Purple Haze

So the insurance sends my bike to a shop in Tracy, Backroads Customs.  I like those guys.  Nate's cool, and they sponsor and do work for local stunter Jason Pullin.  While the adjustment process is going on, Nate is looking for a bike for me, and eventually sets me up with this sportster.  I'm pretty excited because its already a 1200.  I didn't really know a lot about sportsters, but for what I paid for it, it was a good deal.  When I finally went & saw it, the first thing I thought, and I'll be honest: Its purple, its a girls bike.  But I convinced myself it was a cool 70's purple.  Then I convinced myself that its gotta change.

And thats the point of this blog.  Changing this sporty custom into something a bit less nerdy and a lot more cool (and fixing whats wrong with it).  So, why is it nerdy?
1)  Its "violet pearl with red & gold pinstripe".  I don't need to go into detail on that one...
2)  Its a custom.  The tall front wheel I have mixed feelings about.  Is it trying to be a chopper?  A wide glide?  At first I was positive I was going to swap it to a 19", but after seeing some examples out there, I may keep it.  The skinny wheel I think is less stable compared to the slightly wider 19", but I'm not really sure.  Otherwise, the other 2 big things that make it a custom that I don't like?  The T bar thing on the front.  I can't do ape hangers, because the tall riser thing ruins the look.  I can't just put on new risers, because I have to swap the speedo to the forward style, as the custom mounts it behind the bars, and theres a bunch of wire connections inside the Riser thing that I can't imagine a place to move them if I swapped the risers.  And last, it has a fat boy style slotted disc wheel in the rear.
4)  Its a sportster.  Its hard to admit it, but if you see someone on a normal-ish sportster, you think they're cheap, cuz you know they wanted a dyna or a soft tail, but were sold on the sportster for half the price.