A couple of years ago, the crew at RSD looked out into their parking lot and noticed an alarming trend: All of the Softails that used to pack the lot had been replaced with Street Glides, Road Kings, Ultra Classics, and even an FXRT. The guys and gals who used to commute 40 miles a day on their Heritage Softails, Fat Boys, Bad Boys, Softail Standards, and whatever other configuration of Softail that they made have relegated them to the garage during the week. And now that the Softail models are old enough to be a lot of people's second bikes, and they are inexpensive enough to buy used, people are looking to chop them up a bit. So Roland and the RSD crew decided that it was time to do a line of parts for Softails that would actually make them look like stripped-down bobbers, but still be fully functional, dependable late-model motorcycles.
They developed their Vintage kit, which includes a backbone cover that houses the factory ignition switch, fuel tank, fender struts and rear fender, a spring seat, and mini fabricated ape hangers. The kit is usually teamed with a wheel and chain or belt so the rear of the bike can be fit with a 240 rear tire, and any old Softail starts to take on a chopper look.
Well, as the popularity of the fuel-injected Twin Cam bikes grew in the aftermarket, the folks from RSD decided that they needed to build a fuel tank to accommodate the internal fuel pump necessary for the H-D EFI system. RSD Engineer Jason Tiedeken volunteered his '06 FXST to go under the knife in the RSD research & development department. The RSD crew pulled Jason's bike apart and developed an electric fuel pump mount with a weld-in flange that allows it to be bolted into the bottom of any fuel tank while still using the factory pump and sending unit. The new RSD tank with the EFI unit slips over the frame cover that incorporates the factory ignition switch. Once they had the fuel pump all figured out, they decided to finish the RSD kit with the rear fender and struts out back. Up front a pair of Performance Machine triple trees, Progressive Springs, and Race Tech "Gold" valves and shaved lower legs that have been powdercoated black. The factory rollers were replaced with Performance Machine contrast-cut Domino wheels (21x3 front and 18x5.5 rear), brakes and pulley, Metzeler rubber (120/70/21 front, 200/55/18 rear) and a set of the RSD Vintage Covers for the motor primary. There's also an RSD air cleaner, and Vance& Hines pipes. And that's where the similarities to the other RSD-built vintage bikes stops.
Jason decided that he wanted to sit lower than the RSD spring seat would let him, so he built a one-off seat pan and dropped it off at Roberti Customs to have it covered with foam and stretched with leather. He also put the 1-inch die in the tube bender and made a set of his own mini-ape hangers to get the rise and pull-back just right for the lower seating position. Once all of the fabrication work was finished up, Jason shipped a lot of the hard parts off to the powdercoater to have them coated black, and then he sent the sheetmetal off to Airtrix to have it painted tan and brown. Believe it or not, they had everything buttoned up in less than a month. Once they figured out the fuel pump deal it was a piece of cake. But don't take our word for it, just have a look at the sidebar of the installation.