New Shadow toy

[ShadowFocus603]

Picked up this beauty recently.

Has 3k on the clock. 2003 Honda VTX 1800C. Has Kuryakyn Hypercharger along with Cobra exhaust and programmer. Needless to say she goes. I rode her 100 miles this past Saturday then rode the 850 and dear lord what a difference. Bike is pretty much built the way I want it from the get go so the only thing I am going to do is pull the smog equipment and call it a day. This will probably become my long distance rider unless the fiance decides she likes it better than I do.

 

[VintageLad]

My dad had a 2003 vtx 1800 in green, it was a beautiful bike. I have some good memories riding with him as a kid on our country roads.

I hope it serves you well, looks like it's in beautiful shape!

Brent

 

[ShadowFocus603]

It is definitely in good shape. Original owner bought it, built it, then parked it at 100 miles due to injury. After some years my buddy got it and rode it two years then parked it two more after starter solenoid crapped out (he isn't mechanically inclined and his in law that tried to fix it had no clue). I fixed the solenoid, gave it a once over, and pressed her back into service. Before anyone says it, date codes on tires. Yes, I know lol. It will get fresh rubber soon. All told, I have a 14 yr old barely broken in Honda that should be good for 100k miles or better. I can't wait to get back out on it.

 

[Ggee22]

Looks awesome. Do you have any mod plans for it?

 

[Guest]

Good looking bike. I wouldn't mind having one (with stock mufflers). Enjoy

 

[ShadowFocus603]

No plans to mod, as everything I'd do is already done. Intake, exhaust, and tuner. Only plans really are new tires and that's about it. Well, that and pull the smog stuff but for the most part I have just been riding it.

 

[Jedz123]

I love the VTX1800 engine. But it's a cruiser and I could never get over that. Wheel base is too long for anything to fast (in the twisties).

I got mine for stupid cheap, turned it into a bobber cafe, loved riding it.

Until... I low slided it and almost wrecked it. Sold it shortly after. Not easy to get a pig of a bike out a floor board low slide but I got it out, brought it home and threw her on CL. The trade up that year yielded my TUX which I have more fun on the the 1800...

Great bike, if you cruise with it you will love it.

Maybe I'll see you out there!

 

[chuck hahn]

never will I own another Vtwin anything.

 

[Guest]

never will I own another Vtwin anything.

thanks,chuck, I've been wondering if you would or not.

 

[ShadowFocus603]

These bikes use playdough for the seat bolts so I followed the popular trend in the VTX community and drilled out the mounts to accept 3/8" ball and detent pins. No more stripped bolts and easy seat removal. Getting ready to order the smog block off plates next week then I will be done with the "build" for the most part. I'd like to do a dyno tune with the fuel programmer but I don't know anywhere in the northeast that would do it plus $$$.

 

[Nessism]

Nice bike! Looks like a torque monster. And sturdy!

Maybe a small windshield? Are those bag mounts on the back?

 

[80GS850GBob]

I'd wrap those ball and detent pin rings in rubber or vinyl or it'll mess up the chrome trim there...Nice ride.
Is that a Conquest behind the photographer...hard telling since he's in the way.....

 

[ShadowFocus603]

It's torquey as hell lol. And at 750lbs wet, she is sturdy as they come. She rolls down the road as smooth as butter. I had an el cheapo windshield on it that made the buffeting worse more than it helped so I pulled it for now. Will have to snoop around in that dept. I will be using heat shrink on the ball pins as soon as I can get it big enough to protect the chrome. It has saddle bag mounts but they apparently were destroyed or lost as I did not get them when I got the bike. Not sure what you see being reflected but it's just the inside of my garage. No other cool toys to speak of atm.

 

[ShadowFocus603]

So I can safely say I am in love with Plasti-Dip. Tore the old girl down and laid down a bit of a different color for fun. Such an easy thing to do. Whole process including dry time was around 4-6 hours. Will be experimenting with some brighter colors in the near future.

 

[Vmass]

Nice looking bike. Funny....I was out and about in NH this weekend and noticed seeing a lot of the VTX's up here. I like how low they are, looks like a real easy ride.

 

[ShadowFocus603]

I saw one VTX when I went to Laconia for bike week (1300) plus one 1300 Fury. Other than that, I haven't seen any others. I do live in a small town almost as far north as you can get so that may be part of it. It's definitely an easy, smooth ride. I really love the fact that it's so big yet very nimble. I have no trouble getting it done in the twisties. I run out of clearance and drag peg before I run out of tire or confidence.

 

[ShadowFocus603]

Got my new GoPro clone (Faux-Pro?) camera on Saturday so I have been filming video from differing mounting methods. Helmet mount has too much wind noise and the perspective is too high. Headlight mount the perspective is awesome but the video is very shaky. Mounting the camera atop the risers was almost perfect but the perspective was a bit low. The headlight was visible in the footage and the camera tended to focus on it leaving everything else blurry. So expanding on that I came up with this mount. Fabbed it up from scrap aluminum I had from another project. It's not pretty but it does the job and is only held on with double sided tape so easily removed should I move on to something else.

 

[Jedz123]

I saw one VTX when I went to Laconia for bike week (1300) plus one 1300 Fury. Other than that, I haven't seen any others. I do live in a small town almost as far north as you can get so that may be part of it. It's definitely an easy, smooth ride. I really love the fact that it's so big yet very nimble. I have no trouble getting it done in the twisties. I run out of clearance and drag peg before I run out of tire or confidence.

Mine had 3/4 inch chicken strips when I low slided... It just isn't designed to run out the width of the tire... Be safe

 

[ShadowFocus603]

I figured out early that I'd never get the full width of the tire scrubbed. Thanks for the heads up. I am working towards a new set of tires right now. Once I get them in I am sending the current rear tire out viking style. Plenty of smoke and video to go with lol.

 

[ShadowFocus603]

Got the new front tire installed this past Saturday. What a difference. Going to order the rear tomorrow and hopefully have it on by the weekend. What I wouldn't give to know a guy with a tire machine. Armstrong tire swapping is getting old these days... Most of my local shops won't touch it if I buy the tires myself. Or they want a fortune to do it. Blegh.