WLA inspired 883 Iron - Phase I

Ellie - 2009 883 Iron

Not my first project but I thought I'd start with this old girl.

I've always wanted a Harley-Davidson 1946 WLA but to be honest I just simply don't have the technical know-how to stop every 20 miles on the side of the road to keep one going.

I'm a massive fan of historic vehicles and believe the designers of the 1940's got it

just right. So when I saw the iron I thought this could be the perfect opportunity to get something looking

as close to a WLA as possible.

I thought about using a CrossBones as a donor bike but it's just too big IMO.

ALSO, I run my bike everyday so it needs to be small enough for London traffic as well as comfortable enough to get out and do 100 miles in one sitting!

I bought it second hand from Shaw Harley-Davidson who build some

amazing custom bikes!

(Ellie - the HD Serial on the bike starts LE, hence. . . )  

DAY 1: Bike purchased from SHAW HARLEY-DAVIDSON 



If I'm totally honest I wasn't that excited about the bike. I had recently traded in my  

Nightrain 
 
and was feeling a little disappointed as I felt I was going backwards . . . 

But 1 year on and it was the best thing that had ever happened!!

All original spec with the added bonus of a full stage 1 and Vance & Hines short shots although

I wasn't wild about the chrome covers.

My first ride out as a single seater.  It definately felt a little uncomfortable. 

The bars were too close together and didn't pull back far enough. I wasn't wild

about the mid-controls either so I focused on getting Forward controls asap!

After fitting the forward controls I realised I'd actually made the riding position worse!!

I was now hunched over even further and my back was killing me. 

HAD I JUST MADE A MASSIVE MISTAKE!!!

I was ready to chuck in the towel.
I started test riding different bikes, mostly the Crossbones as I thought this would be the perfect
donor bike for a WLA replica.

But I'd just have the same problem as before. Riding a £15 000 bike everyday in the rain & snow (YES, SNOW!!) would only depreciate it and totally wreck the bike cosmetically.

I had to do something.

I was looking through the HD catalogue and suddenly...

EUREKA!!!!!!

HD now made a Narrow Beach Bar in black for the Crossbones.

The knurling on the bars would be on show slightly on either side of my sportster risers but I'd didn't

care. A tiny price to pay for comfort. And, it saves me and extra £10 000 for a new bike!!!

So for the sake of a £60 pair of handlebars my dream bike was starting to take shape!

So the bars were fitted easily in one afternoon along with vintage grips and round chrome mirrors.

It was now really comfortable!! Such a joy to ride. 

Now I needed the parts to create the bike I had envisioned.

So 1 year and 10 000 miles later the next stage of customizing took place.

///////////////////