Travis' 883 Sportster Build

Hi there, my name is Travis Dunn and I thought I was alone out here in the wilderness of Takanini, I don’t know anyone else interested in bikes! All my mates are into cars, yawn, so I am glad to have stumbled across an NZ website for like-minded bike builders.

I bought this bike a cupola years ago as just a frame, two wheels and a motor, with heaps of enthusiasm, but little know how.
The frame is from a "77 sportster and the motor out of a smashed "89 883 sporty. I was always fond of the look and styling of the older Harleys and was keen on building it the way I liked them.

 
A lot of the parts have been purchased on good old TradeMe like the headlight, grips, pipes, kickstand etc and other pieces I've made up or adapted. I knocked up the front indicator mounts and made an adapter plate to bolt the kickstand to. I made up a battery box, cut down the rear fender a bit and made some highway peg mounts for the pegs I got on TradeMe (need to stretch the legs). Probably the biggest challenge so far has been the transmission with the rear sprocket being offset to the drive sprocket by around 15mm. I got hold of another 21tooth sprocket and machined the teeth of the old one, welded it to the new one and bored it out so I could get a nut on it.

This bike's been a steep learning curve for me, and it still feels a long way off finishing. I'm a bit stuck on the oil lines and need the switch gear for the bars. The wiring loom's pretty old and I'm not sure if it will be adequate, but I wouldn't know a blue wire from a black one so that mission might be best left for someone that knows what they're doing. I love bikes, always have, ride my VTR 250 to work most days and it goes hard. But I am itching to get my build going, so if anyone can help with these last details that would be cool.

Finally thanks to J for being friendly and informative, appreciate it bro. Special thanks to Karen my missus - thanks hun for putting up with my obsession.
 
Respect to the RATTLERS!

Trav