Spent a miserable few hours at the unit the other day measuring, plotting and planning the single sprung seat conversion, and the more I looked the more I saw. The basic thing is relatively simple, but getting it 'right' has all the hallmarks of being a bugger to get right.

The fender struts are cosmetic covers that hide the mounting bolts for the mudguard and the pillion seat mounts, and because their front is ordinarily buried beneath the conventional saddle, you can't tell that they are a) cosmetic or b) open at the front.

It's not viable to replace those struts without a load of work, although for a moment I did wonder about changing the rear mudguard ... except that I'd lose the raised rib that runs the length of the bike. They could be reprofiled at the front with something robust which would make them look more like they were structural - I'm not 100% sure what's beneath the chrome plate, but I suspect it's a heavy cast alloy. The downside of that is that I was originally planning on relieving them to accommodate the ChopperShox springs ... so might have to rethink that completely. At least there would be no need for them to be rechromed at the end, because I think I can work that into the paint scheme to advantage.

Can't really leave them off because they're necessary to disguise the sheer height of the rear mudguard ... I think, although the paint scheme could be reworked to deal with that, and I could disguise some of the mounting points with a permanent rack and either fixed leather bags or a rail that would allow leather bags to be attached.

And then there's the front of the rear mudguard which is flat to accommodate the seat, and I blow hot and cold as to whether that's an issue of not: once the seat's bolted on, you won't notice it unless you look, but then if you do look it will be an obvious bodge.

I'm starting to realise why people modify Harleys with simple bolt-on stuff, or start from scratch without having to work round anyone else's work.

It does show how well the Vegas has been designed as a complete package, but being so complete makes it difficult to change easily.