70's Sportster Build

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70's Sportster Build

Birtyyy
5 years ago

Hi guys,
Building an Ironhead at the moment, got a 72 frame and a later 79 motor. Last year that had the provision for a kicker so I'm converting it but keeping the electric start also. Got it about 80% together but I'm thinking about taking it to a shop to get them to check over everything before I put the clutch back in, get it running and tune the SUPER E. Any recommendations for a shop that knows their way around these bikes? The guy that tuned my evo sporty told me flat out he doesn't work on Ironheads.

This is just dummied up so I can roll the thing around, will be running a 21" spoked wheel, vintage style springer front end and taller covered shocks in the rear, disc front & rear because a drum rear wheel is quite hard to find.

Krash Kinkade
5 years ago

hi Birtyy, John Treese ( might be spelt wrong ) must be ratted very high.
when I had kick start only Shovel, I meet a Lady riding a kick start only Iron Head. to me if you want a model with a kicker, you get rid of all that useless weight of large battery and a starter, big weight saving.

Mr.Mow
5 years ago

Ive got an 80 Ironhead with kicker (we thought it was a 79 because of the kicker but.. seems they still did the odd one later).
I had mine worked on by Glenn Aitken, he knows his way around an iron head but I don't know if he's taking on work. I know he's got a bunch of older parts too.
Ive been told HD Developments in the city MAY work on older stuff.. aside for that I've been struggling to get mine worked on.
Having said that Cyco cycles down here in Mornington happily redid a bunch of gaskets on mine, theyre good guys.

brucefxdl
5 years ago

birtyyy,this a long shot and i dont this bloke at all and have no idea of his back ground .squid at american made cycles [ i think ] in ballarat,i think he does older stuff.but as i said dont know him and i'm just putting out there. hope it helps. cheers

skirtster
5 years ago

try C&C Cycle Works in Dandenong RJ always has parts for older bikes that others don't stock and older bikes in the shop.

Birtyyy
5 years ago

Quoting Krash Kinkade on 13 Aug 2018 04:32 AM
hi Birtyy, John Treese ( might be spelt wrong ) must be ratted very high.
when I had kick start only Shovel, I meet a Lady riding a kick start only Iron Head. to me if you want a model with a kicker, you get rid of all that useless weight of large battery and a starter, big weight saving.

I agree with you there, it's never going to be a race bike though, don't think I'll notice the extra couple of kg's on the highway. If I get it set up and tuned right so that it kicks over easy I'll definitely look into it though.

Birtyyy
5 years ago

Quoting Mr.Mow on 13 Aug 2018 07:19 AMedited: 13 Aug 2018 07:21 AM
Ive got an 80 Ironhead with kicker (we thought it was a 79 because of the kicker but.. seems they still did the odd one later).
I had mine worked on by Glenn Aitken, he knows his way around an iron head but I don't know if he's taking on work. I know he's got a bunch of older parts too.
Ive been told HD Developments in the city MAY work on older stuff.. aside for that I've been struggling to get mine worked on.
Having said that Cyco cycles down here in Mornington happily redid a bunch of gaskets on mine, theyre good guys.

Nice bike mate! Think I've heard of that guy before, don't suppose you know how I could track him down by any chance?

Daggs
5 years ago

nice one

brucefxdl
5 years ago

goeff at hd developments has been around hd's for 40 odd years...plus bikes in general.

Birtyyy
5 years ago

Quoting skirtster on 13 Aug 2018 11:11 AMedited: 13 Aug 2018 11:13 AM
try C&C Cycle Works in Dandenong RJ always has parts for older bikes that others don't stock and older bikes in the shop.

Went and saw RJ last week, didn't even know his shop was there and I've worked in the area for about 8 years! Going to drop it off to get it tuned up once I get the rest of it put together. Mocked it up over the weekend, still need bars/risers and wiring done among other things. Think I'm going to shorten that rear pipe too, get it to sit just below the swingarm.

Krash Kinkade
5 years ago

Quoting skirtster on 13 Aug 2018 11:11 AMedited: 13 Aug 2018 11:13 AM
try C&C Cycle Works in Dandenong RJ always has parts for older bikes that others don't stock and older bikes in the shop.

Quoting Birtyyy on 20 Aug 2018 11:39 PM
Went and saw RJ last week, didn't even know his shop was there and I've worked in the area for about 8 years! Going to drop it off to get it tuned up once I get the rest of it put together. Mocked it up over the weekend, still need bars/risers and wiring done among other things. Think I'm going to shorten that rear pipe too, get it to sit just below the swingarm.

I like the style now!
if you are going to have someone who knows how to tune, tune your bike. don't play with the pipes till he see's it as that is also part of tuning.
the pipes look like drag pipes, if so might try ask if the runner thinks better with tampered end slip ons, drag pipes feel flat to me.

Birtyyy
5 years ago

Small update, got a drum rear wheel, photo is before I put the drum on. Also mocked up some handlebars, need to order some custom made bars with wide knurling for these risers. Dropped the bike off to get the ratchet plate riveted onto the clutch drum and get it all installed and I'll get it all wired up and running while it's there. Hoping by the time I get it back all I need to do is mount the rear fender, taillight and sort out a brake cable/rod. These forward controls were made for hydraulic brakes so some modifications necessary.

Birtyyy
5 years ago

Well after 4 weeks I'm getting my bike back tomorrow. But, all they've done is rivet on the ratchet plate, make and install a wiring loom and run oil lines. They can't figure out how to reinstall the clutch drum and are saying that it needs a different mainshaft (that was their guess, there was zero level of certainty in the statement). And the bill for the work they've done is more than what the entire bike owes me. More than a little dissapointed.
This is a big blow to what was supposed to be a cheap little project so it's going to be going into storage for a while til I even think about spending more money on it.

Krash Kinkade
5 years ago

Quoting Birtyyy on 19 Dec 2018 09:34 PM
Well after 4 weeks I'm getting my bike back tomorrow. But, all they've done is rivet on the ratchet plate, make and install a wiring loom and run oil lines. They can't figure out how to reinstall the clutch drum and are saying that it needs a different mainshaft (that was their guess, there was zero level of certainty in the statement). And the bill for the work they've done is more than what the entire bike owes me. More than a little dissapointed.
This is a big blow to what was supposed to be a cheap little project so it's going to be going into storage for a while til I even think about spending more money on it.

No good to read Birtyyy! I think the clutch for the year, was , mounted to a hub. almost like say the same as putting a wheel on a car.
if you could post a picture of your gear box main shaft and the clutch you have, with the back of the clutch showing, I could probably tell you what's missing

tussuck
5 years ago

who did you take it to in the end? HD Dev or C&C?

Birtyyy
3 years ago

Quoting tussuck on 20 Jan 2019 10:59 PM
who did you take it to in the end? HD Dev or C&C?

Unfortunately I went to CNC. Their version of a 'wiring loom' was a 500mm length of 6 core wire run through the frame from the neck to under the seat with bare wires tagged to say what to connect them to. More than happy to sell me expensive bolt on parts but as far as doing any custom work I'm not sure if they actually have no clue or just had no interest in doing it.

After this I ended up taking the bike to Glenn and he got the bike running for me. I actually got to ride the bike up and down the street for the first time ever but it lost oil pressure and because I have a weird engine/frame combo the engine had to be pulled from the frame to get the oil pump out.

I got the oil pump/seal sorted and I have a new battery for it now, still needs a full wiring loom, exhaust modified to clear oil tank and kicker arm, brake switch for the drum rear and oil lines re-run, CNC ran them way too close to the chain.

tussuck
3 years ago

Cheers... that ticks the 'annual update' box...lol

Birtyyy
3 years ago

Quoting tussuck on 11 Sep 2020 05:49 AM
Cheers... that ticks the 'annual update' box...lol

Hahaha Yeh bit of a late response wasn't it.

daddyracer56
3 years ago

if ya need a hand yell out cheers

Topics

70's Sportster Build

70's Sportster Build

Birtyyy

Krash Kinkade

Mr.Mow

brucefxdl

skirtster

Birtyyy

Birtyyy

Daggs

brucefxdl

Birtyyy

Krash Kinkade

Birtyyy

Birtyyy

Krash Kinkade

tussuck

Birtyyy

tussuck

Birtyyy

daddyracer56