a straight press pin like a two stroke,and as for my back ask the guy's I rode with they said it just sits on the road and doesn't move around at all it has a mountain bike shock under the seat but the seat only has about a 1/4" of foam in it so your ass gets sore not your back lol.

[sinfull]

Went out for a bit of a scoot today, nothing too serious, just a little excursion of 300 clicks, all gentle like for the first 150 odd, then started adding variety !
Bit of Highway stuff, a fair share of windy stuff, up and down the rev range (which meant the boys with me, didn't know if i was coming or going) one minute i'm doing 90 k next i'm doing 120 then 100 plus a couple of "stretch the legs" toward the end of the day !
Although they soon learnt that come the sweepers, i wasn't there to see how it handles at 65k (don't know if any have read "the pace") and although i wasn't caneing it by any means, the two big twins i was riding with would have been behaving horrendously had they been taken through at the same pace !
You may have read the beginning of this thread, where the rear shocks had to be seen to and Robert Taylor of CKT did himself proud there, as well as trying some emulators in the forks, well i decided that while the bike was off the road the one last thing that needed to be done, to give me the best an HD can give handling wise, (that being new swing arm clevblocks and associated bits, the other mounts had been done) may as well be fucking done !!

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The FXR has always been "harmonious" at 120 in top, so under that it felt like it was labouring and it's still the same ! So it has/is being run in harmoniously on the straights, gently and unlaboured on the hills and progressively on the slopes, corners aint an issue anymore !

Enough of the words ya say, show us some pics of the shiny bits !!!
Well hate to dissapoint ya too much, but this is about all ya get in the way of new shiny bits ya can see !
I'm not one for bling, more about what makes it go round and round !!! To the point not a buff was lifted !~

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But internally hmmmm lets see........ New bloody cases OBVIOUSLY, same old crank but new pin and rollers, ballanced to .001 i am assured.

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Rebored barrels +10, high comp pistons, new valve guides, ported heads, 3 cut seats, new valve springs, lifters ummmmmm will think of more i'm sure ! Awww yeah an EV51 cam hehehehe.
Cant count things like air filters throttle cables etc cause you know they should have been done ages ago.

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Now Nick turning up in my life to buy my race bike was an absolute blessing hahaha, things that go round and round don't come cheap !!

Some cheeky MoD might remember changing the title of a thread i posted about this bike not long after i bought it, well he weren't far wrong !!!

But i do have to... no I want to chuck a plug in here for a couple of buisnesses
1st being S&S (http://www.sscycle.com/) These guys were Fuckin amazing, even with only the slightest chance of product failure they came to the party and gave me a wicked deal on a new set of cases !

2nd Being Bruce Telford for doing the spanner work quickly, efficiantly and at a bloody good rate, No favours, just a bloody good rate ! No i cant fix engines, I just fuck em !

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The first fire up was on saturday afternoon, ran it for a minute to get some heat going on and shut her down to shrink up a bit, did have a few misses and farts, as to be expected as it's prob a whole new start and warm up proceedure i'm gonna have to get used to i was thinkin, but GRRRRR it sounded crisp and mean !!! Then he tells me to fuck off, and come get it in the morning as he still had a couple things to tweek to finish it, NOW THAT WAS MEAN @@@@ Had a 50th to go to by that time so MEH !!!

Sunday morning and Goose rings me nice and early (on ya) to tell me he's taken it for it's maiden voyage around the block and it's running sweet !
SO i'm pretty sure i made it to his place by 10 am and fixed him up, threw the gear on and RODE AROUND THE BLOCK.
Yeah working bee at the land so it couldn't be done, but by fuck it looked good parked at the club again !!!!
Did manage a 30 odd k jaunt up to levin for a feed at one of the boys joints that evening, before i had to put it away to run the lovely Heidi home !

Monday it was shit so i resisted the temptation to JFDI and waited for the brilliant day forecast for today !
Yeah was it ever Brilliant !!! Lil screw driver in my pocket was all that was needed today apart from gas money ETC
Had a couple of popping and idling issues to sort with feul mixtures etc, but by the time i got home it idled sweetly and snarled when i twisted the throttle !!!


Would add more pictures but Ya cant add more than 6 and me camera just died lol but it handles like a dream, sounds lumpier and fuckin snarles, that's all that matters !

I'm wrapped ! Chrome don't get ya home but i got me a feeling that this thing will !

[shafty]

KA CHING!

Didn't you have a story to tell about a Sporty you bought new, many moons ago?

Anyway, Ön ya"- enjoy!

Shafty