National Cycle Lowers on Drifter

- Tim "Toolman" (Delphi Vulcan Drifter Forum)

Well, the lowers were not able to be installed right out of the box. I had to do a little mod to the lowers to make them fit. First, the lowers I bought were National Cycle  N764 Heavy Duty Chrome Lowers. They mount to the front forks using the National Cycle windshield mounting kit, NC-KIT-JE. This kit is required to install a variety of NC windshields on our Drifters, and includes all the required hardware to do so. You get the additional nuts and bolts to install the lowers with the lowers. Myself, I swapped out the Phillips head screws for stainless steel allen head bolts, but that's just me. Besides, I thought the bolts included in the kit were a little short, but only at one end.    ;-)

When I installed the lowers right from the box, the lowers hit the  thick taper at the top of my forks, not good. So I took them off and brought them to my table vise. I put the lowers into my vise, using a set of copper jaws to protect the chrome, (I guess you could use wood just as well), I then proceeded to add angle to the top bend of the lowers with a copper mallet. After a few "love taps" I tried the lowers again and this time they cleared the top fork taper by 1/4 inch. Problem 1 solved. Now everyone knows that when you solve an installation problem on a Drifter, it usually leads to a problem 2.

This install was no different. Problem 2 was that after I installed the NC lowers, they looked great, worked like a charm as they all but eliminated the wind buffing from under my windshield. But, the lowers were hitting my Cobra highway bar at the end of my steering travel on both sides. Not by much, but enough fro me to want to correct the conflict. To fix this I took off my Cobra bar and I installed the LinBar part #901-1. The design of the Lindbar clears the lowers and life is good. I liked the LindBar anyway, and it was a good excuse to convince the "Boss" that I had to get the new bar. I might add there was no mod to install the Lindbar, it bolted right up to my Drifter.

The pics I attached are not the greatest, but if you look, you'll get the idea. I hope this helps you out.