Ricor Intiminators

I purchased and installed Ricor Intiminators for my front end. I have installed them according to instructions cutting about 0.5" off the preload spacer (the intiminators take about 0.5" just below the spring). I have added this upgrade in search of better handling and more stability from the bike in the twisties. Time and miles will tell how well these things work and if they are worth the money. I will update this post when I have more info. So far I can say that the install is very simple. Drain old oil from forks, take the springs out, pop the intiminators in, add a bit of oil, push the intiminators down to the bottom with a spring, but keep the spring out for the time being. Add correct amount of 5W Amsoil Shock Therapy (fork oil recommended by Ricor for this application), add spring and preload spacer (adjusted for the 0.5" of the intiminators), button it all up and it's a done deal.

Update April 16, 2010
So far I have logged over 300 miles with the intiminators in the front end and the short summary is: THEY ARE GREAT!!!

The longer story goes as follows. Right after installing the intiminators and going for a ride around the block you may say to yourself, what the heck is the big deal?! Why did I just spend close to $300? Well, that's just the thing. Around the block or on a gentle ride to your favorite watering hole you may not notice a significant difference. And frankly, in those situations Sportster is already good enough anyway. Well, some of the smaller road imperfections seem to go unnoticed even at an easy pace, but that's not worth $300, I don't think. So, if you are thinking of buying these things and expect your bike to become a Cadie on two wheels, forget it. Here is where the intiminators really kick in. Twisty back roads where you tend to go a bit over the speed limit :) The thing is that even on those roads the bike does not feel much different, except when you look at the speedo. First time I did that I had a bit of a shock and quickly closed the throttle instinctively. I was going around curves I knew very well at about double my usual speed without ever realizing it. Everything about the turn felt the same. The lean angle, the effort at the handlebars, etc. The speed, however was much higher. Catching a small pothole (or even a large one) in the curve did not upset the bike any more. The stability of this Sportster was improved by an order of magnitude. I am still playing with some settings like the height of fork tubes in the triples, etc. But in general the front end is very, very VERY good right now. It also made the rear end behave better. I have dialed the 1200S shocks in and now I have pretty sweet handling Sportster. I am very impressed and highly recommend the intiminators to anyone who is frustrated when pushing the Sportster through the curves (too slow, way too much lean, I am going to scrape stuff if I go any faster around this curve, that type of frustration).

1200S Showa Shocks

I've been running 13.5" Progressive Suspension 412 shocks on this bike for a long time. They ware a great improvement on the stock shocks. But they still felt harsh and the handling still left a lot to be desired. I knew of the 1200S fully adjustable shocks for a while and finally got my hands on a pair from eBay. These shocks came stock on the venerable Sportster 1200S Sport and are made by Showa. They have adjustable spring pre-load (4 settings), adjustable compression damping (15 settings) and adjustable rebound damping (10 settings). They measure about the same as my stock shocks, 13.25". They seem to have a much softer spring than the Progressive 412, but I don't know that for a fact.

I mounted them in reverse, left shock on the right and right shock on the left to accommodate my Easy Brackets with saddle bags. This way the oil reservoir is forward of the shock rather than behind it, which would interfere with the saddle bag brackets. The small problem with this is that the left shock can and sometimes does interfere with the rear brake caliper. This can be solved by adding about 0.5" more spacer to get the shock away from the caliper.

Rear Running Lights/Brake Lights Module

I bought this module, HD P/N 69463-06 to convert my rear turn signals into running lights, brake lights and turn signal. This was a very quick and effective plug-and-play affair. The module makes existing single fillament turn signal bulbs work as running lights (constant on at low power), brake lights (high power when brakes are applied) and turn signals (alternating between low and high power when the turn signals are on). The kit included red replacement lenses.

Tachometer Kit

This tachometer kit (genuine HD part) is great, but very expensive. MSRP is $285. I bought mine when my local dealer was blowing them out at 70% off the MSRP. I highly recommend this upgrade. It is very easy to install and works great. Here is a review I wrote for this product on Sportster.org

Engine Guard

I bought this genuine HD engine guard after I had a low speed spill at a stop sign in Amherst, MA. There was some sand at the stop line and I was on the front brake and turning to the right slightly. This resulted in a 3 MPH spill. I enough damage (bent handlebar, small dents on the tank, broken turn signal, scuffed muffler) to convince myself to get this guard. I do not exactly like the looks of it, but it is functional. I had hard time installing it and needed to bend the metal tangs a bit to make all the holes line up. Other than that it is fine.

Nallin Hurricane Permanent Oil Filter

Here is a link to NRHS web page describing this product. I've been using it since summer of 2006 and am very happy with it. It is a bit pricey, but the quality and performance are impeccable.

Here is a link to a manufacturer's website.

Drilled Stock Mufflers

Drilling the baffle plate in the stock mufflers is a very good and inexpensive way to obtain most of the so called "performance" slip-on mufflers. It is very easy to do and the bang for a buck is significant. There is a plate about a third of the way down each muffler that restricts straight passage of exhaust and forces it throught the baffles. This muffles the noise and also deals with many of the negative effects straight pipes have on this type of engine. I will not go into a discussion on exhaust design here as I am neither an expert nor do I have an inclination to become one. I will only say that according to my experience as well as many others' drilling a 1/2" hole in the baffle provides most of the performance gains obtained with an exopensive and loud set of slip-ons like Screaming Eagle or Cycle Shaks. I use a long drill bit, remove the mufflers and drill them from the "input" side. This makes me feel better in that the metal shavings from drilling will not make it to the engine somehow. The sound is almost stock, though a bit throatier and performace is excelent. I am sure you can do better on performance with aftermarket slip-ons, but bang for buck will not be there and you may not like the amount of noise that is constanly with you as you ride. If you are into loud pipes, this mod is NOT for you.

Cowbell Horn Kit

have hated the stock horn sound since the first time I tried using it. It sounds like a '69 VW Beetle and does not command much attention on the road. I use my horn a lot. It is one of my main survival tools on the road. I need the horn to draw attention to me right away. To that end I decided to add a cowbell horn in addition to the stock horn. The stock horn has a high note and the cowbell horn has a low note. Together they provide the much desired sound that gets people to acknowledge my presence right away.

I must say that I am not too crazy about the looks of the cowbell horn on the left side of the engine. It covers up too much of the engine in my opinion and is too "Big Harley" looking. I do not necessary want my Sportster to look like an overweight chrome tank. But it does function well. I have never had anyone not know where the sound came from when I sounded that horn. So I am leaving it on for now. At some point I will figure out another solution and will take the cowbell down to expose those gorgeous jugs.

The cowbell horn kit from Harley comes pretty much complete and includes a relay as well as a new choke cable bracket to share space with the horn. I added some wiring so as to keep the original horn as well as the cowbell. I wanted that dual note sound. I think it is more about the quality of the sound rather than the actual loudness that gets people to pay attention.

Rear Turn Signal Relocation Kit for Dyna

I bought this kit because it was: 1) cheaper than the corresponding kit for the Sportster and 2) it included the laydown license plate bracket, which the Sportster item did not. There was only one caveat. The turn signal cans on the Dyna have different pitch of thread on them than do Sportsters'. Who knows why? Usually HD is pretty good about keeping parts the same as much as possible. Dyna and Sportster turn signals look the same and act the same, but have different thread pitch on the can to stalk interface. It is not a big problem if you know how to re-thread the stalks with a die. I bought the corresponding die at Sears and re-threaded the stalk in the relocation kit and the Sportster cans fit on there perfectly. The rest of the relocation was according to instructions and turned out very well. I needed to relocate the rear turn signals to use saddlebags with Easy Brackets. Here is the picture of the relocated rear turn signals.

Easy Brackets for Saddlebags

I used cheap throw over saddle bags for months before I decided that I hated how the throw overs kept slipping and sliding all over the place. I really needed some support brackets. I was not crazy about the permanent support brackets that remain on the bike when the bags are removed. I wanted a clean look when the bags were off. I found Easy Brackets to be a very good solution. Easy Brackets are support brackets that mount to the bike using posts in the rear fender strut. There is a keyed locking mechanism to prevent the brackets being removed from the bike without a key. A set of bags can be bolted to the brackets and then be removable using the bracket key. Once removed, the only thing that remains on the bike are the posts that are made of polished stainless steel and can serve as bungee posts. I ended up using the same cheap throw over bags I had to bolt to the brackets and it has worked out great. have a look in my gallery to see what they look like on the bike. Rear turn signal relocation is required. I used a turn signal relocation kit for a Dyna that incorporates a laydown license plate bracket.

Progressive Suspension Fork Springs

Suffice it to say that this along with the rear shocks is THE best upgrade you can make to your Sportster if you like to drive it sport bike style (as opposed to bar hopping).

Progressive Suspension Shocks

Suffice it to say that this along with the fork springs is THE best upgrade you can make to your Sportster if you like to drive it sport bike style (as opposed to bar hopping).

Arlen Ness Big Sucker air cleaner

 
I really like this air cleaner and I have been running it for about two years now. It replaces the "ham can" and is round in shape, so those who want to keep the stock look will not find it acceptable. Performance is great and the quality is top notch. The price is lower than Screaming Eagle air cleaner and it is on a whole other plane of quality, durability and performance. Screaming Eagle air cleaner for the rubber mounted Sportsters is utter junk. It does not breathe very well (at least compared to the Big Sucker), the filter develops holes within a few months, the backing plate is plastic (vs. cast aluminum in the Big Sucker) and HD does not stand behind the unit (90 day warranty and then you are SOL when the filter has holes in it). I had an issue with my Big Sucker filter that I was partially responsible for (some fuel spill into the filter) and Arlen Ness sent me a free replacement filter ASAP with no fuss whatsoever. Oh, and the filter itself on the Big Sucker is an oiled K&N type filter, the SE filter is some sort of dry medium that obviously does not hold up to normal use and does not breathe all that well. So, stay away from the SE air cleaner. Consider Arlen Ness and also Nallin Hurricane, which is a bit more expensive, but from all accounts a superb piece of gear. See the Hurricane description on NRHS (Nallin Racing Head Service) here.

You can find a review I wrote on this product here

Superbrace Fork BraceSuperbrace Fork Brace

This was a pretty good upgrade and at the end of the year SuperBrace usually runs discount group buys, so the price can be a little lower than usual. I got one of these deals back in 2004. I like the brace itself. It is very well made and is very simple and sturdy. I bought it because I occasionally experienced some shimmies while going over rough surfaces and leaning at the same time. The brace took care of most of these issues. This is not a must have item, however and the shocks and fork springs need to take priority as far as suspension and handling of the bike go. Still, I am glad I have the brace and would recommend it.

Screaming Eagle Air Cleaner

Suffice it to say I did not like it and do not recommend this so called "upgrade". Waste of money.

Harley-Davidson Scripted Mufflers

I bought these mufflers when I was just begining to learn about the Sportster and the various possibilities of upgrading it. These mufflers are of good quality, but do little in the way of performance and provide almost no sound difference from stock. Here is a review I wrote for this product on Sportster.org.

Idle Speed Adjustment on a Harley-Davidson Sportster

Before you do this you may need to remove the plug covering the idle mixture screw. You can find the directions on how to do that here.

Here's my version of the idle mixture adjustment procedure. It may be slightly different than others, but I believe the idea is the same.

Procedure

1. warm up the bike to operating temperature. This is very important!
2. leave the bike running and turn the idle speed screw up so the engine idles fairly fast. It is not important how many RPM at this point, this is just to prepare for the next step.
3. turn the idle mixture screw in all the way until is seats (be gentle do not tighten the screw down. It is not a fastener, it is an adjustment needle, really). If the bike stalled while doing that go back to previous step and raise the idle speed a bit more. The idea here is to have the bike idling with the mixture screw turned all the way in.
4. now slowly turn the idle speed screw in until the engine just barely runs almost stalling. You can go to the point of stalling and back off slightly from that. Now you have your idle speed set in a pretty good place. Leave it be.
5. Shut off the engine and turn the idle mixture screw out about 3 or 4 turns out. Restart the engine. It should be running just fine now. Now turn the mixture screw in slowly while listening to the engine speed. As soon as you hear the speed change (slow down) ever so slightly stop and back off a quarter turn for colder weather and half a turn for warm weather. I tend to set it at somewhere in between and forget about it.
6. If you have a tachometer, check the idle speed against it. The specification is 1,050 RPM. It is really important to idle the bike around that speed as the oil pump does not produce enough flow to protect the engine at lower speeds.
7. Test ride and enjoy!

Note: I know I am omitting the part of finding the rich stumble, but the reality is that many times there will be no rich stumble and people will go increasing their pilot jets, which is wrong. You choose your pilot jet based on other things. Once the pilot jet is chosen you adjust the idle mixture as described above and all will be well.

Paying the "Harley-Davidson Tax"

For the uninitiated, paying the "Harley Tax" is the process of releasing significant horsepower and torque hidden in the factory tuned bike. The fact that Harleys come from the factory in the detuned state is so well known that the "Harley Tax" term has been coined to describe a fairly standard procedure to tune the new bike to an acceptable level of driveability and power. This process involves opening up the restricted air intake, restricted exhaust and tuning the carburetor (or fuel injection system) to compensate for the reduced restrictions to the engine.

In the case of my Sportster it took me a few rounds of trial and error to arrive at what I have right now, which is a well-tuned 883 that feels very good at all speeds.

I started with what most Sportster owners have been doing for years. I installed a Screaming Eagle air cleaner and HD low restriction mufflers. Since I do not like loud exhaust, I bought street legal "scripted" mufflers (they have Harley-Davidson on the rear muffler in script). I also re-jetted the carburetor to match what common advice was. That common advice states: assume 160 main jet as stock and go to 165 for either intake upgrade or exhaust and go with 170 if upgrading both. I upgraded both, so I had a 170 main jet ready. When I opened up the carburetor I was amazed to find out that my stock main jet was 175! This was one of several differences between the '04 and newer bikes and '03 and older ones. In 2004 the (HD) motor company redesigned the Sportster quite significantly. The major design change was rubber mounting the engine, which necessitated redesigning the frame, exhaust and other parts. Along with the engine mount change, MoCo also changed some cosmetics, brakes, ignition, final drive ratios and more. I also found out that the jetting was changed. I was stumped, but went with the 170 main jet. The bike ran OK, but I could not see the amazing results I was expecting. It still felt anemic. I then tried replacing the stock needle with the N65C needle. That did not help. I then shimmed the N65C needle 0.020" and that helped a little, so I lived with it for a while. Then I learned another thing that changed with the rubber mount age of Sportster. Harley Davidson Screaming Eagle air cleaner that used to be one of the best values for improved intake air solutions in years passed has become a piece of junk. Instead of an oiled K&N filter and an aluminum backplate that used to be part of SE air cleaner we now get a crappy dry (non-oiled) filter that is prone to developing holes in the filter medium and a plastic backplate that warps. Price has not gone down, however. Once I noticed holes in my 3 month old SE filter, I went back to the dealership I bought it from and was told that the filter was out of the 90 day warranty, however they would, in good faith, replace the filter for me for free. I thought that was nice of them and at that point chalked the filter failure to statistical probability. A few months later the new filter succumbed to the same failure. This is when the after market vendors began to catch up to the rubber mount bikes and a few options other than SE became available. One of the options was Arlen Ness Big Sucker air cleaner. It cost less than the SE unit, but came without a cover, the cost of which brought the total cost to about the same as the SE. The Arlen Ness Big Sucker is a very high quality product, much more so than the SE. The backplate is cast aluminum and has built in breather ports. The filter itself is an oiled type filter just like K&N, though Arlen Ness insists it is NOT a K&N and was designed specially for them. After installing the Big Sucker I realized that on top of being a poor quality air filter, Screaming Eagle filter also was pretty restrictive. After changing from SE to Big Sucker it became clear that the bike ran way too lean as it was jetted for the SE. I had to jet up to 175 main, 45 pilot and keep that shim under the needle. The bike performed great! Finally it had good power and good driveability with no carb pops and smooth acceleration. I later went back to the stock needle from the N65C and also shimmed it 0.020". This change produced a gain in top speed performance. It seems that the needle for rubber mount Sportsters was yet another component that changed and for the better. This stock needle seems like a great fit for the bike once shimmed. This was the last time I adjusted the carburetor, besides adjusting the idle mixture and idle speed to correspond to the new tune. Some time later I decided to try and drill out my stock mufflers as many people have done, so I drilled a 1/2" hole in the baffle plate of each muffler and installed them on the bike instead of HD scripted ones. Another surprise. That stock exhaust with a drilled out baffle plate made the bike run better than the $200 pair of "performance" mufflers. Another HD gimmick, just like the SE air cleaner. So, I've been running the following setup since summer 2005:

Arlen Ness Big Sucker air cleaner

Stock exhaust with 1/2" holes in the baffle plates (almost as quiet as stock)

175 main jet (stock on my year and model Sportster)

45 pilot jet

Sometime in 2007 I switched the pilot jet to 44 and the bike runs just as well, so I have stayed with 44 pilot jet. The rest if the carb adjustment did not change.

Idle mixture and idle speed adjusted as per instructions outlined here.

I used my "seat of pants" to tune the bike, but recently (after about 20K miles) I had a chance to put it on a dyno and was pleasantly surprised to see that the bike was tuned very well. Not maxed out on the power and torque, but air to fuel ratio curve was very nice and smooth. Here are the graphs from the dyno.

Stainless steel braided brake lineStainless steel braided brake line

This part was necessary for me to replace my stock handlebar with a buckhorn bar. I bought this as three separate units: the length of line with generic fittings at each end and two banjo fittings that are appropriate for my make and model bike.  This is obviously not a Harley Davidson part.  I bought it at an independent customizing shop (MDO Modern Cycles) in Gaithersburg, MD.  These guys know what they are doing and have done this kind of thing once or twice, so I took their advice and got the three piece line.  This was good because I was not exactly sure how long the new line needed to be, so I got a few lengths and then returned the ones I did not use.  Awesome!  I needed to drain the old brake fluid and replace it with new stuff when I was done.  I highly recommend MityVac for the bleeding operation, but on the Sportster (or most other bike) it is not a big deal to do it the Bleeding brakes the old fashioned way. In fact that is exactly how I did it when I replaced my line as I did not yet own a MityVac.

Buckhorn Handlebars

I find buckhorn handlebars some of the most comfortable bars on a motorcycle. I seem to be in minority, though, but that's OK. In order for these bars to fit my bike I needed:

1. a longer brake line (I went with Stainless steel braided brake line)

2. about 12" extra of wiring for hand controls and front turn signals
Throttle cables were OK and clutch cable was OK, though strained and after about a year I replaced it with a +6" cable from J&P Cycles catalog.