I thought I would make a post answering some of the questions regarding our No Brow headlight brackets.
And give a brief history as to how they were developed.
This all started when I wanted to get rid of the eyebrow mount on my 2006 xl883.
I also wanted to run a smaller headlight.
Now as you may or may not know the adjustment for headlight beam heighth is in the eyebrow itself.
There is an orb if you will with an elongated slot cut in it , The stock headlight itself has a solid bolt mount with no swivel. The beam level is set by swiveling the headlight bolt in the slot in the eyebrow.
This does cause a problem with our bracket if you intend to run a stock headlight.
Since there is no adjustment in the light , you must bend our bracket to set the beam level.
The best way to do this is to sandwich the "tongue" part( the tab where the light mounts) with cardboard and put it in a bench vice. Then sandwich the "top shelf" part of the bracket ( where it mounts to the trees) wit ha small piece of cardboard. Now get a Crescent wrench and tighten it down around cardboard.
This will provide a lever to give you leverage to bend the heavy bracket.
There are many varations on front ends of narrow glide HDs that a prebent bracket would never work on all bikes without modification. Is it a 21" or 19" wheel, Has the front end been lowered. Is it a Nightster (that has the front end lowered from the Factory) . Or perhaps it is a Dyna or Superglide which has a different stance. Or perhaps you have installed longer fork tubes. All of these things prevent a universal "stock" fitment.
I make these brackets out of 1/4" steel. The reason I use 1/4" as opposed to a lighter weight material is due to vibrations inherant to HD motorcycles.
I made several prototypes of the headlight brackets before I found one that would withstand the vibrations.
With the thinner brackets I early made , I would experience short bulb life. As the filaments couldnt hold up to the vibes. You wont have that problem with the No Brow brackets. These are solid as a rock.
The No Brow was developed to allow the use of an aftermarket light . And this does work best.
As most lights have a swivel base to allow beam level adjustment. The only concern for aftermarket lights in regards to the No Brow are with large billet bullet style headlights as they will have clearance issues in the rear. But old Aris style rectangular lights or the triangle shaped lights work great on a No Brow.
As do Unity or Yankee lights. That is the beauty of a No Brow is the ability to mount a vintage light on your HD. You cant do this using the stock eyebrow.
We initially offered the No Brow in a "Top Mount" version , which utilizes the eyebrow bolt bosses on your top triple tree. Although this allowed for an easier install, it excluded guys with wide glide front ends and it places the headlight in a position similar to a springer front end.
We addressed this by developing the "Riser Mount" version. This version has a 3.5" spaceing on the mounting holes to allow it to be mounted underneath your top tree with riser bolts ( you may need to get longer riser bolts). This allows for use on a wider range of bikes and also makes the headlight set a bit tighter into the space between the trees. It moves the mounting point back about 1.5" .
We offer both versions in our store.
We have made special order brackets with different decorative cutouts in the upright of the bracket.
We have done Lightning Bolts, Crosses and some have been blank . We have done one called a "thong" which is narrower and very inconspcious. Special orders are always welcome, just email for pricing.
And expect a little longer wait time on special orders.
We generaly have Top Mount and Riser Mount in stock and usually ship them out within 3 days of purchase. And You will usually recieve it within 5 days. Orders placed on Friday usually have the longest wait. As the orders are usually not processed till Monday.
Thanks to everyone for your support. We are just into our 2nd year of making a go of this. And it has came along way due to you guys. The guys who arent complacent with the factory offerings. The guys who want something different!
We are continueing to expand our business. As you may know we are an authorized Zombie Performance handlebar dealer! Check out Steffans stuff!
We also just added Tail End Customs Power Piston tail light assemblies to our line . Josh has an amazing product and we are proud to offer it!! We also have been working on a line of parts from a good friend of ours locally . He makes good quality stuff! The first offering is the solid riser bushings. Look for some more cool parts from this guy in the near future.
Thanks again everyone ! And keep it greasy!
