This project started when I was gifted a 2011 Sportster SuperLow from my father after health complications prevented him from riding in 2014. Although I immediately began modifications, I commute roughly 35 miles on this bike most days. That made for a slow transformation exacerbated by two accidents cause by the lovely drivers of Durham during the build. The goals were to make the most of the bike’s power by stripping away anything not necessary, improve the handling for maximizing the fun on the rural NC roads, modifying the lines and proportions to match my vision and finally tucking everything possible to insure the bike is as labor intensive as possible to work on.
Fabricated modifications:
The rear fender and struts have been chopped and shaped. The folding strut mounted plate holder has been modified and relocated. The front tire is mounted to a matching 17” rear wheel that has been milled to fit inside a mid-glide front end. To facilitate the best fit the front fender was removed and the fork lowers were shaved. The exhaust is my design using Cone Engineering components. The headlight has been shaved and re-wired through the gauge mount. The front and rear blinkers were swapped for LED blinkers. The front blinkers are mounted in the location of the set screws of the original blinker hangers. The rear blinkers are on custom stalks mounted in the fender well. The tank has been raised 1 inch. I fabricated a static belt tensioner to allow the belt to clear the rear brake master cylinder. The belt guard has been removed and all mounts shaved. The pulley cover has been shaved. The rear brake pedal has been modified to accept a Speed Dealer Custom shifter peg. The computer was moved behind the rear fender. I made 8 iterations of the seat before finally arriving with this shape. I cut the original pan, used 3 different densities of foam and hand stitched the seat from an old leather jacket, also a gift from my father. The pattern of the seat cover and grips matches the proportion of the Mark II grenade knurled foot controls.
Bolt on components:
The guts of the front forks have been replaced with Racetech components tuned to this specific bike geometry. The rear shocks have been replaced with that of a 2009 XR1200, raising the rear end 2”. An extended kickstand improved the stance when parked. The intake is an Arlen Ness stage 1 with a filter modified to match the motor. I used Biltwell tracker bars. The levers have been replaced with Roland Sands Avengers levers. The gauge housing is a Roland Sands cafe relocation kit. The pegs are from Speed Dealer Customs. To improve the stopping power a Galfer wave rotor was added to the front. Accel stealth super coil packs are wired through the cylinders. I used Magnum black pearl brake lines, clutch and throttle cables. The gas cap, steering bolt and fork tube caps are from Joker Machine.