I was looking into making my VTX1800R into something different. I liked the bagger look and contemplated on doing a complete X makeover. As it turns out the bagger look that I was interested in were the Roadking and Roadglides. Long story short, I went that bagger route.

This left only a few options for the VTX1800R. I've seen other Retro's with a Fat tire kit both 240's and 250's but I have never seen one with a Hoppe Fairing or any type of Batwing style fairing. I wanted to keep the Retro style look in place so I knew I had to order the Sumo-X Retro fender from AZPhats. As a matter of fact my complete build was from AZPhats. I had a lot of choices to pick from when it came down to the build parts. I decided to go with "Stumpy" of AZPhats due to his relentless customer service. It was as though I was his only customer (I knew damn well I wasn't). Without AZPhats customer support I wouldn't have been able to pull this off so easily.

One nice service Stumpy provided was sending me the wheel & tire already mounted and balanced. This saved me the hassle of going to the local M/C shop for installation. Unless you know where to go you run a risk of having them scratch your new setup before it's mounted on your scoot. I typically go to a local custom chopper shop. they are used to dealing with wheels like this.

When you compare the two wheels side-by-side you start wondering how will this thing ever fit! Below is the RC Component Stingray 18" with Avon 200's next to the new RC/Avon 250 wheel.

The first step was to remove most of the rear end parts. This was tough since most of it was all aftermarket and I wouldn't be able to re-use any of it.

One tip is to use two motorcycle lifts. This will make it so much easier to work with the Phat-Ass wheel setup, moving the tire around, installing & removing shocks, balancing the bike etc.

I only had to remove the rear cylinder exhaust pipe. When it came to the rear brakes, I was able to remove the whole assembly and just set them on a table next to the scoot. It was a method to avoid bleeding the brake lines. Worked for me.

One of the best tips I received was to use a ton of painter masking tape to protect the wheel from accidental scratches. At some point you'll be wrestling the wheel into position. The tape helps you out while performing tight maneuvers.

Fender rails had to be sawed off. I used a Harbor Freight brand I bought just for the job. A couple blades later it was done.

Don't do what I did below. I installed the rear differential assembly thinking I was going to be able to get the 250 tire on. Wrong. You should attach the final drive hub to the wheel first then mount the wheel / align final shaft though the swingarm. This is where the second motorcycle lift comes in handy. One person can do this procedure, you just need to plan out your moves before hand.

What happens if you get a flat? Yeah, it's going to be a pain removing the tire. You can bet I'll be taking the wheel off the bike to get new rubbers. I'm not going to pay a shop all the labor hours. It's actually simple if you don't have the rear fender installed yet.

A view of the original Retro rear fender vs. the Smoothie Retro fender. I decided to go smoothie and not have the rear tail light. My turn signals serves as the the brake and running lights. I also wanted to keep the lines of the Retro so this monster sized fender covered a good portion of the Avon 250's. This is the look I was hoping for, most wide tire bikes use "shorty" fenders to expose more rubber. My thought was from the side the 200's and 250's all look the same, if you stand from behind then you'll see the difference. The fender exposes just enough rubber while standing from behind. I guess a more subtle approach.

I went with the progressive 412's shocks, tubular swingarm with the billet cap. In my opinion the rear section flows better than the stock setup.

I'm very satisfied going with the "smoothie" rear fender. With the Retro having a large gas tank the fender takes that look all the way down to the back of the bike. One disadvantage is the fact you don't have the large tombstone rear brake light for visibility. I use the Kury bullets for both turn signal and brake lighting.