Sportster Lehman Conversion - XXXL1200

Two years ago I saw the new Harley (Lehman) Ultra Tri glide and fell in love. Alas I am too small. Then comes the Street Glide Trike. In my mind it was smaller but again upon a trial fit, no go. Being a happy XL883L owner, I asked Hubby if he thought Harley will ever make a Sportster Trike? He said probably not, but Lehman does them for Harley and they make a kit for my Sporty... and the rest is history.

Below is a chronicle of the conversion. I take it on its Maiden Voyage tomorrow... (April 2) Very excited!

Conversion Step one:
Have him add some chrome to my very plain Sportster engine and up the 883 to 1200cc, high flow and V-H exhaust, with SEPST then get it ready to ship to the builder "Trike My Bike" in Windsor Ontario
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The guys at "Trike My Bike" start the teardown and the transformation begins
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(Continued)
They do the trial fit of the body, pipes etc
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and before you know it...
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And the story ends with me as happy as a schoolgirl:yay:
It's been undercover in our garage since January but I plan on making "Good Friday" a "Great Friday" arty:

Congratulations on your new baby, jwiz! The sportster makes a beautiful trike. You will love triking!

NICE!! I like Sportsters too. I had a '06 883 "no letter" that I was slowly but surely converting into a "C". You might consider getting a "C" seat, then the big gas tank will fit. The real beauty of punching the 883 out to 1200 is it keeps the lower ratio on the primary making it wickedly quick as a bike. Another nice thing is that head porting shops that know what they're doing can get more flow out of the 883 heads making it even quicker. Enjoy your Sporty trike!!

NM

jwlz said:

Two years ago I saw the new Harley (Lehman) Ultra Tri glide and fell in love. Alas I am too small. Then comes the Street Glide Trike. . .

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Too small as in short? I am not small as in size but my feet don't reach the peddles. LOL I am 5 feet nothing jwlz, are you taller than me? Just in case I ever want one of my own.

Lil Pest said:

Too small as in short? I am not small as in size but my feet don't reach the peddles. LOL I am 5 feet nothing jwlz, are you taller than me? Just in case I ever want one of my own.

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Nope, about the same I guess... I'm 4'11" and the issue was not so much the peddles but more the reach when you are turning. It's quite a stretch over the tank on the big twin trikes to keep a grip on the clutch turning right and the throttle turning left... plus I feel really comfortable on my sporty.

jwiz welcome aboard. NM's suggestion on the "C or L" seat and the bigger tank are something you will really want to consider if you are going to do any riding. The extra 1 gal + will mean that you will be able to make the same fuel stops as most everyone else. With the peanut tank you will be needing to stop at around 100 miles. Every one else usually is looking at every 150 miles.

Lil Pest you would easily fit on this trike at your 5 ft nothing. You might also look at a fatboy/champion like Nana rides she fits it well.

Nauga Mok said:

NICE!! I like Sportsters too. I had a '06 883 "no letter" that I was slowly but surely converting into a "C". You might consider getting a "C" seat, then the big gas tank will fit. The real beauty of punching the 883 out to 1200 is it keeps the lower ratio on the primary making it wickedly quick as a bike. Another nice thing is that head porting shops that know what they're doing can get more flow out of the 883 heads making it even quicker. Enjoy your Sporty trike!!

NM

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My husband wanted to put the bigger tank, but I like the peanut tank's classic style. Maybe 3.5 gallon size is not as practical, but I love the way it looks. Also my new seat is a Corbin "close" so it gets me closer to the handlebars. (this is a need for me).

Thanks for the suggestions though:yes:

PS to Iron Butt.... When I need gas at a 100 miles my husband will stop... OR ELSE

jwiz I understand you have to like what you ride. You will probably get around 40 mpg so you probably will be able to push it to 120 before stopping. Good luck on the ride later today we will be waiting for your post of the experience. Go slow and careful it will be real strange at first but you will catch-on real fast. After 300 to 500 miles you will almost be old hat at it.

Thanks Iron Butt... I will go slow for the first few rides. Hubby has a new bike to break in as well so we are planning a few short hops to start. As you can tell my the time i'm having a hard time sleeping:blush: It's just that this is the first real break in the weather we've had up here that we are both off together so a little excited and apprehensive and curious all at the same time.

Julie - JWLZ

I can understand the "excited" part! Just remember to not put your feet down. 'Course for us "under tall" people, that's not at all hard to get used to. I thought it looked like you'd upgraded the seat. That was the first thing I did to my Sporty! I rode it home & before I rode it again, it had a Sundowner on it. You can change the bars & help your reach problem. I was going to use the "C" risers to get the reach better, but that required changing the headlight. Like you I LIKED the look of the Sporty the way it was, so I ended up changing the bars. I ended up using the "pull back" bars. Even though the book sez ya gotta change the cables, I found the stock cables worked fine, so I only changed the brake line & extended the wiring to the bars. 'Course if you're looking for an excuse to get the stainless braided cables -----. I ran into the same problem when I upgraded the Sporty to the Ultra, but the touring reach bars worked great. Yeah, 'Pest was picked WAY too quick to reach the peddals on the Ultra!! She'll probably clobber me for that, huh?? Enjoy your ride!!!

NM

Woo-hoo and congratulations, jwlz!!!
Be sure to let us know how the maiden voyage goes. Hope you have great weather for it!

Congratulations on you "new" trike. You'll havwe a great time on it I am sure. How large is the storage area on the raider kit?

Congrats, it looks great...........I know your gunna love it. Take your time, KEEP THOSE FEET UP, and let us know how it goes.

Very nice indeed! We (my wife and I) have had sporties in the past and really loved them! Congrats on your 'new' trike! It will take a few short hops to get used to 'steering' but, you will soon be smiling like the rest of us 'free on three' riders!
Have fun on your maiden voyage today!!


UB

What a day!
The sun was shining; temps around 70. Nick (my hasband) did a test drive first to make sure all systems were a go... then my first time on a trike. He wanted me to take a slow lap around the sub-division. WHAT A HORROR SHOW! I couldn't get it to go where I wanted. Nick kept calling out for me to "STEER IT... STEER IT" yet I was trying to "will it" in the direction I wanted it to go (in case you were wondering... Ultra-Boy is right... that doesn't work)

After a few minutes of re-grouping, Nick demo'd the technique in front of me...he did a few figure 8's so I could see the amount of motion required to steer and then I set off again. 3 laps around the block and we were good to go! hyes: I GOT IT!

We rode for about 2 hours, stopped for coffee, met friends, visited our eldest daughter, son-in-law and grand kids and killed a ton of bugs on the backroads. IT WAS GRRRREAT! I love it.

I tell you what, the first 10 minutes was panic... and I have no idea why:banghead:, but I just started thinking "ATV" rather than "Motorcycle" and it was EZ.

This is gonna be a great summer!!!:yay:

PS to WindyOne - Trunk on this kit is very small... my purse just fits... all be it a bigger purse, but all the same small!

Awesome! So glad you are having fun. I remember the first time on mine....I headed for a ditch and couldn't will it to go anywhere else. Scary! I just slammed on the brakes.....thank goodness it was a trike or I would have been in deep doodoo.:blush:

You go girl!!!!! And every time you are out on it, it will feel more natural and easy.
Ride safe and have the best time of your life!

Oh Yes... the 1200 barrel and head conversion was worth every dime... as was the Corbin seat... Way more power than the 883... even with the extra weight of the Trike Conversion. I was on my husband's tail all the way today... and he's got a Scream'n Eagle Street Glide with a 110". He was always saying I needed to close the gap between us... now its no probs at all!!:yes:

CONGRATS jwlz. The ride went as expected. Like you say the first few minutes is "WHAT AM I DOING" then it all works out. After 400 to 500 miles you will really be comfortable. CONGRATS again and enjoy.