Smerft85 wrote on 06/27/22 at 21:08:20:


Before you weld on a hardtail..........I would replace the shocks with struts and see how "hateful" the ride becomes.

I really can't understand how anyone can ride a hardtail - yesterday I hit a bump in the road that threw me out of the seat on my BMW that has lots of suspension travel......I can't imagine doing that on a bike with a hardtail (I would have been launched over the handlebars).

Wife also has an 04 1200 sportster that we put a 3" slammer kit on so she could reach (she's only 4'11"), that bike may as well have a hardtail rear. So far I'm the only one able to ride that one and it's given me a sneak peak of what a hardtail will be like. Whichever one I put the hardtail on won't be ridden regularly anyway, with 12 other bikes to choose from there's no need to make it my daily ride. I fully agree if this was my every day ride though, I wouldnt do it at all if I didn't have options nor would I recommend it to anyone else for their only bike. Only reason I want to do it anyway is for that old school bobber look, and it just doesn't look right with a set of shocks in my opinion.

Well I wasn't lucky enough with the 97 for it to be just the plug, as trivial as it may sound, I'm going to pull the exhaust and make sure I don't have another squirt straw conundrum on my hands, then I'll check into timing. For now I'm borrowing a few things from it for the other two so I can get them road worthy.