What was I thinking?

Now, be serious. I've never been known as Captain Sensible. I've owned a lot of sport-tourers, for sure, but what have been my favorite bikes? C'mon, I go for the way things feel, always have. My true all-time favorite pure riding bike is the Ducati SS750ie. . . of which I've owned three. Sold the first two because I couldn't justify keeping them alongside more practical mounts- the sport-tourers that I commuted to work on, rode to Nova Scotia on. Now I've got one I built for the track from a salvage bike- a near-total-wreck- that I thankfully have so much more invested in that it could ever conceivably be worth and so, selling it would be futile. I love the smaller motor simply because it does need to be shifted more.

Bland motorcycle are easier to ride, get you through a long day in comfort, provide you with no unpleasant surprises. . . but where's the juice? You've got an hour to go for a ride- is it worth it? Nah. When I had my SR500, it was. . . you could get into a whole day's worth of trouble in far less than an hour. The kickstarting ritual alone was almost enough- you hardly needed to leave the driveway.

So tell me- why was I in the process of taking one of the world's most excellent hooligan motorcycles, the Harley-Davidson XL1200S and putting hard bags on it, trying to make it into something it's not, and neither of us would be happy with? Dunno, but I've come to my senses, apparently.

Okay. All is not lost. I hadn't started to put the hard bags on, and since I paid (on eBay) quite a bit less than half retail for a complete new set, I don't think it will be difficult to recoup the money from somebody that has the XL1200C they belong on. Everything else I'd already gotten or had on order was still pretty appropriate: the Screamin' Eagle airbox kit, the Dynojet carb recalibration kit, solo rear rack. I've got a Corbin Classic Solo seat on order, all black, no welt, that will look smashing, and an oil cooler for the left down tube.

What caused the change of heart, you may well ask? When I was first working on the '75 Ironhead (a long-term project that has, er, become a little more long-term lately), I looked at a lot of exhaust systemts, and decided that the SuperTrapp 2:1 for the Evo, with its beautifully curved headers and subtly upswept muffler is one of the best-looking setups on any bike, especially in stainless steel. But, of course, it doesn't cooperate well with luggage in general and not at all with hard bags, and, it tends to be loud, and it was originally intended to be a race system. These factors insured that it didn't get much traction around the house. Then, shortly after I got my sportster, another arrived at our house, an '06 XL1200R- and interestingly enough, a BUB/ Rinehart 2:1 was acquired for that- and that system isn't known for its delicacy. Last week, though, in an idle moment, I was doodling around on eBay. . . and two days later my careful snipe got me a brand-new stainless-steel SuperTrapp system.

So, this is where I find myself, setting up a hooligan Sportster that will probably be loud, impractical, dangerous, and loads of fun. Right now, it's on the lift, still a bit dirty-looking, without seat or exhaust, air cleaner off, waiting for a rear tire, too. The tire and belt tension guide should arrive this week, although I'll probably have to wait until next week for the SuperTrapp. Saturday could be a big day; rear tire mounted, carb cleaned and rejetted, airbox on various small rust spots painted with Rust Bullet. Should be a good day, and I'll be back here with pics.