[sladerholt]

I finally got everything together to swap tires on my 8-ball to a 250. Its going slowly but surely. Thank to Kevin, Erk, Bubba for the advice and comments -sa

 

[sladerholt]

This was after I had already removed a few parts, but it's definitely still stock

I was surprised how heavy that rear support was.

Tin Can!

My wife hates this photo... I still haven't ridden the bike of 10 miles yet and I ripped it apart.

Fat is good!

Fat is on!

Couldn't resist sticking the fender on the old strut, just to start getting an idea of how it was going to look.I am not nowhere near finished, but I am well on the way. I still have to cut the rear strut, make brackets for fender, etc... I can't wait! I will post more photos as I go. -sa

 

[Cessna]

Great photos of an ambitious undertaking. Like to see more when you have them.

 

[reddog3769]

Excellent job so far. Looks great.

Good luck with the rest and be sure to post more pics.

 

[bubba]

Will look great!! Nice Work

 

[Clubford00]

Lookin great so far . If you can , put the pictures in the gallery so we can blow em up a little and really see.
Thanks

 

[sladerholt]

I made the photos a little bigger...

 

[Clubford00]

Much better , thanks. lookin good

 

[randysfishing]

Wow thats a project for sure
keep the updates comming

 

[kevinx]

Getting there for sure. Are you gonna make it a solo bike, or reinforce the rear strus for passenger duty??

 

[sladerholt]

Yes, the bike will ride two up. I have a matching cruiser seat for the rear that my wife would divorce me over if I did not put it on. So, I have some fabricating to do on the seat itself - I already cut the "ears" off the bottom of the seat so they can grow. I am working on some cool shaped extensions that will fit over the fender to bolt into the side. I can still take it off and ride solo without scratches to the paint.

And yes, I am working on sub-frame bracing much like Eriks bike, but my front bracket pattern is a little different. You can bolt those suckers in there several different ways. Actually, I am considering doing a complete "bolt on" set of brackets - no welds! I have an interesting idea with some larger angle iron that I think is safe, and prevents any welding from taking place. Nothing against welding, but you can tighten a bolt enough and lock it in place with Lok Tite that if it ever did get loose you know it. With welds in blind spots, it can be difficult to tell there is a problem before theres trouble.

Everything seems to be going pretty good. Tommy Jo (guy holding the tires) had an awesome idea for extending the front pulley cover with some stainless extension tubes.

We did have a heck of a time getting the wheel on and off the swing arm the correct way with all the spacers in the right places with the pulley. I used my 05 pulley and had to drill out the holes to make the lugs fit through, but it worked out great. I put stuff on backwards - typical "I have never done this before" kinds of things going on. The best one was trying to use spacers to fill the gap because we forgot that the brake caliper was suppose be a spacer on the axle.

The only real concern I have at this point is (after all the on and off with the wheel) the alignment. With the spacers and everything in place, the wheel was very tight to get in place. When the tire seems "centered" the tick marks on each side of the axle are off by almost one whole tick mark. If I line up the ticks on each side, the tire "seems" to push left of center. ???? I can't be riding crooked, but I don't know if it has anything to do with the "After market" chrome axle bolt on the left side of the bike that has its own ticks.

Any idea?

Oh yeah, what size are rear pulley lugs? We had to buy some "get by's" at the parts store. Parts guy seem to think they are 11MM with a 1.5 course thread = UNCOMMON.

And what the hell is up with Metric v. Standard bolts all over the bike? It's an American bike, but Victory must have been buying bolts that were on sale from all over the world - gets aggravating to keep digging through 2 sets of tools.

 

[kevinx]

Don't worry about the tick marks. They are only there to ball park you. They fit loose on the axle, and if you push one side forward while the other goes back. It can be moved an entire tick. Without ever moving the wheel.
I may be wrong, but I believe the JP, and Vegas used the same spacers. Tried to look it up, but could not find them in the silly on line catalogue.

 

[reddog3769]

Here are a couple of pics of what we did to mine.

You can see in the first three pics where we widen the rear supports and then on the fender where we put two strips in to widen it to fit the new rear supports.

 

[reddog3769]

Slader we up here in the Great White North have to do that all the time. When I buy a new set of wrenchs I always end up having to get one metric and one SAE.

Makes for a full tool box. and of course more tools which is never a bad thing..
And of course it's great cause Mama can't say no...

 

[sladerholt]

Well just set it on the ground why dont ya!!! That's awesome. I would like to use my factory sub frame, but I am scared I don't have the tolerance between the fender wall and the tire which is only about 1/2 an inch. So custom fender supports are in the works.

I am going to "bolt" everything on (no welds) and make the brackets to where I can ride the fender High OR Low just by changing the bolts in the bracket on the fly... it;s a cool concept, I just have to be very careful about the pivot point the big bolt.

Nice job Reddog!

Hey, by the way, your handle bars, does anyone make those with a lower profile riser? I love the bars, just not the height. -sa

 

[sladerholt]

Slader we up here in the Great White North have to do that all the time. When I buy a new set of wrenchs I always end up having to get one metric and one SAE.

Makes for a full tool box. and of course more tools which is never a bad thing..
And of course it's great cause Mama can't say no...

Yeah it's not so bad once I figured everything out, but wow... who goes from a 1/2 bolt in part to a 14mm two feet on the same bike? It just struck me as odd.... -sa

P.S. Whoever said this conversion was simple is LIAR! HAhahaa.... But that's bike world and that is why I love it!

 

[reddog3769]

Sounds like you have a good idea there. I had to change the preload if I wanted to change the height.

Not that I know of, the bars are Ness pull backs. 2" up and 2" back. Real comfortable. You might be able to cut a piece out of the riser and weld them back together to lower them.

I know what you mean about the bolts but they should all be metric, at least I thought they were all metric. If you have standard bolts on your bike someone might have done a swap put.

There's a question for the masses... What about it; has anyone else found metric and standard bolts on their Victory ??

 

[sladerholt]

So here is my basic concept for an "Adjustable Fender Bracket"... shouldn't be too hard. What do ya'll think???

 

[bored76]

sladerholt, how's the build going?

 

[sladerholt]

Done! I will be out of town (unexpected trip) till mid week. I will post the pics when I get back. Ride on.. -sa