Blog
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Performance Sportster – Rear light
Rear light, license plate light and license plate holder designed into one assembly. Motorcycle arrived from the USA with side mounted license plate, but I am not a fan of that solution because in Europe our license plates tend to be enormous. Initially I was planning to mount rear light under the rear fender, however…
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Performance Sportster – Wheels
Billet aluminium wheel blanks from USA. R19x3.00 for the front and R18x5.5 for the rear. Planned 100mm tyre in the front and 180mm tyre in the rear. The CNC machining center is too small to process the blank in one go, so it has to be done in parts.
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Performance Sportster – Wheels hubs
Hubs have been designed to match OEM Harley-Davidson Sportster hubs dimensions. The widths between the bearings are the same. The bearing housings are the same. The brake rotors and the pulley bolts patterns are the same. This means that all the hubs are a little bit different, none of them are the same. CNC machined…
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Performance Sportster – Dashboard
It is a continuation of already created handlebar risers. Uses same bottoms and the top is the same just with integrated dashboard. Very similar layout as OEM Harley-Davidson Sportster dashboard. But here you can adjust the angle of the gauge.
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Performance Sportster – Revising components design
The control switches have been completely redesigned as previous solution revealed usability issues. In this iteration buttons have been moved closer towards the driver for easier reachability and the profile was changed for the same reason. The overall change made it possible to reroute wires so it would be much easier to install.
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Performance Sportster – Revising components design
It turned out that Kawasaki ZX-6R ’05-’06 front forks are the better option than ’03-’04. Newer model use 300mm front brake rotors instead of 280mm. And front fender mounting points continue up to ’08. I did have newer forks in my possession, so I did develop new front fender brackets and fork guards. Still, the…
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Performance Sportster – Revising components design
It turned out that there is no need for a custom front axle as OEM Kawasaki ZX-6R front axle is the same diameter as Harley-Davidson Sportster. I have not been happy with prototype wheel spacers. Neither appearance, nor manufacturing process. So they have been updated to make them visually more appealing. The same goes for…
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Performance Sportster – Stage 1 finished
The first stage for the Sportster is finished. It is road worthy again. It meets all local technical requirements and it can be driven on the roads legally. The next step will probably be to clean up the looks. The fuel tank needs repairs, obviously, and I have to figure out what I want to do with the wheels.…
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Performance Sportster – Various components
I had these terribly looking Tokico radial front brake calipers to go with the forks. Never had to work with calipers in this condition, so it is the first time for me. After sand blasting, the calipers have been fully disassembled and cleaned. A lot of dirt and brake fluid which was more like a…
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Performance Sportster – Controls
The design idea was to bring buttons surfaces as close to the handlebar as possible. In most of existing solutions buttons are quite more distant from the handlebars. Second operation fixturing is quite sketchy. I should revisit it later. However, the shape of the housing does not make it easy to hold. There is not…
