Bandit's 2003 Road King

Yep, these techs will be backwards. I just rolled in fromArizona after the first 1,000-mile test ride after installinghighbars, performance parts, and modifying the windshield to fit thehighbars. So why publish the techs backwards starting with thewindshield? We're lazy. This one will be short and the next two,since Frank Kaisler was involved, will be mammoth techs withthousands of photographs. Hang on for them, but if you've installedhighbars on a Softail or a King model and have long arms like myself, the windshield may be a problem to attach, but there's acareful, simple cure. First put the shield in place and decide if you can endure ahandlebar adjustment or not. If you pull the bars back in line withthe front end, ...

If you're like my freedom seeking self,once in a while youneed to ride. I don't mean ride to the goddamnbar or even to arally, bike show or event. I'm talking aboutgetting out of town, outof the city, and out of site. That was the mentalplan. What happeneddidn't exactly fit the criteria, but in somerespects improved on thebasis, in others it failed miserably.At first I was going to ride alone. At onetime I rode toPhoenix several times alone. I enjoyed it.Riding alone, in a sense, iswhat it's all about for me, but then I startedmentioning the runto pals. Keep in mind that this was not anetched-in-stone puttin' proposal, like what youwrite down on your calendar for next weekend.It was a notion, ...

There's an unwritten rule in the Code OfChrome that says, if you slip a set of highbarson any motorcycle you save it from mediocrity.There's more, an evil punishment for this oftenillegal gesture towards the rebellious arts. Assoon as the unsuspecting rider throws his legover the saddle and reaches for the tall grips,his sideburns expand down the sides of hisface and a goatee springs forth from his chin.The cuffs of his t-shirt roll, and he begins tosmoke a pack a day. An treacherous grinspreads across his smoke tainted teeth, as ifa deadly rash, and before the week is out he'sleft his lovely religious wife and ravagedseveral other women. Hearts lie broken in histire-burned path. It's an ugly sight. So what didwe ...

I couldn't think or speak. I had a week and a half to insure that this puppy ran. I could sense fangs growing under my upper lip. I began to snarl as my fingernail extended beyond my cold hard hands. My eyes reddened, and I wanted to ride. Without the throttle cables I could use the cruise control, if it still worked. I could jam it into gear and fly. Frank hit me with a torque wrench. "We're burnin' daylight," he snapped, "Let's measure the cables and install the left Knuckle style grip." After wiping the grip end of the bar down with alcohol, the grip interior was coated with the rubber cement, that came with the grips. Then it ...

The nacelle came off with the four dome nuts that hold the detachable windshield, but when we looked at the chunks of chromed steel we came face to face with the rubber mounted brass fasteners that hold in the headlight. With a little twisting and tugging they came away from the case. There were fastener locking tabs in the front fender which were a bear to reach and punch away from the hex head bolts. Yeah, I know, this photograph sucks, but we had to use it to show the locks. We removed the wheel first. Not so fast. I had to unbolt the calipers first and discovered the 12-point metric sockets. Everything on that Showa front end was metric ...

Bad shot, but it's the horn all blacked out and still grimy.A shot of the spacer made to eliminate the rear shift lever. We were getting stoked by the changing appearance of the King. The black was giving it unity. I re-greased the shifter shaft and installed the back linkage in a vertical position then tightened it. We eliminated one of the shifter pedals for my big feet and installed the remaining one with Loctite and a 1/4-20 Allen or socket head fastener. We cut a 3/4-inch chunk of 1-inch O.D. mild steel tubing for a spacer to eliminate the other pedal. The main part of the linkage to the transmission we had powdered but sprayed the flexible links and ...