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Refresh and Paint '04 Road Glide
After 106,000 miles in 4 years (18k before I owned it) I decided it was time to treat my 2004 FLTRI Road Glide to a new paint job and some much needed mechanical rebuilding.
My friend Doug (who owns Dentman Paint and Body in Margate, FL) and I had never liked the white paint dusted at the bottom of the blue paint on the Harley. I liked the blue color, but after 106,000 miles of riding over 6 years with little cleaning, it was time to finally remove all of the painted parts and start from scratch.
Around Christmas 2009 I treated the Harley to a new Thunder Max computer that allowed me to remove the old TFI fuel modifier module and program every aspect of the fuel injection and ignition systems on the bike. I had to install O2 sensors in the exhaust headers and to facilitate easy access removed the fairing lowers. In anticipation of a new paint job, the lowers found a home on the shelf. I realized after the fact that I should have re-installed them because we still had a few months of cold weather.
In mid February 2010 I began stripping other non-critical bodywork. The tour pack was the first to go. A week or so later I took the bike out of service and removed the rest of the painted body parts. After disassembling everything there were 21 individual body parts. I then started taking mechanical things apart in order to freshen up everything from brakes to a new fuel filter. Most of the mechanical parts were ordered from http://www.bikebandit.com.
The list of mechanical parts was long. Brake rotors front and rear, brake pads, steering head bearings, fork seals and bushings, fuel filters and lines (inside the tank), exhaust gaskets, new HID headlights, blue accent lights, re-wire all of the gadgets on the handle bars and on and on. I spent 2 weeks cleaning EVERYTHING! I scrubbed and scrubbed, tried every kind of cleaning solvent and soap I could find. The most effective on the chrome was a citrus degreaser and 0000 steel wool.
It is now May and we have finally gotten to the paint work. Doug and I had tossed around several ideas about what would look really cool and I think we came up with a good plan. I wanted to stay with blue and the original color was a good blue. Doug wanted to experiment with ghosting some sort of graphics into a candy color. I had shown Doug a picture out of a HOG magazine and the ideas started flowing. In Leesburg I took a couple of pictures of a sweet looking bike that had flames done with a pretty blue. The flames were raw metal with blue dusted at the tips. I didn't really want the flames to stand out to much so we came up with another idea that I think will turn out to be a real head turner without being to gaudy.
The rear fender was the first part to get re-installed and now that we are rolling things are happening quickly.
Well it's been a f week or so now and except for the saddle bags, my baby is home. The bags were painted and ready for assembly on Friday May 21.
WOOHOO! Just in time for a big road trip.
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Copyright (C) 2004-2010, Larry Manka. all rights reserved.
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