[Qman]

Floorboards

I never liked the way my heels would drag on the ground while cornering hard on the Muscle. Maybe it's the stance of the bike...maybe it's my size 13s, but I finally decided to do something about it.

I had the idea to fab some floorboard mounts, since the ones made by CycleVisions won't work on the Muscle due to the dual exhaust. I wanted to maintain a sporty look, and the size of the stock Harley floorboards (used with the CycleVisions kit) wouldn't have gel'ed with the look I wanted anyway. I thought that if I could fab mounts for a Harley passenger floorboard (smaller) & use them for the rider position, it would give me both the form & function I was looking for.

In terms of a passenger floorboard, I liked the look of the swept floorboards by Harley. This worked out well since the grip/peg set I was using had matching swept floorboard inserts available. I found all the pieces I thought I needed & then visited my fabricator:

Turns out the fabrication work was simple & straightforward - once I mated a Kuryakyn adjustable peg bracket to a stock Harley passenger floorboard bracket, the install was a simple bolt-on. The only problem I had is that with the setup in place, the angle on the shift lever was off, making shifting difficult. The fix was to have my fabricator workup a heel/toe shifter.

Cost breakdown (shipping included):
Harley swept passenger fb trays (used - ebay).................$100
Harley swept pessenger fb inserts (new - local dealer)......$ 75
Harley stock FLH passenger fb mounts (used - ebay).........$ 50
Kuryakyn adjustable offset peg mounts (used - ebay).......$ 50
Chrome stripping & powdercoating....................................$150
Fabrication..........................................................................$225


Total investment.................................................................$650

 

[Vision's Muscle]

Nice!

 

[KELIANN72]

Nice job Where can I find that rear lower fender?

 

[abbottthomas]

Excellent job I want to do this to mine so bad the shark fairing definitely looks better and in my opinion performs better because it being framed mounted.

I love the way you did the rear end I also seen a guy with the same rear end as yours and he added air shocks that actually raise the front and rear of the bike at will.

 

[HDRider46706]

Great looking Road Rod, and fantastic build documentation and photos!! I'm in process of converting an '04 B - bought all on eBay - good savings there, except for the bags; went to Cycle Visions for those, you are right - expensive!! It's the model that H-D forgot; looks, speed and, well what else does one want?? Ride safe...

 

[pick83]

Well done love what you've done.

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[impalas1963]

vrod baggers are cool. i would love to have one. keep us updated.

I built this a couple years ago when someone in town decided to buy the same bike as me.. so paint and bags seemed lile the idea to make it different now I think its time for the fairing and some I suggested I check here for people who have done it to get their pointers and help

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[Qman]

You're in the right place! There are a number of builds you can leverage from - the ones that come to mind are the posts by CPTJAM & BADVROD...

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Here is my fairing, it is specifically made for vrscf. I changed the headlight so I had to modify it to fit but it was easy, this is not necessarry with stock headlight.

It is made of abs plastic and comes with stereo. It comes with everything you need, you do need to assemble and paint.

So far it performed flawlessly, it protects you from the elements much better than windshield, which is what I used before.

It does make for a heavier turning as the weight of fairing rests on handlebars. But you will adjust to it.

It is made by Wide Open Customs.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Sorry, on Ipad I can only attach one picture at a time.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

And yet another one!

 

[vtrod]

You have done well, I like your bike a lot!!
Now that you have the lower pipes, the hd muscle bags will mount up with little effort. They attach to the fender brace and to the frame in the front of the bags. They are leather over plastic, look good and are functional, I have used them on several trips.

Sorry, put this in wrong post!!

 

[Qman]

Latest updates...suspension first!

I had a problem with my front tire - it was suffering from cupping..even after replacing it. When I mentioned the abnormal wear to my dealer, he said lots of V-Rods have the same issue, and that it was just symptomatic of the model. Didn't sound quite right to me, so I asked my fabricator to look at it - he's also a gearhead, but I usually don't let him touch the V-Rod unless it's aesthetic stuff. In this case, since it wasn't an engine issue, I figured WTH?

Turns out that one of the forks was totally gone - fork seal had long ago busted from the weight of the front fairing addition...left fork tube was completely dry & the stress on the remaining fork was causing cupping of the front tire.

Why didn't the dealer notice? Because with the front axle, and upper/lower trees in place, the assembly is very solid - but once you unbolt the setup & remove the fork, it was clear that one side was completely gone.

After much reading (both this forum & V-Twin forums), I became aware of a cartridge emulator-based front suspension setup that was available through a couple of different manufacturers. In essence, they use a combination of a vented cartridge & low viscosity fork oil to achieve a dampening effect quite superior to the stock setup. I chose to go with the version marketed by RaceTech out of California, and couldn't be happier with the result.

The rep took my weight (with riding gear) and the weight of my bike with all the added HW (fairing, amps, stereo, speakers, saddlebags, etc), so that the forks could be sprung for my specific weight. I shipped both forks, and they sourced the HD seals locally. I received the rebuilt forks after a short wait, and bingo - no more cupping of the front tire & a much smoother ride to boot!

This left just the rear suspension to address - with the added hugger fender (see previous posts in this thread), I was getting periodic rubbing of the rear tire on the underside of the hugger whenever I would hit a sizable bump. I had adjusted the stock shocks to the highest setting, but the issue persisted. An eBay search showed that Arnott air ride shocks were available in new condition from a liquidator named 'Global Deal Store' - usually around $500-600 at auction end, & a slightly higher price for Buy It Now listings. I followed these listings for a week or two, and then noticed that the liquidator listed a set one weekend morning for $89.99 + shipping - an obvious mishap for an item that retails for $899.99. I pulled the trigger on the Buy It Now listing, thinking that they'd catch the error upon shipping, but my karma must have been working overtime cause I received a new set of Arnott's including the compressor for about $105 total. I was so geeked about the deal that I had my 2 sons help me install them before the end of the day - check out the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJOTk78HepU

Rubbing issue solved & a trick look when I park it at bike shows with the air dumped out of the rear shocks!

Cost breakdown is as follows (shipping included):
Breakdown/reassembly of front end by local mechanic..........................$150
Rebuild of front forks by RaceTech w/Gold Valve Cartridge Emulator.....~$250
Arnott rear air ride shocks (black) w/compressor).................................$106

Total investment w/labor...............................................................~$506

Q

 

[Qman]

Continued updates...Exhaust work!

I was at the last Officially Unofficial Homecoming Rally - ran into a couple of fellow attendees from South Dakota - both of which had custom exhaust setups - one which I particularly liked the sound of.

He explained that he'd removed the stock baffle/packing from his Muscle exhaust and replaced it with a custom baffle. He couldn't think of the manufacturer's name, but based on his description the custom baffle resembled Kegel Balls (we're all grown-ups here, right?)

After searching Amazon, I came across what he described - baffles are a type manufactured by Khrome Werks. I used the 1 3/4 inch version as he recommended, mated to the same diameter straight pipe to keep the stock length.

Mating this to a PC V w/Autotune addressed any tuning issues. The result - one of the best sounding exhaust setups on a V-Rod that I've ever heard. The narrow portions of the baffle retain sufficient back pressure, & the flared portions give it a nice lope. Another good thing about this baffle is that the manufacturer discourages the use of any packing like the stock exhaust has - makes for a simple & straightforward setup, as long as you can find a welder to tack it all together.

Cost breakdown (shipping included):
Pair of 1 3/4 inch baffles by Khrome Werks.....$ 52
Fabrication/install work + tubing.................~$400
PC V w/Autotune ........................................$500

Total investment.......................................~$950

I have one pic on hand of the inner assembly - will have to attach a sound file later.

Q

 

[rc4man]

Interesting looking exhaust set up. You should have done a How-To with pics of the whole change out.

 

[ins2g8r]

I know this is an old post but thanks for the awesome write up Qman, answered many questions I had. killer ride.

 

[bad_dog_bo]

Awesome write up. Yes I know it's an old old old post, but kudos is still owed.


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[rwpaquette]

A Bagger Story

I was at the last Officially Unofficial Homecoming Rally - ran into a couple of fellow attendees from South Dakota - both of which had custom exhaust setups - one which I particularly liked the sound of.

He explained that he'd removed the stock baffle/packing from his Muscle exhaust and replaced it with a custom baffle. He couldn't think of the manufacturer's name, but based on his description the custom baffle resembled Kegel Balls (we're all grown-ups here, right?)

After searching Amazon, I came across what he described - baffles are a type manufactured by Khrome Werks. I used the 1 3/4 inch version as he recommended, mated to the same diameter straight pipe to keep the stock length.

Mating this to a PC V w/Autotune addressed any tuning issues. The result - one of the best sounding exhaust setups on a V-Rod that I've ever heard. The narrow portions of the baffle retain sufficient back pressure, & the flared portions give it a nice lope. Another good thing about this baffle is that the manufacturer discourages the use of any packing like the stock exhaust has - makes for a simple & straightforward setup, as long as you can find a welder to tack it all together.

Cost breakdown (shipping included):
Pair of 1 3/4 inch baffles by Khrome Werks.....$ 52
Fabrication/install work + tubing.................~$400
PC V w/Autotune ........................................$500

Total investment.......................................~$950

I have one pic on hand of the inner assembly - will have to attach a sound file later.

Q

Thank you for the inspiration. The Muscle is the hardest to find any parts for. Everything always fits the Nightrod or the older models.

 

[chrisbplummer]

I'm new to this forum and I'm still scrolling through the posts, but I wanted to know how you mounted your bags?

 

[Broadwaylee]

As the owner of a 09 MUSCLE I gotta say ohhhhhhhhhhh yeah almost makes me look forward to the winter and this direction for mine