Frankie's Motorcycles

Frankie's 1985 FXST build project
My experiences can save you some grief, aggrevation and $$$

My current project started in Feb, 1997. I'm building a 1985 Harley davidson FXST from the frame up. I purchased the frame from NW Custom Cycles, Portland, Oregon after I saw an ad they ran in the Sunday Oregonian. The ad looked to be one placed by a private party. It wasn't until I asked for directions that I found out that this offer was really being made by a business. A mildly annoying alarm bell started going off in my head... I really need to listen to that little voice that keeps me safe more often!

I paid $1,800 for the frame, transmission mounting plate, neck bearings and gas tank. Some have said that I paid too much. Others have said that having a titled H-D frame would make registering my essentially custom bike a lot easier. I've got my plate (though no place to bolt it onto). Probably, the price was too high, but I am thankful to not have to look forward to fooling with the DMV when I am ready to hit the street with this machine.

Being a basicly trusting soul, I didn't ask the obvious questions: like, where's the rest of the bike? I figured that the motor, tranny and so on had found a new home in a new frame.... but what I didn't know and failed to ask was why all of the softtail parts (shocks, nuts, bolts and so on) were not there. Obviously, (well, it's obvious *NOW*), these parts could only be used on a 84 or 85 FXST. It's pretty damned unlikely that the owner rebuilt this bike using the same frame type as original, so where did all of those parts go? Wish I knew...

Then there's the limitations of the frame itself that I didn't find out about (or ask about) until I got home. As it turns out, my 1985 frame had a short but checkered life. 1984 and 1985 softtails were chain drive only and would accept rear tires up to 140, instead of the 180+ sizes that are popular today. I also think that I'll need to run a 4-speed as I understand that a 5-speed won't fit. Now when I talked to Ted, the Owner of NW Custom Cycles, I made it very clear to him that I had never done anything like this before and that I would count greatly on the advice and honesty of others to pull this project off. Ted had more than ample opportunity to let me know how restrictive this frame choice would be, relative to aftermarket parts availability and the factory obscelescence of many of the parts this bike used. Ted could have, but he didn't. Would I have been better off using a $750 aftermarket frame? Maybe... the votes still not out on that although I have certainly found it difficult to find parts for this model. The frame seems to be well constructed with no obvious flaws and I am, afterall, learning a lot by using it (which was more or less the motivation for starting this project in the first place)

My second experience with NW Custom Cycles came when I ordered a service manual and a parts manual through them. About 2 weeks later, I called to see where the stuff was and was informed that my order had not been called in yet. Strike 2! A couple of weeks later, I received a call that my manuals had come in. I was proudly told that I had been saved money because NW Custom didn't use their regular supplier who charges retail plus for manuals. Instead, I was able to purchase my manuals for the full retail price, plus a couple of dollars tacked on because I paid with a credit card. Sooo... this was the second time that I paid more than what it would have cost me to deal directly with Motor Company Dealerships. Lesson learned! While I was there, I asked for a quote on an unassembled S&S 96 CI motor. The quote was $4,250 which conveniently was the full retail price that I was quoted by the S&S factory for the same item. Ted's Wife Donna is a perfectly delightful woman and a joy to deal with...but it seemed pretty clear that if I came and saw ted today, he wasn't going to save me any money. Better to learn this early, I think.

Latus H-D wanted $15.50 each, for 4 shock absorber bolts that should retail for ~ 2 bucks each. From what I have been able to learn, Latus is fond of gouging those not-in-the-know, especially for parts that they happen to have in stock that have been declared by the Factory to be "obsolete". Obvioulsy, I won't be doing much business with those guys.

Beaverton H-D turned me off years ago when I looked into buying a new harley there. I was informed that I would be "damned lucky" if I could get one. I was also told that if I didn't want to wait a year for the honor of paying retail plus several thousand $$$, it made no difference to him. If I didn't take one, the next guy in the door would and that I was wasting his valuable time by being in his store without my checkbook. I was also told that the Dealership did not offer test drives. I have been by a couple of times since, usually to purchase small, inexpensive parts. They have always been nice to me, although not remarkably so. Perhaps I hit a bad Salesman or perhaps the Dealership has changed hands since. I dunno and to be honest, I don't really care. The place still looks more like a clothing boutique to me than a bike shop.

My experience with the Royal Moore auto and Titan car dealership defies accurate description. My own experience aside, I've also heard scary things about these guys so I haven't been back since.

I went to visit a Motorcycle shop that's behind the car wash at 17th and Powell. It's little hole-in-the-wall dump with very little inventory. The Owner scoffed at the notion that *I* would be able to build my own bike. After all, he chimed, knowing how to work on Harley Davidsons requires brains and experience! How he determined that I had neither, I will only be able to guess at. Based on his unhelpful and condescending manner, it's highly unlikely that he and I will develop any type of a relationship...business or otherwise. There's a Chinese fast food place across from the Aladin that has pretty decent teriyaki though...

A person in S&S Technical Support turned me on to Gary George at Obsession Cycle. Gary used to run a motor freight Company and is pretty much your basic unpretentious Biker/Trucker type. My biggest complaint with Gary is that he likes to talk a lot. I mean REALLY likes to talk. Sometimes I have places to go and it can be difficult getting away from him sometimes. If that's the worst problem I ever have with these guys, I'll consider myself lucky. Gary's Mechanic is a guy named Ernie who is supposed to be the Prez of the Brothers Speed M/C. I wouldn't know about that, as my Club days are pretty much over with. For damned sure, I am way too old to be prospecting! Ernie is certainly a way competent mechanic and both Gary and Ernie seem honest, fair and forthright in their dealings with others. Ernie is from Maine which is noted for turning out scrupulously straighforward Yankees.

So far, I've bought a rear tire, alloy wheel, rotor, sprocket and brake setup from Obsession. The advice I am getting from them is good and the prices are far better than anything else in Town or via mail order. My biggest concern with Gary is that he's going to discount himself right out of business!

My first noteworthy problem came after I ordered a set of Performance Suspension shocks that cost me $350 and came without the stupid mounting bolts! I picked up a set of what I believe are stock bolts and they just don't fit into the shock eyeholes properly. Either the bolts I have are not stock or the shock holes were not drilled/molded to close enough tolerances. This is complicated by the fact that Harley Davidson has declared these bolts to be obsolete. Herein lies a major difference between H-D and their Jap competitors. Parts for my 1966 Honda Superhawk are still easily available even though Honda hasn't made a model even remotely like the hawk in many decades! The net result, though, is that parts that should be simply "bolt on" are causing me a lot of extra work and running around. I've written a letter to the Motor Company to see if I can get Engineering drawings for my bike and sources for out-of-manufacture parts. The easiest and best solution for this particular problem would have been if PS had included a set of bolts with the shocks instead of depending on the existing hardware to be serviceable. At $475 a set retail, I think there is probably enough profit margin there to do so. One thing I have been noticing lately is that there seems to be a *LOT* of profiteering going on here -- not only regarding huge markups to brand new H-D motorcycles, but at various and most other levels of the business as well. Stay tuned for updates.

Back to the shock problem: Gary purchased a reamer and drilled out the shock bushings to fit the stock bolts. Good luck finding a H-D Dealer to do something like that for you [for free].

Installed a wide glide front end. Greased up the forks real good and still had to pound hell out of them to get them into the top triple tree. The things you don't know doing a job like this alone. I'm sure there must have been an easier way. Maybe I used the wrong kind of grease (lithium)?

My motor arrived. Each major assembly has a little booklet of instructions. The only thing missing is something to tell me where to start! I think I am going to have to press the crankshaft bearing into the left case (which I can't get apart!). Time to ask Gary for the loan of his press and watchful eye so that I don't screw this up!

PROGRESS
Installed so far

Rear tire and wheel, sprocket and rotor
Rear brake calipers
Shocks
Front Forks and brake caliper

This page, along with the project, is constantly evolving. Check back later for the latest!

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