PROJECT NORTHBOUND ’14 — VOLUME 3

What you catch in the shop, you don’t suffer on the road.

As completion grew near and the parts were all neatly accounted for, we ran into a couple of minor but serious issues. Looking back, I’m thankful we discovered them when we did. To have identified either of them on the road could have been disastrous, unsafe, and unnecessarily complicated the trip.

The first surfaced when our Technician spotted the most minuscule of metal flecks in the transmission while installing the new clutch cable. Those flecks traced back to the shifter forks. Within minutes, the decision was made to pull the internals and thoroughly examine everything out of the case. The coatings applied to those parts to reduce friction and enhance durability do, over time and use, begin to wear. Finding the flecks—while alarming in the moment—was ultimately fortunate. The last thing I needed in Northern Ontario or Quebec was a damaged shift fork. With new components installed, we turned our attention to the compensator in the primary.

The compensator didn’t look terrible, but the ramps were showing early grooves. Since we already had it apart, the choice was simple: replace it with the Screamin’ Eagle variant. With the drivetrain reassembled, lubricated, and back within spec, we shifted to the front-end install.

Armed with a complete Legends suspension kit, teardown began. That’s when we found another surprise. At some point in the past, a Technician at another shop had clearly struggled to remove the bearings from the stem. For reasons we still can’t fully understand, they used a cut-off wheel to do the job, leaving distinct “X” patterns on both the upper and lower areas of the stem. Smooth enough that we might have cleaned and reused it—but doing so risked false readings during the fall-away test when torquing the new neck bearings. As with the transmission, the choice was clear: better safe than sorry. A new stem went in.

With the front end hung and the new Bassani 2:1 exhaust installed, attention turned to tuning. A Dynojet Power Vision 4 was plugged in, and the appropriate map was selected. The pipe barked to life, throttle response was crisp, and idle held steady. A full nut-and-bolt check followed. A short test ride through the lot confirmed what we suspected: the suspension upgrade transformed the bike.

By Friday night at 6:00 p.m., I finally swung a leg over the finished machine. Thumbed the starter. Pointed it toward home. The ride was smooth. The little Twin Cam 103 wasn’t overly punchy, but it was solid. The suspension was night-and-day better. The Custom Dynamics lights were bright and clean. The LA Choppers T-bars felt perfect. The Saddlemen seat—comfortable. The Power Vision tune—spot on.

I couldn’t be happier with how this build turned out.

That night, I finished final prep and packing (though, truth be told, my bag had been packed for nearly a week). The next morning, with a full tank of fuel and only a rough idea of where I’d land for the night, Project Northbound ’14 was no longer just a concept or a build. It was reality.

The project is nearly complete. Now—just 2,900+ miles to go.