F -> E w/ F headlight mod with a fancy bracket...

[PachmanP]

So I've gone from this:



to this



Mostly motivated by this



And I thought I'd talk aboot how I hooked it all up.

I got a hold of some E fork brackets decided to try and use those to mount my F headlight.  I'd seen the F headlight with the MC Enterprise brackets, but they just didn't do it for me (and the tab he used had broken off). 

Anyways I went to my friendly neighborhood hardware store and picked up a 3 ft long 1" wide strip of steel, cut it into four 9 in strips, and drilled and trimmed one end.  Using liberal quantities of oil on the tip of the drill bit, so not to ruin it, and lots of patience with a dremel and cut off wheel.  About like so



All the holes are 1/4 in since that is the best fit I could find for the M6 bolts I used.

The strips on the brackets



As you may see, the top two strips are going to need to be bent out to fit the headlight.  Kinda like this



Figure out where to put the second hole in the strips; mostly done via the "hold the light up and mark it quick" method.



Notice how the lower strips rest on the turn signals.  They will need to be notched so that they fit into the fork brackets correctly.  I did this with a box cutter



Here's a picture of how the headlight is attached to the strips.  bolt-L bracket-washer-headlight-washer-strip-nut.  Sorry for the fuzzy.


Put it all together, trim the strips, round the edges, and we have this



Care should be taken to smooth the edges though because the cables may rub against it, and unfinished it's kind of sharp.

Tools used:
hand drill (with good bits)
Dremel with a cutoff wheel, a grinding wheel, and a sanding wheel
bench vise (and a 1 ft 2x4 for the bending)
C-clamp (to hold everything down when drilling and grinding)
Safety glasses (I like my eyeball)

Time: about a weekend

I should be able to pop all of that off without much trouble and put my fairings back on if I decide to (and I fix them...), but I took it out and think I like it.  The wind blast is rough, but it felt good in the heat today.

Eventually, I plan on painting it black, but that's sort of a "when I don't have something else to do and I don't want to be out riding" project, so I thought I'd post it up.

If I had to do it again...I'd avoid crashing and leave the fairings on  .  Looking at the pictures I might lower the light; it looks like it's hanging out quite a bit in the pictures, but it's not so bad in person.  Although, to do that you'd have to put the lower strips below the turn signals which may or may not work or drill holes for the signals.  All in all, I think it's a pretty successful project.

Here's a front picture to leave with.  It does look a like insect-like (or Vorlon suit-like if you're really a nerd ). 

[ohgood]

cool, nice write up

if you were to drop it down about 1 1/2 - 2", it'd look mmm, sweeterer. 2 cents

[REAP]

Looks good  . Im also doing this mod but its inbetween lots of other mods so to tell you the truth its not getting done at all.... haha

I like the way you made the bracket up and mounted it on but is it strong enough to withstand all the wind and anything else coming your way?

Also, what did you bolt the strip of steel onto (bike, not the headlight)?

[PachmanP]

I've had it up to freeway speeds in the last couple of days and it seems like it holds up just fine.  The strips are nontrivial hunks of steel.  I suspect if anything did hit it hard enough they might bend, but I think the whole thing would be ok.
The strips are attached to fork brackets from from an E.

[REAP]

Oh ok, just curious about how it holds up. Overall look is awesome 

[average]

WHy didnt you just use the cowl bracket?

[theGrinch]

Sorry I can't share your enthusiasm - I don't like the look at all.
But as always: It is your bike and you have to like it!

[tripleb]

good job.  now you just need to get rid of those God awful stock signals...

[The Buddha]

  It does look a like insect-like (or Vorlon suit-like if you're really a nerd ). 

It looks like its is about to have a ... a ... ahem ...  monologue ...
Cool.
Buddha.

[PachmanP]

WHy didnt you just use the cowl bracket?

It's bigger and uglier and the tabs that attach the headlight to it broke off...

Sorry I can't share your enthusiasm - I don't like the look at all.
But as always: It is your bike and you have to like it!

You just want to ruin Christmas!!

good job.  now you just need to get rid of those God awful stock signals...

Eh I got them cheaper than some smaller ones, and they're hella more visible than aftermarket ones me thinks.
It'd be nice to clean 'em up a little, but I suspect it'll be one of those projects that will be approached asymptoticly.

It looks like its is about to have a ... a ... ahem ...  monologue ...

Well if you're gonna ride this instead of that, it's not so bad that they look the same...

[badguy]

Good job, but it would definitely look better with the headlight lowered.

Try ditching the stock headlight brackets and buying four hose clamps.  Part #5204K45 at McMaster-Carr should do the trick (or part #5312K45 if you need to save a few bucks, but watch out for rust).  You should be able to use brackets similar to those you fabricated already with something extra to hold the turn signals.  From what you've already done, I think you should have no problem figuring it out 

[s0crates82]

Looks very cool.

I agree with the others, though, that dropping the headlight just a few inches would look pretty awesome. 

Have you considered an HID upgrade, and if so, where would you put the ballast?

[The Buddha]

Have you considered an HID upgrade, and if so, where would you put the ballast?

Well ... behind it where ballast usually goes.
Cool.
Buddha.