New Project Bike

Well, we finally did it. We traded in our 2006 Heritage-style Softail for a brand spanking new (to us) 2008 Fat Boy. Ah, new closed loop fuel injection, six-speed transmission, radial tires on 17-inch wheels . . . bitchin'. It was tough to let go of the '06 model (we enjoyed a lot of seat time on that bike), but the lure of 96 ci and a 200-17 rear tire was too much to resist. Plus, we now have the opportunity to fix up the Fat Boy the way we want and that's half the fun.

What we have in mind for the Fat Boy is a commuter/touring model--Softail-style.

We've put a fair amount of miles on a FLHT standard this past year and enjoyed those miles, also. But, the lower seating position and overall height, along with the balanced engine of the FL Softail model is the perfect combination for us (or at least, one of us).

For our very first job we wanted to add some instruments to keep track of what's going on. The first item was an oil temperature dip stick, second was a handlebar mounted clock, (don't snicker, we haven't missed a dinner yet) and a new speedo/tach combination. The hot ticket for the tachometer function is so we could monitor engine rpm at highway speeds while getting used to the new six-speed transmission. Now, at 70 miles an hour in top gear you're only turning about 2,750 rpms where as before with the five-speed it was right at 3,000 rpm's. Another thing we like about the new speedo/tach is the ability of the numbers and needles to change colors, yes, change colors, at the moment we have ours set on a "green" hue.

Installing these three gauges took about an hour and half in the driveway. The oil temp dip stick took all of five seconds, the clock about 20 minutes, and the rest of the time was spent on the speedo/tach. There's nothing hard about any of these installations, anyone can do them with hand tools.