1995 Harley Davidson Rigid frame project
Sept 20, 2020 22:21:39 GMT
johnnybravo, roryturbo, and 1 more like this
Post by Phil on Sept 20, 2020 22:21:39 GMT
I thought I'd start a build thread on my Harley Davidson Rigid frame project.
I've wanted to build a really old/retro looking Harley Davidson for a while now, but never really found the time to do it. Lockdown however, gave me some free time so I finally got started. The idea is to get rid of the rear half of the frame, swingarm, shock mounts etc and weld on a new piece that is solid with no suspension. The only rear suspension will be though the sprung seat.
This is the donor bike. A 1995 Harley Davidson Sportster 1200. Bought for £3500 It's fairly tidy but needing some bits and bobs, it did have MOT though and rode really well.
Within about 2 days, it had been reduced to this, and as you can see im already attacking it with a grinder-
Trial fitting/eyeballing the new rear section before too much more cutting and welding -
Much trimming, measuring, welding happened which I seem to have lost the photos for, but we soon reached mock up and its already looking pretty cool -
And that's when progress slowed. I had to go back to work so just evenings and weekends now. Parts are still being collected, the frame has had a few extra brackets added and a couple removed too, and it's almost ready to go to powdercoat. I have however got the tin work back from being painted -
Depending on if you show the fuel tank picture to a car guy or bike guy they'll tell you it's either Hesketh racing colours or Slippey Sam. I was aiming for Hesketh as I'm a big James Hunt fan, but either is cool.
The next step is the engine refresh and a bunch more cleaning but it'd be nice to get it built up over winter.
Hopefully I'll get more done soon...
I've wanted to build a really old/retro looking Harley Davidson for a while now, but never really found the time to do it. Lockdown however, gave me some free time so I finally got started. The idea is to get rid of the rear half of the frame, swingarm, shock mounts etc and weld on a new piece that is solid with no suspension. The only rear suspension will be though the sprung seat.
This is the donor bike. A 1995 Harley Davidson Sportster 1200. Bought for £3500 It's fairly tidy but needing some bits and bobs, it did have MOT though and rode really well.
Within about 2 days, it had been reduced to this, and as you can see im already attacking it with a grinder-
Trial fitting/eyeballing the new rear section before too much more cutting and welding -
Much trimming, measuring, welding happened which I seem to have lost the photos for, but we soon reached mock up and its already looking pretty cool -
And that's when progress slowed. I had to go back to work so just evenings and weekends now. Parts are still being collected, the frame has had a few extra brackets added and a couple removed too, and it's almost ready to go to powdercoat. I have however got the tin work back from being painted -
Depending on if you show the fuel tank picture to a car guy or bike guy they'll tell you it's either Hesketh racing colours or Slippey Sam. I was aiming for Hesketh as I'm a big James Hunt fan, but either is cool.
The next step is the engine refresh and a bunch more cleaning but it'd be nice to get it built up over winter.
Hopefully I'll get more done soon...
