It was raining a few weeks ago so I did a couple mods that were on the back burner. I had Anarchy Motorcycles replace the derby cover.
A month or so ago I swapped out the old chrome engine guard and highway pegs, I finally got a chance to circle back to replace the Harley-Davidson pegs with proper Kuryakyn Longhorn Offset Highway Pegs.
Gas cap and gauge recap…apparently Arlen Ness gauge wasn’t CAN bus compatible. So replaced with Harley-Davidson, and couldn’t be happier.
Having survived my first love-bugs season, I decided it was worth moving up from a 14″ to a 17″ windshield. I put that on the back burner because I wasn’t ready to spend another $400 on a Harley-Davidson brand 17″ windshield.
Then someone on hdforums.com pointed me to Memphis Shades‘ site, where you can buy a replacement windshield, while recycling the mounting hardware. I was ecstatic, since I’m a huge fan of Harley-Davidson’s fork clamps that leave nothing on the bike when detached (vs Memphis Shades’ unsightly clamps).
A 17″ replacement windshield set me back $92 plus shipping. A couple days later, I spent an hour or so swapping the windshield. Boom! I had 3″ more clearance. As an added plus, the headlight cut-away gave me more options for raising/lowering the windshield. So I could lower it and be 2″ higher than the 14″. After playing with the placement I ended up 2.5″ higher than before, which is perfect.
The Memphis Shades windshield is made of Lucite Acrylic (harder to scratch; easier to shatter), where the Harley-Davidson windshield I’m swapping out uses Hard-coated Polycarbonate (harder to shatter; easier to scratch, although they coat theirs so not really sure).
Harley-Davidson’s windshield is about 10-15% darker as well, probably due to the material. I would say maybe it is age too, but I do remember when I installed it that it had that bit of density. The Memphis Shades windshield is as close to transparent as you can imagine.
Memphis Shades windshields is about 30% thicker than Harley-Davidson windshields (took a close up of them side by side).
So I had to move to the next longer bolt size, from .75″ to 1.0″, which meant I needed to use counter sunk washers for the nuts to set properly. I have to admit, the counter sunk washers do give it quite a custom look.
If you have a Harley-Davidson windshield and plan to go to the next higher size, or lower size, or even if you’re just replacing a scratched one, go with Memphis Shades, you won’t be sorry. 🙂
This was also on my “kick the can down the road” list, but front shocks really should have been one of my first mods, along with the rear shocks. Not much to report here, except they weren’t cheap, but they make a hell of a difference in several ways.
First, the decision came down to Progressive Monotube Kit and Legend Axeo cartridges. The difference between the two, well, I rode both on different bikes, so no conclusive way to tell a difference.
So I relied on reviews on as many sites as possible. The Progressives had a handful of complaints, nothing earth breaking, but a little bit concerning. The Legend had only one complaint, that there is no way to adjust without disassembly.
Progressives were $400, and Legends were $750. I usually try to go with the cheaper choice, but the negative reviews for the former led me to go with the later. Whether there’s a difference between the two in terms of performance, I’ll never know.
But I’ll rest soundly knowing I went with the one that had the best reviews.
Overlander at large 