Damn you, Poongar!!!!

Alright- with Poonga talking about bikes, I've gotta chime in. I'm rebuilding an early 1984 HD Sportster 1000 that was in a "hard get-off to the right." I spent this last weekend putting the bitch back together. New forks, new tank, bars, risers, clamps, paint on the tins, etc. It's supposed to be an inexpensive build on a bike I got for a song, but when you start getting nit-picky, shit starts costing you cash.

I had every intention to get it into rat bike shape, no-nonsense and fun ride. I didn't want an HD that would take me five hours to polish the chrome, I didn't want a bike that I'd worry about someone stealing. I wanted safe and cool. It started out a Jolly Rancher purple color after sitting on the side of an old man's house for 15 years. The brushed aluminum that was riddled with water spots mocked the chrome that was still nicely polished. The jugs are flat black powder coat with ground edges. It's got rust in spots, and it has suffered from neglect. Other than replacing the fluids, battery and verifying that the generator still worked, my buddy didn't do much when it came into his possession. It did, however, have a previous life of trying to keep up with the faster street bikes of the day, and had a shit ton of aftermarket parts in storage. Seven seats, four sets of pipes, an extra tank, fender, and a bunch of new-in-the-box performance parts, as well as a logbook of all the modifications the old man made before passing away and his family sold it to my bro.

So I start with a few "Before: pics:

Notice the buckhorn handlebars, the peanut gas tank and the copious fluids dripping from the undercarriage.

You get a good idea of the color of the bike by the rear fender- wtf? Prince would've loved this bike. Notice the dent in the tank? That's what your junk will do in a sub-35mph "hard get-off to the right". Ouch!

And here's what it looked like after I pulled all the "problem" parts off:

And I finally got my tank and fenders back. So now we start rebuilding.

I've got a long way to go, but when Poonga said he has to go drop his bike off at the "mechanic", I had to laugh! I AM the mechanic, because I can't afford to pay anybody to do the damn work for me!!

Anyway- the beast is going together. A new front master cylinder, rubber and a brake light, and this bitch is on the road (after a bit more TLC.)

Stay tuned, I'll post more as they come. Hopefully I'll think to bring a real camera- cuz my cell cam sucks ass!

Ain't nothin' to a G.