Kyle's Bike

When purchased, this antique did run, but was leaking oil like a sieve and wasn't all that comfortable.  As you can see, it stood so tall, it looked like a dirt bike and the school bus yellow paint had to go.  The goal was to make it not only good looking, but more dependable and a more comfortable ride, so we stripped it to the frame and got to work.  No major mechanical modifications were made, we wanted to keep the things that make it a classic, just make it better.

 

The old contact point ignition and in-the-tank filter were the first to go, replaced with a Dyna Single-Fire ignition and the modern spin-on oil filter system.  The wheels were replaced with chrome spokes from Custom Chrome.  We kept the 19" wheel in the front, but the 18" rear was replaced with a better looking 16" wheel.  It now sits on Pirelli rubber.  Shorter Progressive suspension shocks replaced the tired stock ones along with new progressively wound fork springs.  Adding a tooth to the tranny sprocket reduced the rpm's at higher speeds for comfort and an O-Ring chain for reliability finished off the drive train.  The 1000cc engine only had 12,000 miles on it, so all we did was rework the heads and the rest was kept stock except for an S&S carb and 2" diameter drag pipes.  Yeah, we're smart enough to put baffles in the pipes. It runs and sounds sweet!  To make sure it stopped, a GMA dual piston caliper up-front and new pads for the stock rear drum.   A new speedo, bars, tank, fender, braided cables a simple black paint job and lots of polish finished it off.