I've had my bike for 3 years now and really enjoy riding but I haven done any mods lately.  I got on the forum the other night and saw the post of somebody's bike with the decals on the lower fairing and the really smoothed out tail section and it got me to thinking.

This is what I started with.


This is what I've got as of now.


I took the bars off of the back and cut the box like area that holds the tool kit off the mud guard.


I have some sheet metal that I am going to use to make a panel to cover that hole and have a place for the tool kit.  I am also going to make a bracket for the license plate.
I wanted to have a smooth panel painted to match under the tail but when I mocked it up with cardboard the tire hit so this is what I went with.

Let me know what you think.  Any advice is always appreciated!

Looks good.  Definitely show us the end result. 

Do you have an integrated tail light or do you still need to mount the turn signals?

Looks really clean though.

Here's a picture of mine (1990)

looks good mate

Looks good, similar to what I did.

I got the metal plate made for the hole.  It just needs painted black. 


I also got the bracket made to hold the license plate.


I have thought about taking the black piece off underneath the tailight or painting it white for a sleeker look.  I don't know if either would make it look better so I will probably just leave it alone.

I would also like to add wheel stripes but I don't know what color would look best.  I like red on most bikes I see but don't know if blue or silver would look better on mine.  What do the experts on the forum think? 

Thanks for looking and I appreciate the shared wealth of knowledge that this site provides.

It looks slick without the tie down bars but I use mine quite alot. I actually find having them very handy.

I got the metal pieces painted tonight.  In case anyone would like to see them for a template here they are.


I have license plate mounted signals so I didn't have to worry about a mounting bracket for them.  The rear to mounting holes line up with where the stock bolts went through the top of the tool box area.  The front mounting holes line up with holes I drilled into the stock mud guard.  The odd middle mounting hole is just to secure the license plate bracket to the metal plate to make it a little more sturdy.

This is the finished result.  I like it!  I think it really cleans up the lines of the tail section.

Thanks for the photo write-up!

looks good. how do those plate turn signals work for you?

wow, that looks sweet, i need to get me some of those rear turn signals.

BeRto, no problem!  I get tons of information off this site.  I am glad I could contribute a little bit back.

Tribleb, they are led so at night they will light up the road beside you.  My Dad who has ridden behind me a good bit says they are kinda hard to see in the day because they are so small.

I really think they help the looks of the bike and I usually flash the brake light a few times before turning so they work fine for me.

I have those signals on my bike and they are great, I think they are as bright as stockers really.

sorry, but i'm going to dig this post up because it applies to my situation, and maybe someone here can answer a question for me   


so my turn signals are in the same basic setup as this bike. My front ones were just taken out and switched without anything done to the actual bike, and the rear fender was completely chopped off and replaced with license plate lights. Now, at this point, i need to get my bike inspected (and pass), so what would you guys recommend i do to get this thing in legal shape? I can definitely just put the old lights back in teh front, but should i just like duct tape the rear ones in place? (the original mounting area is totally gone, and i dont want to drill any more holes in my bike)



any help/criticism/input is welcome 

Are the lights illegal? If they are you might want to permanately change them out to be legal. Cause getting pulled over is no fun.

Mary

It's not really "illegal" like stealing things or killing someone...   The RMV says that it needs to have a minimum distance of 9inches between the left and right signals (on the rear) for it to pass inspection, and i think these things are maybe 7-8inches apart at most. I dont think that it would be too huge of an issue even if some cop pulled me over for it, but I just want to get that cleared up so i don't get screwed over by the guy doing my inspection

insert some brackets between each signal and the plate to create some more space between the lights.

I guess I am lucky.  Here in Alabama the motorcycle laws are really lenient.  To my knowledge you are required to have a headlight and tail light and that is it.  You are not even required to have signals.  I ride in town around sheriffs, local police, and past a state trooper post all the time and have never had any problems.