Chains and sprockets obviously need wheels to turn, in the first generation Hugo Moto Kit, that was a set of Excel Takasago 18 and 21-inch Rims laced to Talon hubs. To maintain the same gearing ratio as the stock belt/pulley system, Hugo’s conversion kit comes with a 22-tooth countershaft sprocket, a 520 chain, chain slider, and 51-tooth rear sprocket. I think belt drive is still totally acceptable for most Scrambling duties, but when facing off against the finer parts of the Kentucky backcountry, the Hugo Chain Conversion kit was a must. Again fully adjustable suspenders with 7-inches of travel, installation of the EMC bits was an easy bolt-on experience. On the back end, the “slammed” shocks were binned in lieu of a set of beefy EMC Twin Alu 2 Tri Tube 17.5-inch”rear shock absorbers. There was a little grinding that had to happen to remove the stock fork innards, but that was pretty much the toughest part of the job to beef up the front end with fully adjustable front forks. Up front that meant a set of Andreani 39mm fork cartridges to drop into the stock Harley-Davidson fork tubes. So what’s in the kit? Jeff and I wanted the “Full Monty” from Hugo Moto, which included a suspension package with 7-inches of travel. With that in mind, the bolt-on kit from Hugo Moto already included the critical components which made their kit the easiest route to dirt-fairing adventure machine for the former “bar hopper”. While there’s a vast sea of aftermarket parts available for the Sportster, it’s a little harder to find long-travel suspension and true “mid controls”. Surfing the web, we studied multiple Sportster builds, the Carducci Sportster on ADV Rider, Burly Brand’s “ Dirty Work“, and Biltwell’s “ Frijole 883” to name a few. Per comments above, if Jeff and I were going to scramble this Harley, we wanted a dirt machine that was more capable than my scrambler, while still “simple” in comparison to his KTM 990. There was a lot of beer involved, some pizza, and a few choice expletives, but in the two nights leading up to March Moto Madness, we successfully scrambled a Sportster. If you’ve been following along on Instagram, we decided to pull the trigger on the Hugo Moto kit to land the key components for the build. Not long before penning the “planning” edition of this series, Jeff struck a deal on a 2003 Sportster XL883 he’d been keeping tabs on. Well, despite what Punxsutawney Phil says, it’s very much still winter here in Ohio, so here I am, finally circling back to “Ripley the Dirtster”. Naturally, life happened, and the blog took the back seat for a few months there. As with Rosie the Scrambler and Andy’s Bonbler Project, I originally intended to document the Dirtster build months ago. For folks that made it to the Dragon Raid last fall, or the Garage Brewed Moto Show in January, you got a chance to see the Dirtster project in the flesh.
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