So...yesterday I decided to learn how to take off all my fairings and learn a little about the bike. Plan was to install frame sliders, remove all decals and eliminate that fender! Well I got 2/3 of the way done, and that was good enough for me. I started with Rob's write up on a cheap fender eliminator and only had to make a few changes due to a slightly different rear end.
So without any real idea of what I was doing I just started cutting (the best way right...). I cut the fender along the line that sits where the bottom of the rear fairing stops (it's somewhat obvious when looking at it). I made sure to leave the the tabs intact for the push-screws.
(the red line represents what was cut off after the picture)
I learned in this process that a dremel wasn't necessary, but it was fun. The dremel definitely came in handy after the cutting because I used the sanding end to really smooth out all the cut areas.
(obviously this is before the sanding)
Bye bye fender...
Ok so once I got to this point I took the license plate bracket off the "old fender". I then screwed the bracket it the rear fender (where there was a couple push-screws, pictures can be provided).
This is where I had to get a tad creative. I went to Home Depot and after a lot of looking around and came home with a couple of corner brackets. I don't even remember now what they are supposed to be for, but I got them from the hardware section. I took those two brackets and fastened them with locking nuts to the plate bracket. Now that there was a 90-degree angle I could put the plate on.
I wasn't really keen on drilling holes in the license plate...but it doesn't look terrible.
here's the final product:
To me it looks a lot different, and I'm happy with the end result. Your questions might include..."What about turn signals"? Well, I'm going to figure that out tomorrow...I'm either going to go down to the bike shop and buy some LED signals and mount them...or I may buy an integrated tail-light. I'm not sure I want to shell out the money for that yet...but I'll look around.
So without any real idea of what I was doing I just started cutting (the best way right...). I cut the fender along the line that sits where the bottom of the rear fairing stops (it's somewhat obvious when looking at it). I made sure to leave the the tabs intact for the push-screws.
(the red line represents what was cut off after the picture)
I learned in this process that a dremel wasn't necessary, but it was fun. The dremel definitely came in handy after the cutting because I used the sanding end to really smooth out all the cut areas.
(obviously this is before the sanding)
Bye bye fender...
Ok so once I got to this point I took the license plate bracket off the "old fender". I then screwed the bracket it the rear fender (where there was a couple push-screws, pictures can be provided).
This is where I had to get a tad creative. I went to Home Depot and after a lot of looking around and came home with a couple of corner brackets. I don't even remember now what they are supposed to be for, but I got them from the hardware section. I took those two brackets and fastened them with locking nuts to the plate bracket. Now that there was a 90-degree angle I could put the plate on.
I wasn't really keen on drilling holes in the license plate...but it doesn't look terrible.
here's the final product:
To me it looks a lot different, and I'm happy with the end result. Your questions might include..."What about turn signals"? Well, I'm going to figure that out tomorrow...I'm either going to go down to the bike shop and buy some LED signals and mount them...or I may buy an integrated tail-light. I'm not sure I want to shell out the money for that yet...but I'll look around.
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