Go Sportsters

A scrambler build should include knobby enough tires to compensate for the lack of a cush drive. KTM guys have been relying on dual sport tires to make reliable non cush adventure bikes out of EXCs for years.

Yep, not saying it couldn't be done and work just fine, but...

Years ago I converted an XR600R into a D/S. The R didn't have a cush drive, whereas the factory D/S L model did. Great bike! Until third gear grenaded.

Coincidence? But, it did make me realize that engineers didn't create cush drives just for shits and giggles...

Well, I guess it's not too bad to replace a belt on a Sporty, now that I think about it, with a few tools, as long as you carry them and a spare belt with you. That's a WHOLE different story on my Buell though due to the way the swingarm pivot is set up on the tubers. Definitely not a roadside repair on that bike. But with the relative easy of replacing the Sportster belt, and unless it proves to be a commonly occurring problem, it may be worth just carrying a spare and the necessary tools, as long as you have a way to carry them.

I'll be following your build thread now.

This is my latest addition. 97 in great shape. Want to add some knobbies, but you know as soon as you start it just keeps going.

Looks a lot like my '99. Great bike, congrats!

Actually, XLH Ironheads had compensators on the end of the crank. The XLCH did not until 1970 and later.
Big twins got compensators in the mid 50's also.

Thanks for the correction. My knowledge of Ironheads is mainly of the 1960's magneto CH, which didn't have one.

in Ontario Canada


My Sporty out west in 2012 with diamond plate on the detachable HD tourpack rack with the addition of the tool tubes.

Nice bike! I'm a big fan of the 1200R. It looks good in blue.

I see we have similar tastes in other bikes too. I've also owned an RD350 and a Ulysses.

Wow, love the look of that 1200R! Fairinig looks great too ... wonder if it'd fit a VT750DC Spirit?

Nice I wish I had also found a blue one but my '97 is boring black:

My belt has now done about 13 000km with 3 gravel holes in it. I carry the original (with only one gravel hole) as a spare when I ride in the bush (Australia has heaps of bush). I could change it out at the side of the road if I had to. (Hope I never have to!)
Right now, that is the least of my problems. I have realized that if the beast falls over, I cannot pick it up by myself.
I know that Dave Barr fitted a winch to his, on his "Southern Cross" tour, and I have seen a KTM with a winch. Anyone got any suggestions?
Rob

Those pipes are nice! Also the spoked wheels look much better than mags.

That has to be a GREAT idea! I'm wondering if that caliper would fit my 13 spoke cast wheel ? (2004 883 originally) Any suggestions?
Rob

If you ever want/need to do dual front brake conversion, you'll be happy you have mags...

Wow! You're riding it with three holes in the belt? That would make me a little nervous. Of course if a belt breaks I don't guess it'll do any real damage to the cases like a chain... and if you have a spare with you...

As far as picking it up... Sure you can, with the proper technique. Hell, I'm 5'7" and weigh 145lbs, and I've picked my R1150GS up by myself a couple of times with no problem. And, it's heavier and much taller than a Sporty.

The first time was in my garage. Yeah, I know, who drops their bike in the garage, right? Well, I was just about to pull out when I decided to dismount without remembering to put the side stand back down. By the time I realized it, it was beyond the point where I could catch it and over she went. :eek1 When it first happened I thought, well shit, there goes my ride today because there's no way in hell I'm gettin' this pig back upright by myself. Then I remembered seeing a video once of an older lady picking up a big bike, like a wing or bagger or something, all by herself. I tried what I remembered and up she came with no problem at all.

Then a few weeks ago I actually went down! Relatively low speed but the bike did slide 6 feet or so on its side and I came off instead of just stepping off like before. The bike ended up on its left side with its front wheel up on the pavement and the rear in the dirt off the edge of the pavement with about an 8 to 10 inch drop-off. So, now I had a big heavy pig, loaded down with full bags and all my camping gear strapped across the back, in a weird position on unlevel ground. Once I spent a couple of minutes assessing the situation, again, I thought that there is no way in hell I'm getting this thing up and that I'd have to wait until someone stopped to help. But after a couple more minutes my worries about whether or not the bike was gonna get me home made me decide to just say screw it and give it a try so I could check things over. This time it was a little more trouble but that was mainly because once I had it upright I couldn't put the stand down to mount it, and the rear tire was down in a hole making the bike pretty unlevel and hard to stabilize so I could get my short ass leg over it with all the gear I had loaded on it.

I would think a Sportster would be much easier to get up since its COG is so much lower, but the technique is the same. Stand on the side the bike is laying on facing away from the bike. Squat down and put your butt against the seat. Turn the bars so that the lower grip is closest to the seat (laying on left side for example, turn front wheel to full lock left). Now grab that low side grip with the right hand (again, with the right side nap example), and the fender strut, or whatever you have available ,with the left. Now, basically you just start slowly walking backward as you lift the bike back up. There are a few other little tips like putting the bike in gear to stop it from rolling, etc, but if you google "picking up a motorcycle" and watch a few videos you'll see how easily it works. Hopefully you'll never need it, but everyone should learn the technique just in case. It's saved my ass!

Here's the spot I went down...





Sorta hard to see the pavement drop-off in this pic but it was pretty high. Now I wish I had snapped a pic while the bike was down but at the time I was just worried about damage and how I was going to get home! The scrape marks where mine and the bike ended up fairly perpendicular to the edge of the pavement, pointing to the left with rear in the dirt.

And here's how the bike was loaded that day...




I picked it up fully loaded, and luckily there was no real damage other than some grinding on the engine guard and lower part of the left side bag.

That is awesome, great to see a Sportster loaded up like that.

On second thought, and after looking at what's available, that exhaust isn't a bad choice, short of something completely custom. It tucks in tight, allows use of either mids or rear sets, doesn't create heat issues on the legs, and doesn't cause problems with passenger pegs or mounting luggage. I like keeping options open in case I decide to make changes to my build plan midstream.

I wish the muffler section had a more conventional round or oval shape instead of that funky triangular cone shape, but it's passable I guess.

Maybe looks better in black?

My 2002 adventure sportster. About halfway done with the mods to the bike, then it's on to a luggage system complete with trailer. As the bike sits I have 7.5" of clearance to the bottom of the frame and 7" to the bottom of the pipe. Once my suspension and exhaust mods are completed I hope to have a respectable 8" ground clearance with improved travel.







Regards

Rod