2 questions on 76

[2dimes]

#1 i want to slam the rear end, my shocks are progressives mes. 14 and a 1/4 from center eye to eye. how short of a shock can i run, what about a white bros. style bracket ? any help would be app. i'm running a 16" rear hoop
#2 my bike has an earlier front end with a drum brake and a 18" rim & tire , and i have a 2002 21" front rim and tube from a soft tail is there any way to make this rim fit even changing the whole front end , poss. wide glide conv.
again any help app.

[BobboJama]

Make sure that your chain clears the oil tank. I had 11" shocks on a 78 and that was a very messy lesson... Right at the local ATM drive through.....

[flathead45]

answer 1: 12 is the lowest I'd go , get some shocks for a lowrider or an fx with 12 inch eye to eye

answer 2: yes anything is possable but I wanna know why you have a drum on a 76, that sould be disk

[Y2K]

answer 1: 12 is the lowest I'd go , get some shocks for a lowrider or an fx with 12 inch eye to eye

answer 2: yes anything is possable but I wanna know why you have a drum on a 76, that sould be disk

I agree 12" is the right length,he said he has an earlier front end that's why the drum.
You should be able to get parts for a frontend conversion to those fork tubes easy enough in the aftermarket.Try CCI or Drag Specialties.

[boilermaker]

answer 2: yes anything is possable but I wanna know why you have a drum on a 76, that sould be disk
I believe they had drum brakes until 81 not real sure my manual is out in the shop

[flathead45]

no I have a 72 and that is the last year of drum brakes 73 had a single disk front

they had drum rears for a while tho

[74FeHeadXLH]

I recently was given a pair of Low Rider rear shocks ( I believe they are 12", but may be 11 3/4'')and have changed rear to 16" rim...looks great that low, and rides good as well, however, I have to switch back to the 14" stock shocks in order to put my wife on the back.....as said before check your chain clearence, cause I know mine's real close when I'm running the shorter shocks.....when the $$$ falls out of the tree in a couple weeks I'm gonna get a pair of Progressive's 12 3/4" ...you can look at a few pix of mine from the clicky in my signature, it has the FXLR shocks on it there, any lower would need solid struts

[2dimes]

thanx for the info :clap

[boilermaker]

no I have a 72 and that is the last year of drum brakes 73 had a single disk front

they had drum rears for a while tho
my bad it was the rear I was thinking of and they changed to disc in 81
sorry for the misinformation

[HrdlyDangrs]

You can go the shorter shocks depending on the diameter of your tire. if your using the old style Goodyears or Avons, there's a good chance you'll bottom out on the stock Sportster fender. Of course you can adjust the shocks for the firmest ride, but then its like having solid struts.

One of the things you can do to get more useable Tire/wheel travel is to go with a set of B/T SuperGlide rear fender mounts and the SuperGlide rear fender. Unlike the Sportster straight fender mounts, the Superglide mounts have an offset bend in them which lifts the fender higher off the frame.

The combination of the SuperGlides 12" shocks, rear fender and fender mounts makes for a cool look on the Sporty. Of course because the Super Glides rear fender is wider then the Sporty, you have to mount the fender mounts on the outside of the frame rather then the inside like the stock Sporty mounts. Hrdly :smoke

[2dimes]

i'd like to see pics of the superglide rear stuts and tin sounds cool

[HrdlyDangrs]

Let me se if i can dig up a pic.... :smoke

[75oldschool]

ya i would like to see too.been looking for a differn't rear end look.

[HrdlyDangrs]

OK here's a couple shots of the Super Glide rear fender struts...Got these off the www.sportster.org website under the 'Boutigue' heading. I'm sure theres lots more under the different models..some have descriptions of the parts the owners used. I can't say for sure what size shock their using...look a little taller then the 12-12.5" SuperGlides or the fenders they're using since they're cut down..but you get the idea of the look of the fender mounts and how they affect the height of the fender and clearance. :smoke

[HrdlyDangrs]

You may be able to use your Sportster fender with the SuperGlide fender struts, since the struts also bend 'in', but this is something that you will have to experiment with. You can pick-up used Superglide fender mounts pretty cheap at any swap meet....then try them out using your original Sporty fender and see what you need to do to get make it work as per spacing, etc. :smoke

[flathead45]

heres mine in mockup be for I had the 12" shocks, thore in the pic are japper 11"ers but the rear fender is the set up that hrdly was talkin about http://img87.echo.cx/img87/194/241si.jpg (http://www.imageshack.us)