My 2002 Sportster bobber project

Just thought I would post some pictures of my Sportster I've been building. I just got it a few months ago. It is a 2002 883 with only 7400 miles. It was bone stock except for some SE slip ons. I have done all the work myself and so far I only have about $80 in it besides the cost of the bike.
This is what it looked like when I got it


Then I made a tank raise, blacked out the forks and rear wheel, and relocated the coil and ignition switch



Then I got a deal on seat



Then this week I did the "paint". I stripped the paint off the tins and rusted it out then cleared over it. I also blacked out the fender struts and smoked the tail light. All the turn signals and speedo is removed as well I also "aged" the hand controls. I have more plans but I think it is coming along pretty good so far.

Looks cool.

Any legal issues around riding a bike without signals or a speedo?

Looks good. Time to black out those silver engine cases next?

I'm not sure on the legal part of no signals or speedo. My last bike I had it set up the same way for 7 years and never had a problem so I don't worry about it.

now you need some big ol ape hangers

DOODLE BUGG wrote:now you need some big ol ape hangers

Apes are definately in the plans. I had 18's on my last one but I am probably just going to do 14's on this one.

It probably depends on what kind of a mood the officer is in and whether he likes bikes.

I don't think there are any legal issues on the turn signals, no speedo may be another issue. I have never had turn signals on my bike but then again it's a '65 Honda and was made without them.

Now that's Sweet!!!!

Well I ran into some issues with the rust. Apparently it was all superficial and was not attached to the metal at all. It started chiping real easy and flaking off yesterday I could put blue painters tape on and area and just pull it all off when I removed the tape. Soo.....I decided to strip it all back down and just let it rust naturally at its own pace then clear it later.
Here is some pictures of how it looks now. It is not cleared now so it will continue to age and eventually I will clear it. I also blacked out the headlight bucket today.

Rusting naturally could take months...by that time you'll have done traded this one away and gone through 3-4 others . J/K, sucks the rust you want just falls off, and the rust you don't want sticks around forever! I liked the rust in the earlier pics, in the far away picture it almost looked like wood.

i like this look better- the orange rust looked unnatural to me- too uniform

fluxcap wrote:Rusting naturally could take months...by that time you'll have done traded this one away and gone through 3-4 others . J/K, sucks the rust you want just falls off, and the rust you don't want sticks around forever! I liked the rust in the earlier pics, in the far away picture it almost looked like wood.

Yeah if you keep it long enough make it into a woody cycle. ( liked the first look also - but Im sure it will still turnout cool )

You could always paint some primer on it, then some flat black, sand until you get the "faux-tina" looks, and then clear over it

Thanks guys
I think it looks pretty cool still and should look even better with a little time. I'm going to Panama City for the Thunder Beach rally this weekend so the salt water should help it along

Sorry to hear it didn't work out. But it sure looked cool for a few days.