Failed bike modifications

[MarkJ]

I always seem to come up with these bright ideas, but sometimes they don't always go as planned. Is it just me? Post your failed modifications

Stebel Nautilus - I couldn't find anywhere to fit the first Nautilus I bought so put it behind the numberplate. All went well untill I went over a big dip in the road which squashed the suspension low enough for the rear wheel to rip the horn off, punch a hole in my undertray and pull my rear hugger off It must have cost me a good £40 for another nautilus and spray paint for the hugger

HID headlights. These would have been OK if I didn't need the bi-xenon H4 kind. I ended up with some that had the shield screwed on and the "full beam" were some small bulbs attached to the side of the HID filament that were as bright as sidelights. These bulbs also gave a shocking beam pattern and I'm back with normal filament bulbs

Bar muffs. Did my head in everytime they'd push on the levers at speed.

For this winter I bought some coloured reflectors for the front, side and back of my bike in an attempt to be noticed a bit more. Has made no difference at all

[Doovy]

- motrax twin horns.

they just looked stupid wherever they were on my naked hornet.


- mesh on my bellpan.

it looked like a fishing net full of scum after a few weeks of winter riding.
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[ms51ves3]

[chris-red]

[Bishbash]

Only thing I can think of was when I put flush indicators on my R1, they were so flush you couldn't see them at all. Rendered pointless
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My current bikes are - YZF-R1 & GS 500 E

Trackday videos - https://www.youtube.com/user/bishbash13

[Im-a-Ridah]

Depends what you want the HID for. If its for the extra light, then just fit H1 or H3 HIDs in some aux lights

My biggest issue with motorcycle lighting though isn't such much how much light, but rather that it aims the wrong way in corners!

[MarkJ]

@ Chris, I did get another Nautilus off ebay for £20, but spent another £20 on the paint for the hugger which was broken. I have done the hole in the muff () trick with them, but the front would just collapse backwards and downwards - there was no support in them, probably because they were £10 off ebay.

@ Chris & Rydah, I am going to get a proper projector headlight and have a proper go at HIDs & LED sidelights when I get a bit more money saved up. I have the common-as-muck dominator headlights at the moment which are pretty poor.

[G]

On the bar muffs - you need to at least fasten these on to the barends. Alternatively, stick some enduro hand guards on and use them to put the muffs around - I actually made my own guard out of some old shelving for the zx9 and it seemed to work well.

Edit.... also going to mention extra side lights, but seems I've been beaten to it .
Plan is to stick 'neon string' all over the outside of the GSXR in appropriate colours (white front/amber side/red rear), but want some cheapo chinese fairings first and it's probably going to be summer before I can afford them .
At least I've made use of the neonz in the mean time ...
(Oh and I also did the HID - but did my research first and got one that moved rather than with an extra bulb , haven't fitted my stebel yet, waiting for the fairings as I may cut them up a bit to have it front-facing etc.

[superchick]

my bike has some go faster scratches

[G]

[superchick]

[MarkJ]

[GSF Jamie 600]

Its the worst feeling grrr

* bellypan for my naked bandit doesnt fit

* snapped one of my mini indicators when putting on

* snapped a bolt when installing my renthals

* exhaust (sounds good) but makes a tinny noise at 3k =(

[Dazbo666]

Tried a DIY mesh mod for the fairing infills on my old GPZ. (I got the idea from a boy-racer / rally car mod with mesh panels in the body kit)
All I can say is that the mesh was never used while the bike was on the road, mainly because of my poor DIY skills and insufficient tools.

I also had a Stebel Nautilus horn fitted on the GPZ. I took it off the GPZ to fit it to the Bandit, but can't find any suitable space to fit it properly, so now it's surplus until I can find a suitable position and/or make a custom DIY bracket

I'm only hoping that my DIY skills are steadily improving because I find that my modding plans are often more ambitious than my abilities LOL
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1st bike (Sept'06 - May'10) : 1991 GPZ500S / Current bike (since Nov 2009) : 2003 Suzuki Bandit 600N
Word of the day : DILLIGAF

[Phoenix]

I don't know whether it's possible on your bike but I positioned my Stebel Nautilus under the tank and behind the carbs in the big empty space there (old Fireblade), fits perfectly and not really much heat there, it's a full size car Nautilus too not the bike one.

Only mods that has failed really is the heated grips I got free seemed to suffer a fault switch module presumably due to water penetration on day one of fitting them, now need to remove the fuse otherwise they come on and off randomly.

I also fitted some Angel Eyes into the headlights to use as a low power sidelight for day riding instead of dipped beam. They look good I think but started to come loose when the glue I used to fit them melted from the headlight bulbs when they're on, I checked the melting point and it was sufficient but clearly the IR heat is too intense. Need to dismantle the headlight unit again and refit them somehow, have a plan though.

[ms51ves3]

[Dazbo666]

[Visitor Q]

Bar ends. Go through the fuckers at a rate. CBR has weird internals All other bikes have been fine. Now they're just cobbled on in a hodgepodge fashion and I don't care.

Gave up trying to fit a scottoiler.
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China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
From September 2014 to January/February 2015 I will not be using any English, nor reading any. As such, I won't be on here. PM at will, but I won't be checking/posting unless in emergencies. Certainly not for the first couple of months. Please berate me savagely if I break that rule...

[G]

Note that with the little stebel, I believe you can separate the compressor and the horn - my thought was to stick the compressor under the rear seat on the GSXR and run a hose to the front for the horn.

[Deckx]

Digital Gear indicator... what a waste of time / effort installing it and trying to calibrate it.

Cheap crash bungs... bought some cheapies from Taiwan, shit plastic and too small, ended up binning them and ordering another set of R&Gs.

Magnetic Sump Plug...DO NOT BUY THESE.. Bolt was too short and i suspect the thread was slightly different (looser). Ended up damaging threads on the sump after a couple of oil changes. Put back in the original but it still drips. Something I can live with at the moment but will probably get worst every oil-change

[ms51ves3]

[Clanger]

Raptor fairing: looks good but is shoddy at night. So I took that one off quick smart.

Tiny arrow indicators: they are possibly the hardest bulbs to change when blown. Have since exchanged for Bandit 400 standard indies.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss