"Is there enough available real estate on a Dyna to go to a spun aluminum oil bag?" Was the question. Gotta say, the aluminum oil tanks look sexy. If it had a steel tank I'd be doing one. On this series of bikes, the oil 'tank' is cast aluminum and lives under the trans. Less of a plumber's nightmare and no hot tank full of oil under your seat/between your legs. One of the reasons I wanted to use this bike as a starting point. Right now I'm in the middle of trying to get a guy to make an aluminum gas tank for my 900SS Duc. He is supposed to start any day. If that works out, I could see having both fenders made out of aluminum and even think about the gas tank. One day at a time...
You might take a look at matrix composite brakes for Harley Davidsons. They are advertised to be lighter. Here is their web site: http://www.matrixbrakes.com/harleyaftermarketparts.aspx I have no experience with the above product, but it might be something to look at if you want to make the bike lighter. As and alternative, a hot rodded, stripped down mid 90's Sportster can get down to about 450 lbs. with careful part selections, and a four cam motor responds well to modification.
Some other weight saving ideas: Carbon fiber fenders are available for HD's. Aluminum body shocks are good for a few pounds. Lithium ion batteries are a bolt in. Some people have indicated a chain drive conversion is lighter than the belt drive set up. I would think you would have to go to an Al rear sprocket for max. weight loss.
Chain drive is a good bit lighter, those pulleys are stupid heavy. But the main thing is that chain drive does'nt eat up nearly as much power and they tend to be a bit stronger. Down side is the maintenance factor, clean adjust and lube every 4-500 and replace every 15-30k depending on how you maintain it, and aluminium sprockets have almost no lifespan on the street, there are hybrids with aluminium hubs and steel tooth rings, or there are a few that do custom steels that don't weight much more than aluminium.
Well every measurement I've ever seen...depending of course on tension and length of the parts reads as follows 95-98% power transfer for chain, 90-95% power transfer for belt and shaft drives are all over the place with 80-95% power fransfer depending on lash and whether or not you have straight bevels or helical cut gears...and drive angle makes a huge difference too. I do know I've never seen a belt drive freewheel when you spin it by hand like a chain will, purely unscientific way to tell there is more resistance there. Another advantage is when it comes to repairs too, belts take 1/4 the time to fix than a shaft, chains take 1/4 the time that belts do.
On a slightly related note: Buell Ulysses Wheels - $400 (Lakeside) http://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/mcy/4041993365.html Great price, if you can make even one of them work. I wonder if I could make those work on an FLH...
Like the cleanliness and lack of maintenance of the belt. Already planned on the LiFe battery. Did one on my Duc and saved 10 lbs, on my bud's BMW it saved 20. Ex-G/F had an '89 Sporty. Prob shaved 50+ lbs off that. When I was done it was a pretty nice bike. Kinda like the big twin thing for a sport-tourer. Seems to fit the goal better. If you guys have leads on carbon fenders, I'd love to see them. Having an aluminum gas tank made for the Duc now. If it works out, I'll talk to the guy about fenders and maybe a gas tank. Waiting for the brake parts to arrive. That and trying to find my digital scale. Trapp should be here this week.
Pretty sexy and pretty cheap. Front would take a ton of work. Wonder about the back one. Look seriously wider than the Dyna. Thanks for the lead/thoughts. -Armen
Airtech made the carbon fiber fender for the front of my Sportster. They can help, as they say, that anything they make in fiberglass they can also make in carbon fiber. Not much weight savings between fiberglass and carbon fiber though. Check out their website. http://www.airtech-streamlining.com/ Also, take a look at foot pegs and controls. Stock HD foot pegs are way too heavy.
To use the Buell front wheel and perimeter disc, do a front end swap using the Buell front end. You may end up with a heavier front end, USD forks tend to be heavier than conventional, but it'll look trick and probably be more stable. I went to the Harley Drags at Bowling Green a few years back and saw this swap done on several bikes.
Upside-down forks are usually heavier. The forks on the HD are actually cartridge forks and hopefully can be revalved to a pretty OK ride. And the project is about a) getting it done without a ton of work, and b) keeping the weight down. Thanks for the input. Master cylinder arrived today. Caliper should be Friday. Trapp hopefully tomorrow. Still can't find my small digital scale...
The those buell wheels require buell forks as the hub is not made to support a standard brake position. here is a rear shock for the dyna: thread,www.hotbikeweb.com/tech/1109_hbkp_dyna_suspension_upgrade/ front fork mods by racetech,http://forums.streetchopperweb.com/70/8371900/custom-choppers/street-choppers-daily-dyna-build/
Well, good news/bad news.... Got the Trapp exhaust. Last one I did on a Sporty was brushed stainless. This one is chrome and the chrome is pretty nice. Fit and finish are top shelf. The bike had an aftermarket set of 2-2 baloney pipes on it and was REALLY LOUD!!!! For three years I've been listening to the owner say he was going to put a quieter system on and it finally happened : ) Bad news-the Trapp weighed in at about 18 lbs, which is almost exactly what the aftermarket noise canons on the bike weighed. I'm sure the Trapp weighs less than the stock set up (so does the Queen Mary), but I was looking for weight loss from where it was, not stock. Good news is that the sound quality is beautiful and the sound quantity is greatly reduced. After some head scratching and farting around we settled on 13 discs. I'm sure the bike would make more peak HP with more discs/noise-but that isn't what the bike is about. Next is to get a Screaming Eagle airbox assembly and start playing with jetting. Tomorrow is a run to establish baseline gas mileage.
Hmm, i thought they had a ceramic, or at least black set of pipes available. Too bad, chrome is sooooo heavy.
Not much of a fan of the black coatings. Dirty water bakes on and is very tough to clean. Don't think the chrome plating is what makes the Trapp 'heavy', I think it was a total lack of baffles in the other aftermarket pipe that made it light. The 2-2 that was on there was basically wide open. The Trapp has fiberglass packing, perforated metal, a stack of discs, and an end cap. Still only weighs about 18 lbs. Sure that is lighter than stock. VERY nice sound quality, much less noise. Off to other places to drop some tonnage. -Armen
I dig this thread. I'd like to get a Sporty but I don't want to wrestle a 500+ lbs bike in traffic. Perhaps 450 lbs is attainable for a Sporty without spending too much.
Hey Wheelbender, I've thought about doing a Sporty again. Kinda fixated on the XL1200S as a starting point. Pre-04 means pre-Rubberster means 60+ lbs less. Still lots of crap to remove to drop serious weight. The pre-rubbersters weigh about as much as a modern Bonnie. Can only work on so many bikes at once : ) -Armen