Post by Pete on Mar 3, 2013 16:54:31 GMT 10
Hi all,
Well...... the midnight oil burnt long last night but the stock indicators are now relocated to the number plate assembly ( to make room for the Hard Saddle bags), the Mutazu MU style hard saddle bags are mounted and my Jack Daniels Old No 7 seat is adjusted and mounted.
I've adjusted the seat as far back as I can go and it's currently about 2.5 inches further back than stock. As mentioned in a previous post, I was simply getting a sore ass on the stock seat and after lots of 'painful' trial & error I came to the conclusion that the stock seat needed to go back at least an inch & half if not 2 inches. Alas, the stock seat has NO adjustment for forward or back movement (Thus, reason my car seat is 1000 fold more comfortable because it has adjustments + other cool things)
Ok, what to do ? if I purchase an after-market seat I'll still have the same problem I.E. I'm sitting too far back into the seat to the point of sitting ON TOP and/or INTO the actual curve/rise at the rear of the seat. Given that the after market seats are similar in sitting position but better designed I doubted that an aftermarket seat would 'fix' my issue because it too would need adjusting back and that was simply not an option available.... what to do?
Thank god for the internet ;D
I found a post of an industrious young rider who modified a bobber/pan style seat to suit his Honda Shadow so he could sit further back (sounds similar to my predicament lol) After a few months of researching I came across La-Rosa bobber/pan style seats in a nice 10inches wide and even better 16inches long and even better with mounting bolts underneath... easy part, hard part.... mounting the bloody thing.
Seat Mounting
After a bit of trial error:
1/ I got a 3mm x 275mm x 50mm metal support/bracket plate cut by the local sheet metal works ($20 including 4x holes drilled and 2x holes drilled into the chrome relocation bar) to suit the distance across the frame members (under the stock seat) approx 27.5cm.
2/ I then had 4x 10mm holes cut out, 2 to suit the seat mounting holes and 2 at the outer edges so I could attach the support/braket to the bike frame.
3/ Then drilled 2x holes (8.5mm) into the bike's frame to tap a M10-1.50 hole.
4/ Then I bolted the seat the the support/mounting bracket
5/ Then I attached the support/bracket to the bikes frame using high tensile bolts (M10 - 25mm long) into the holes I had tapped.
Hey presto, 1 Jack Daniels seat firmly mounted to the bike.
Hard saddle bag mounting
Mounting the bags I simply followed Mutazu's instruction.
The bags are Cobalt Blue but wow, they closely match the Blue that Honda use although, up close it's noticeable however, a repaint is on the books but probably end of year. I've also bought a trailerable sail boat so the bike, sail boat and my charity work (Storm trooping for the 501st ) take up a lot of my time lol
1/ Using my bikes jack/lift I put 1 bag onto my garage seat and then jacked the bike up and down until I liked the height of the bags against the bike.
2/ I then moved the garage seat forward & backwards until I liked the side position of the bags. Then I locked the wheels on the garage seat and bike jack/lift so it would not move and used a LONG skinny permanent marker to mark out the mounting holes.
3/ I drilled out the holes in one bags and then lined that bag up with the other bag and used the holed bag as a template for the cut out holes in the other bag so the holes would be in exactly the same.
4/ I cut out the mounting holes, inserted the grommets and using the 3 Allen key bolts secured the bags to the bike.
hey presto, 2 nicely and evenly placed Mutazu 44ltr MU (model) hard Saddle bags.
Indicator relocation from top chrome side rail of the rear guard to the number plate light assembly.
1/ I used a 'Saddleman" brand indicator (turn signal) chromed relocation bar but I did have to drill 2x extra 7mm holes so I could mount the relocation bar the the number plate bracket using the same bolts that secure the number plate.
2/ added 60cm of automotive cable to extend the existing loom to the number plate assembly. Cut existing cable and simply soldered 60cm's of new cable between the cuts so I could use the existing loom connectors
3/ TESTED the connections ON the bike to make sure everthing worked... Yay, indicators worked perfectly so now I just needed to 'tidy up the wiring'
4/ soldered all connections for a firm connection, used heat sealer's and dialectic electrical grease to seal and protect the soldered ends and then used long sections of heat sealer to seal the length of the cables to stop them 'unravelling'
5/ ran all new extended cables along original cabled path to make use of the existing cable holders UNDER the guard
6/ refitted guard to bike, connected looms TESTED again, yay, all working perfectly.
7/ Because of the slight upward angle of the number plate assembly on the guard the indicators now have a slight upward angle (maybe 25° angle) however, this has worked out perfectly because the indicators now point up perfectly in-line to a drivers eye sight ;D
The finished result: Yay, photos lol
Cheers, Pete
Well...... the midnight oil burnt long last night but the stock indicators are now relocated to the number plate assembly ( to make room for the Hard Saddle bags), the Mutazu MU style hard saddle bags are mounted and my Jack Daniels Old No 7 seat is adjusted and mounted.
I've adjusted the seat as far back as I can go and it's currently about 2.5 inches further back than stock. As mentioned in a previous post, I was simply getting a sore ass on the stock seat and after lots of 'painful' trial & error I came to the conclusion that the stock seat needed to go back at least an inch & half if not 2 inches. Alas, the stock seat has NO adjustment for forward or back movement (Thus, reason my car seat is 1000 fold more comfortable because it has adjustments + other cool things)
Ok, what to do ? if I purchase an after-market seat I'll still have the same problem I.E. I'm sitting too far back into the seat to the point of sitting ON TOP and/or INTO the actual curve/rise at the rear of the seat. Given that the after market seats are similar in sitting position but better designed I doubted that an aftermarket seat would 'fix' my issue because it too would need adjusting back and that was simply not an option available.... what to do?
Thank god for the internet ;D
I found a post of an industrious young rider who modified a bobber/pan style seat to suit his Honda Shadow so he could sit further back (sounds similar to my predicament lol) After a few months of researching I came across La-Rosa bobber/pan style seats in a nice 10inches wide and even better 16inches long and even better with mounting bolts underneath... easy part, hard part.... mounting the bloody thing.
Seat Mounting
After a bit of trial error:
1/ I got a 3mm x 275mm x 50mm metal support/bracket plate cut by the local sheet metal works ($20 including 4x holes drilled and 2x holes drilled into the chrome relocation bar) to suit the distance across the frame members (under the stock seat) approx 27.5cm.
2/ I then had 4x 10mm holes cut out, 2 to suit the seat mounting holes and 2 at the outer edges so I could attach the support/braket to the bike frame.
3/ Then drilled 2x holes (8.5mm) into the bike's frame to tap a M10-1.50 hole.
4/ Then I bolted the seat the the support/mounting bracket
5/ Then I attached the support/bracket to the bikes frame using high tensile bolts (M10 - 25mm long) into the holes I had tapped.
Hey presto, 1 Jack Daniels seat firmly mounted to the bike.
Hard saddle bag mounting
Mounting the bags I simply followed Mutazu's instruction.
The bags are Cobalt Blue but wow, they closely match the Blue that Honda use although, up close it's noticeable however, a repaint is on the books but probably end of year. I've also bought a trailerable sail boat so the bike, sail boat and my charity work (Storm trooping for the 501st ) take up a lot of my time lol
1/ Using my bikes jack/lift I put 1 bag onto my garage seat and then jacked the bike up and down until I liked the height of the bags against the bike.
2/ I then moved the garage seat forward & backwards until I liked the side position of the bags. Then I locked the wheels on the garage seat and bike jack/lift so it would not move and used a LONG skinny permanent marker to mark out the mounting holes.
3/ I drilled out the holes in one bags and then lined that bag up with the other bag and used the holed bag as a template for the cut out holes in the other bag so the holes would be in exactly the same.
4/ I cut out the mounting holes, inserted the grommets and using the 3 Allen key bolts secured the bags to the bike.
hey presto, 2 nicely and evenly placed Mutazu 44ltr MU (model) hard Saddle bags.
Indicator relocation from top chrome side rail of the rear guard to the number plate light assembly.
1/ I used a 'Saddleman" brand indicator (turn signal) chromed relocation bar but I did have to drill 2x extra 7mm holes so I could mount the relocation bar the the number plate bracket using the same bolts that secure the number plate.
2/ added 60cm of automotive cable to extend the existing loom to the number plate assembly. Cut existing cable and simply soldered 60cm's of new cable between the cuts so I could use the existing loom connectors
3/ TESTED the connections ON the bike to make sure everthing worked... Yay, indicators worked perfectly so now I just needed to 'tidy up the wiring'
4/ soldered all connections for a firm connection, used heat sealer's and dialectic electrical grease to seal and protect the soldered ends and then used long sections of heat sealer to seal the length of the cables to stop them 'unravelling'
5/ ran all new extended cables along original cabled path to make use of the existing cable holders UNDER the guard
6/ refitted guard to bike, connected looms TESTED again, yay, all working perfectly.
7/ Because of the slight upward angle of the number plate assembly on the guard the indicators now have a slight upward angle (maybe 25° angle) however, this has worked out perfectly because the indicators now point up perfectly in-line to a drivers eye sight ;D
The finished result: Yay, photos lol
Cheers, Pete