I had a 77 xlch..when I was 19. I'm now 65, I ride a 2015 sportster 1200v..sportster 72..deep jade metallic green,white walls,mini apes...sportster!!! Long may you run!!!.great job on that bike..thanks for the ride, truly enjoyed it
I have an ‘81 Sporty I bought new. Last year of AMF. When I bought my ‘92 Electraglide the Sporty got put away. You are helping me to get inspired to get it running again. I did put it away correctly with draining the tank and oil in the cylinders etc. I know the brakes are shot from sitting. The bike is 100% original including the tires. Wish me luck.
I would bring her back to life, for sure. Absolutely love mine though it is a lot of work to keep her maintained. Love the look and sound of these old Ironheads. Do you still have the original exhaust on yours? Wahoo!
I wish you the best of luck. Im 32 an my first harley was a 72 amf sportster. Got into shovels and evos a little but right back to ironheads. There just there own thing, no other bike like it
I always referred to my '77 XLH as my "personal locomotive". Only kept it for a summer, but a lifetime of memories for sure. And NOTHING looks better on a Sporty than an 18" laced rear wheel!
One of the most fun old bikes to go out trashing around town on, 0-50 is quicker than most people think it would be. I knew the part about no oil leaks or vibrations.... LOL!!! These love to mark their territory and shake the front wheel off, all part of their character!
Thanks for sharing, I still own a 1978 XLH since Feb 1979 still in my garage...plus i own another 1978 XLH (total of 2), 1- 1976 XLH, 1980 FLH all original, and a 2012 Goldwing, I'm 64 years old still love to ride...
My first one was a1980 XLS 1000, I think once you had an Ironhead you are always nostalgic for them ! These days I'm on my third Royal Enfield , a Classic, 500 , also good bikes, they are like half a sporty.
You're right about the Ironhead bug, I've got two now. Love all the RE's I've been able to ride. Have rode a few 500 classics but only for short runs. Have truly enjoyed them. Need to get one out for a good old day ride...I'm working on that. Also, I'm sure theyre much cheaper to keep running and enjoy. Wahoo!
I had a78 and84 iron head had no trouble with the 84 at all rebuild and customized the 78 and no trouble with it and I rode a lot of miles on it but that was in the 1980s
Hey, hey! Love your channel, been watching ya for years. Wish I was as good with the music as you are. Wahoo! Love this old Sportster. Was bought new by a friend of mine from high school, his wife gave it to me after his passing. Life is good!
I almost teared up when I saw that road. I’m from Iowa originally. Haven’t been home in a while. Used to run those roads on my old sportster. Tell the Dallas county sheriff department I said hi 😂
Awesome video! I bought a ‘73 CH new in ‘73. The gas tank is actually 2.2 gallons. The additional 0.2 may help to shorten your walk to a gas station! 😂 The solid state regulator was first used on the Sportster in ‘78. I believe that Cycle Electric was the OEM supplier for generators before’82. 1976 was the first year for the Kehin on the Sportster. The mid range performance was improved on the ‘78 and later Kehin “emission” carbs. You clearly have a soft spot in your heart for this old iron! Thanks for sharing your love affair for these old machines.
I love your bike! I bought my first 1976 Sportster in 1978, then sold it and bought a 1967, sold it and went back to another 1976 XLCH. I've owned that third one ever since, and have now accumulated over 200,000 miles on it. Granted, I've done two full rebuilds on the motor, and several more top end jobs, but that's part and parcel to any pre-Evo Harley. I've owned six other Harley along the way, along with Ducatis and Hondas (currently four bikes in the stable) but, for whatever reason, that old Ironhead is the last bike I would ever part with. Just something about it... Just a couple of comments about your (and other's) comments. I find your clutch troubles puzzling - I've never had a lick of trouble adjusting mine. I wonder what might be going on with yours. I think a lot of people don't actually fully loosen the cable before going after the adjustment screw on the release mechanism. As far as pushrod adjustment, I find that puzzling as well. I check mine every winter, but very seldom find them in need of adjustment. There appears to be some controversy regarding how to do this - maybe that's what is leading to some of the problems. Harley's method is very simple - cold motor, adjust them so they spin easily with your fingers with no discernible up and down play. If in doubt, loose is always better than tight. Loose might rattle a bit, but tight burns valves. Finally, those aluminum rims... Harley developed these "CM" coded rims (unfortunately, the stamp is on the inside, so you have to dismount the tire to see it) in cooperation with Goodyear in 1970, using them at least through 1976 if not a little longer. The profile is very distinctive, so you really don't have to look inside to identify them. Your's are CM's. They were optional on "high ground clearance" (bikes with 19" front and 18" rear rims) Sportsters, both XLH's and XLCH's. They are a tapered bead design, touted as a "safety bead". Standard bead shapes are ostensibly "unsafe" when mounted on these rims, and Goodyear quit making tires for them over 30 years ago. Many old gray beard (like us...) motorcycle mechanics remember these, and will refuse to mount tires on them. Most today have not idea, of course, and will gleefully mount whatever you buy from them. So, how "unsafe" is this? Remember I said my bike now has over 200,000 miles on it, and the "correct" tires have been unavailable for 30 years? I faithfully ran the Goodyear HST as long as I could find them. Since then, I've run Michelins, Dunlops, Avons, Bridgestones, and now Metzler Laser Techs. I've never had a problem of any kind. Anyway, cool bike. Here is a brief video from the saddle of my bike, right after my last full rebuild: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m-VKZdpWUN4.html
200,000 miles, that is amazing! Love this bike and really like hearing about yours. If Possible post some pics or video of yours on our Forgotten Motorcycles Facebook page. Would love to see it!
I own an iron 2011, got it new, no its not the fastest but its a riot to drive!! My dream bike is however an old iron like yours, thank you for mentioning your friend! Great video! Great ending!!
I have a 65 Ironhead she is my pride and joy that said the only true thing left on her that is a 65 is the frame XD and engine at least the top half :P she got a 83 wire harness, electric ignition, dual front disk breaks, and oil coolant system all from the 83. The guy who owned it before me got it a 75 bottom end conversion kit for electric starter and I still have kick too and bored her over to a 1200 with a s&s super G carb. When I got it I HAD get her a over size cam and!! Most importantly straight drag pipes with out baffles XD lol yeah as you could probably guess after a nice ride I have a decent case of tinnitus for a hour or so. Great video man ☺️
Great Video. I rebuilt the Bendix carb on mine, new oil pump, new air cleaner, have pipes similar to yours. Im not a huge drag pipe fan. Bike pulls hills hard and is quicker than one would give it credit for. Love having a kick starter. Would like to upgrade the ignition to make starting smoother, but as long as its timed right and the points are clean and adjusted right, starts pretty good.
We reinstalled the original points system for the ignition...something that takes a bit of work to keep working right...when it does work it works well. Love that bike!
I had a 1972 sporty and loved it. no leaks but vibrated between 55 and 75 mph. Had a Mikuni carb which was the best, started right up every time. Motor was built by the Hells Angels and would go 125 but the brakes wouldn't do much over 85. I could lean it until my knee dragged on the ground and the foot peg folded up.
My bro in laws father just got a Norton "dominator". Love this bike also, what a beauty! My buddy has a custom Honda Shadow which has a double swept up exhaust! Sounds amazing.
Those old XLH's got aluminum rims to compensate for the extra weight of the starter motor and battery. I had a 74 back in 76 and half a dozen others since, along with another motley crew. I had to look, I still love those old iron heads. That's a fine sounding bicentennial. That was the year I bought my 74. That's fine sounding too. Thanks!
No leaks no vibrations really dude Avenue Sports the guys since I was 10 years old bought my first one the day I graduated at age 17 brand new still got it been riding it for 50 years now and still going I'm glad you got the bike but you speak with forked tongue
Perfect area to ride a Sportster. I have a 2018 Iron 883 I got it when I was 64 and went to class as part of the deal I’m 70 now and I’ve put 11,000 miles on it. I live 20 miles north of downtown Chicago a lot of nice areas to drive in like the neighborhood of home alone along that part of the lake there’s a lot of ravines on Sheridan Road. It’s beautiful.
Iron head Sportsters are a true classic and a thing of beauty! I own 3 Iron heads and 1 evo 1200 Sportsters, and when push comes to shove I'd take the Iron head over the Evo any day, even tho the Evo has more power, is more reliable, is smoother, and rides a highway far better, but my old Iron heads lineage are dirt track and hill climb monsters and I'm a country boy till death an luv the vintage classic style bikes and cars over all the rest! Yea a 69 Sportster an a 66 Vette convertible always makes my sticker peck out!
I have a ‘74 that I’ve hard tailed. Electronics were a pain to work out, but once set, it ran fine - blinkers and all. Still using the mechanical starter switch, regulator, and generator.
Solid state is 100% improvement over mechanical. I like the long arm shifter, typical harley technology. I had one, a 76, back in the early 80's. Get some Barnett clutch plates it will improve dramatically. A large part of enjoying pre evolution Harleys is putting a wrench on it. You get to experience every part of the bike.
It's a great bike. Takes a lot of work but worth it. I pulled the cover over the linkage on the right off, you would not believe all the dirt and more I had to clean out of there. Wahoo1
I carried two 7/16 wrenches and adjusted the clutch cable when ever the temperature changed and was the ticket to the clutch issue. plus mine had a racing clutch and was pretty stiff to pull.
It's always something on this old bike. Have to check it over before the ride, at every stop and when home again. Repair what needs it before the next ride. Wahoo!
Hi. I didn’t look through all the comments so apologies if someone else has made it clear but great as those rims look they don’t have the safety bead retaining lip to hold the tire in place in a flat or blow our situation. I have kept them on my ‘78 XLCH. If you wanted to have the safety feature but keep the appearance you could swap those out for ones from a mis seventies XS650 Yamaha which look identical and ai am pretty sure that were made in Italy. Cheers from Tasmania. Stephen. PS. Love the bike.
Thank you for the information. I was aware of that and actually talked to my tire person about it. Their answer was don't over inflate LOL. How do you like your 78? Do you ride it often? Also, Tasmania huh? That's really nifty :-)
I love the look but was taken aback when I first got it. The weight and it’s distribution was a surprise. I’m still working on mine so ridden....not much. I have a ‘78 FLH80 and with both I have put on later model front ends and brakes that work, same with the handlebar switches. The FLH came together first but I am looking forward to getting the XLCH fully Road worthy. Tassie; well when the US exchange rate was more favourable it was great. Parts are now expensive but the roads are still great. Glad to hear you liked the Mikuni. I have one on mine. Oh, your paint looks great although my all time favourite was the black tank with red, white and blue stripes......was it early ‘70s somewhere. Cheers. S.
65 H.P. if you want to know. 61 cubic Inch motor , 2.2 Gal. gas tank. Nothing wrong with vibration , they do that because of no rubber mounts and the stroke . By the the way they are made to leak oil I guess no one knows that . I own a 1977 XLCH and a 1973 XLCH and once owned a 1976 XLH Sportster that I wrecked in the late 1970's . Don't be fooled they haul ass !
Really nice Sporter. Well done. A 73 Glide will fit if interested and look good. Aluminum wheels are optional from Harley early 70's. Made in Italy for Harleywith part number in wheel. Hard to find and expensive
Thank you. Our goal is to keep it as stock as possible. Love the wheels, they came with the bike originally. Friend of mine has the same motorcycle with steel wheels and a lot of rust unfortunately. Wish it was nice enough outside to ride today
@Forgotten Motorcycles I'm in michigan raining here. Forgot word in sentence for guild tank.i use 73tank for trips on my 99 sporter which has parts from 52 to 73 on it. It's a Heinz 57 bike. Nice to see old school isn't dead
@@keithhorton9180 I have another Old iron Head, a 1970. We're building that as a touring bike to look as original as possible. It will have a 4 gallon turtle tank and the windscreen on the front. Planning to add period correct saddlebags too. Love these old bikes :-)
@Forgotten Motorcycles period correct bags complete are hard to find. I have one set still in the box in white with keys. I'll keep a lookout for a set for you if you want. Can't guarantee anything, but I'll try.
Hi there, nice bike! Have you had to replace or block the oil transfer valve? I have a 75 Ironhead and oil seems to be leaking through the transfer valve into the primary.
Have not had that problem.. yet. Our go-to guys are truitt and Osborne in Wichita Kansas. They seem to know everything about sportsters. If you call them ask for Paul.
Over fifty years of working in them, I've replaced four or five transfer valves and they all needed it done. I don't believe you can make a mistake doing it. All it takes is some dirt or varnish to build up and it will leak through.
@@johnmcclain3887 ok thanks for the message. How do you suggest getting it out? Hammer and punch? impact driver? Any information would be appreciated. Cheers
@@Vl90123 I believe I used an impact driver, I've used them for many similar situations. It it's stubborn, you can drill it, and hammer a square pin in the hole and grab that with a wrench to turn it out. I never had much trouble once it was exposed.
I have a shovelhead with a bit of head work and a small cam its 80 cube or 1340 cc but the S&S shorty seems to fall short but I was told a Mikuni is the most reliable carby, so any advice would be appreciated.
I don't really know much about any of this. However, I bought mikuni and an adapter off Amazon. We installed it in about an hour and the bike started right up in about three cranks. Has worked very well ever since. Mine's a 38 mm you might need a bigger one. Also, maybe look for one with an accelerator pump. Mine did not have that but does work okay.
Clint, there's no reason a S&S shorty, I'm assuming a E, would fall short on a Shovelhead. I'd start with the basics, and go through a process of eliminating all the possibilities. There's a old saying, 99 percent of the time someone thinks their carb is giving them problems, it's NOT the carb. Good luck Sir. T.S. RACING
@@t.s.racing cheers @T.S.RACING I run obviously mostly 98 pump gas but there are times she sits and well I guess we all need a starting point but yes most serviced carbs shouldn't really fail.cheers.
The only thig I could not get used to, absolutely hated, there was only 4 gears. Iwhen running 60mph or so, I would catch myself searching for a 5th gear.
Easy way to stop old Harleys from leaking... when you replace gaskets, throw a small, thin strip of high temp silicone on the gaskets. She will never leak.
Good idea. The Permatex we've used is working very well. So well, that I'm still a bit panicy when I look under the bike and don't see oil on the floor. Always think I'm out! Have put about a 1000 miles on this bike in the last month. Wahoo!
I really don't. My 1000cc Sportster would get close to 50 mpg with the stock carb. I'm currently running a wonderful Mikuni carb and get about 35 mpg...so maybe 10 miles per liter?
Those are cheap Amazon saddlebags. I think they're like 50 bucks for the pair. I ran them on three of my bikes now and they always hold up and work well.
Thinking of buying one of these 1977 Ironhead 1100 used for $2,000 with about 9,800 miles. Anything that I should look for when I see it that should send me running away from buying it? I was born in 1977 so it is sentimental. 😂
So, the Harley Sportster project was incredibly satisfying though expensive. I'm happy I did it. However, it is a motorcycle. I drive infrequently because it's so cantankerous. These bikes even when new were handful to maintain. If you love working on bikes and you want one that looks like that it's probably worth it. I got mine almost for free from the widow of a friend of mine. And I still ended up dropping several $1,000 just to get it running properly. And my motorcycle was almost complete meaning very little in terms of cosmetics. So just beware of money
Yes, this bikes been marking her spot for years. Actually, she has not leaked once since I Permatexed the case and helicoiled that drain plug...not to fear she will be marking her spot again...soon. After all, she is an Ironhead. The bags are generic no name bags from Amazon. I've got them on my Enfield too. They are low cost but do work well. I like them. Search for this: waltyotur PU Leather Motorcycle Right Left Side Saddle Bags Wahoo!
I have an 08 FatBoy and an 85 XLH. My fiance asks why do you keep that thing. I tell her if you could ride it you would know why. Give me the keys she said. No I said. LOL
Mikuni 38mm round slide. Works great once running but I've been having problems getting her to start when warm. Am working on that. Love this bike. I just copied this from the original order off Amazon: Mikuni Round Slide VM Series Carburetor - 38mm VM38-9
@@forgottenmotorcycles cool I just put one of those onto a 1990 softail good choice . I have this 76 sportster with a S&s it’s ok . However my main concern is a serious oil leak looking like from behind the primary ughh
@@brandonjones152 We had oil leaking from the primary drain plug and had to Helicoil it. The Permatex repair on the primary cover has held up well. Was worried that we had a crack in the rear case but did not. Love the bike. Wahoo!
It is sad that nobody really wants a Ironhead anymore. I have loved them all my life starting off in the earliest 60s. I guess it’s because all of us old timer and young guys that have been educated on old motorcycles knows the secrets of what they have, I am 77 and I have a whole garage full of Ironhead parts. My first new sportster was a 1971 1000 wrong side shifter, for those of you who don’t know what this is shifter is on the right hand side. It was built for racing flat track. I’m old and got hit head on on my 99 Road king two years ago still recovering. So I’m selling all my old bikes and parts flathead knuckleheads Ironhead…. I have a 75 iron head engine ready to go together just needsthe jugs done and pistons and carb ,find someone who really appreciates to sell it to.And a 1979 super rare last year Ironhead Most find a good home for someone that’s not gonna chop it up to make it damn chopper. It has a new rebuilt from top to bottom matching numbers 300 Miles Rebuilt. If interested, let me know. Send me a message. I’m in southern Michigan.
It’s true I agree AMF Harleys have there quarks but nowadays you can get aftermarket parts to help with the low oil pressure issues. But some say AMF actually help push ahead on some things in the business again I can’t remember they told me but I would love to get my hands on the old Harley AMF dirt bikes! I only ever seen 2 of them and I seen both of them at the same time from some random ass neighbor who wanted a small mint for each of them I left his yard dumbfounded lol. Because I never knew Harley had manufactured dirt bikes for a couple of years the AMF era :P
83 XLX SPORTSTER MY 1st HARLEY!! You could get a new one for 3999 $$$$!!!!! PUT DRAG PIPES and rear seat pad, oil cooler ,!!!!RAN VERY GOOD!!!!! !!!! Road it 70 and 75 mph!!!!!
