Fatal Crash , Harley sportster / scrambler transformation

June 16th , 2019 My friend Chris Mott made critical and fatal mistakes .
1. Riding without proper gear , and no helmet .
2. Drinking and riding
3. Not calling someone to come get him and his bike .

Being typical Chris , he never did anything halfway . It was constant full throttle , wide open !

With every aspect of his life Chris lived on the edge . He decided to meet a couple buddies for a few too many drinks , and than ride the 2 miles home . He didn't make it .

At approx 1 mile from the bar (half way home) and 80 mph , chris passed out and fell off the left side of the bike land head first on the pavement . chris rolled another 115 feet , the bike another 200 feet on its left side .

with multiple abrasions and broken bones , chris was loaded into an ambulance ( helocopter was called off ) Chris was brain dead . chris's body held on with life support for another 5 days until organ donation was set up . chris saved alot of lives , but couldnt save his own .

I heard thru the grapevine that his bike was going to be sent to the scrap yard , nodody in the family wanted such a cursed vehicle . ( i dont believe in such things ) I offered to pay the bike off what was owed on it , if I could have the bike and title .

so 2 days later I had the bike , and started dismantling .... it was a mess , I was a mess . i sat down and looked at the bike with tears not knowing what I was doing , I hated harley's and I hated this bike ...... But I couldnt let her go to the scrap yard , for Chris .

A mutual friend stopped by , not knowing I had chris's bike . he looked at it and said who's POS are you working on now ? Thats Chris's bike , i answered . He looked nme right in the eye and said , wow bro I'm sorry ! I didnt know .

Its all good , I just dont know what to do with it ..........

He said, Remember being at chris's and you telling him if anything was to happen you were going to make the bike into a dual sport ????? and the memory came back !!!!!

so the Sportster / scrambler build had started !

as of right now I have the bike back together , waiting on rearsets and a fuel programmer .... but its coming along , chris would be proud !

dismantling and stripping parts

welding broken welds , new tires have arrived - Kenda Big Blocks

new paint ! Headlights off of a early 80's amf sportster Tires are mounted the old BeeDub threefitty

low brow custom shotguns

BENT !!!!! disassembly of the clutch for the new shifter shaft

I have a video of the first start , but it wont let me upload it .

th

thank you ! its been pretty emotional !

Sorry for your loss, I hope this build brings you peace.
It is a very nice build and I wish it was under different circumstances.

thank you it has , first ride is going to be a tear jerker

Sorry for your loss. I can’t think of a better way to remember a buddy. Thank you for sharing.

Joe

Extremely well balanced. It pulls harder than I ever thought. I need to do a chain conversion on it , even at idle it's way too fast for trails. I'd end up burning the clutch up !

primary gearing on a buell would drop the idle mph speed a bit, besides the tuff chain adjuster. they also closed the gap on 2nd gear in the trany if you get into that.
nice bike a sportster makes just not a light one.

Cool bike and great (although sad) story behind it.
What did you use for a rear wheel?

That is a badass transformation! Great job honoring your friend's memory.

I am the furthest from being a Harley fan, but I like the results of your work. It looks very nice. Good job and sorry for your loss.

When you said he passed out I assumed it was late at night not mid afternoon. I quit riding with a few guys that liked to drink and ride but mostly hit the bars at night. I got many a call at 2 or later in the morning to come pull one of their bikes out of a ditch so the cops wouldn't catch them .amazingly ,none of the accidents led to any serious injuries. What happened to the black seat I saw on one of the pics. I think I liked the contrast a little better than the tan one but a great job none the less.