thinking about going in a new motorcycling direction

[shmike]

Originally Posted by OneSickPsycho

Don't start with a new bike. Given your love of tinkering, go find a hardtail frame that will accept a Sportster engine and look for a crashed donor bike or two. Remember... Buell XB's use Sportster engines

Agreed.

No offense to GM or anyone else that rode or "built" a modern chopper but those are a bastardation of the meaning of the word.

A true chopper is a bike that has had parts chopped off, welded on, cannibalized from other bikes and has more man hours invested than dollars.

I think the sporty build sounds great.