| A Visit to the Muenster Garage I finally found time during the holiday break to install the FLY Design undertail I’d been sitting on for about 6 months. When I initially ordered it from those congenial mates at 2WheelJunkie, I had time to burn and sat on my hands waiting for it to arrive. After 3 long months, if finally arrived. Of course, by then I had no time to install it, so off to the parts bin it went. Well, the tail itself was a nice looking piece. The fiberglass work was bloody brill, and it came complete and unbroken, which is saying something in this age of “just in time” and “we’re only the reseller.” The fellows at 2WJ even threw in some amber turn signals, which I’d requested, even though they wouldn’t have fit all that well. Sometimes, it’s the thought that counts. So I read the translated directions about 3 times and gave them a toss. I can’t blame the “freedom fry” bunch over at FLY Design for their translation, in fact it was a bit humourous. Like many of us, I had a GXSR shock installed on the SV, so I was on my own anyway. Many times I’ve chuckled watching “Monster Chopper” on the Discovery Channel as Paul Sr. about pops his pumper whilst Paul Jr. takes another project bike right to the deadline. I wouldn’t be surprised if Junior was doing this just to get Dad’s bollocks in a vise. It’s tough being the help and the son, too, so I suppose he’s got to get his fun where he can. I digress.
With the shock back in, the linkage regreased (smart enough to mark it this time before disassembly) and the subframe ready for a dusting of semi-flat black krylon, I turned my peepers to mounting the lights on the undertail unit. The supplied tail lights fit without a hitch, but I sank them in with a bed of clear silicone just to make sure. I’ll still be able to change the bulb easily enough, as it’s only the housing that’s got the silly putty on it. As I prepared to snap in the turn siggies, one of the fiberglass tabs promptly snapped off the new tailsection. Out came the 5 minute epoxy gel and back to it, then. Since FLY Design supplied no wiring diagram, I whipped out the service manual CD I picked up on ebay and promptly figured out the new scheme. I think I could have used the 3-prong connector off the old voltage regulator I had laying about (the “new” one is off a 650 Savage I picked up from the boneyard a moon ago) but I fancied the insulated connectors in the 3M kit and so decided to stay renegade all the way out back. After a half-dozen dry fits getting the battery wrapped with insul-foam and such, I knew that the two mounting tabs out back (where the 2 rearward most Phillips screws mounting the stock tail) were not long for this world unless I filled them in with epoxy and filed them flush, this due to the mismatched angles on the suzi side panels and the undertail unit.
Ok, it’s
all mounted up and such. Now I’ll just stick up the license plate and
be done with it. But all my aluminum plate was in the garage and here
I was in the shop….I found an old anodized equipment cover that I could
cobble up and bend to the proper angle. Thankfully I had a short drill
motor or I would have had to pull the tail on the donkey once again
to drill the holes. I sprayed the plate bracket with a coat of zinc-rich
cold galvanizing compound in honor of our new Governator (you figure
it out) and now I was officially done. Looks tasty, no? Best lump of
cheese I’ve seen in while. |
So
off came the tail section and the subframe. I decided to weld up a new
battery box frame out of 1/8" hot rolled mild steel since it bends
easily enough and the battery is only 7 lbs./3.5 kilos. The down side
of hot-rolled is that it’s covered with mill scale and when trying to
gas weld, it pops like a Hardly Dangerous big twin with straights and
sorry jetting on decel. If you’re too lazy to prep the weld area like
I am you just wear long sleeves. There’s tons of room in there once
the stock plastic undertray is gone, and a larger battery than the F4i
unit I’m using would have a no trouble fitment if one needed the extra
amp-hours for that electric jockey-strap or that tank-mounted toaster
oven. Hey, bet I could fit a air-horn in there!
Whilst
all the stumpage out back was exposed, I thought this would be a good
time to install the 600# spring I had purchased off a fellow lister
some months back. It was much shorter than the stocker, so I crossed
my fingers and backed off the preload adjuster. Turns out you don’t
need a spring compressor to remove the stock gxsr spring if you’ve got
a stout grip. Diameter of the fox spring was around .060 thicker than
the gixxer unit, so it seemed like it would be in the ballpark for my
style of riding, which is mentally Rossi but realistically Noddy. The
7”/175mm spring used up all the adjustment on the collars allowing no
preload, which turned out to be ok. Couldn’t find any aluminum tube
the right diameter lying about, so it’s on the list for the next shock
service. I think Lindemann out here on the west coast sells spring spacers,
though, as I seem to remember getting back my VFR shock with one installed
a few winters back. (No, I don’t miss it even if all the rags tout it
as a “perfect bike”).
The
only downside to the FLY Design section, other than the directions and
the slow boat from France and then thru Canadian customs is the battery
box they furnish for those with no shock reservoir sucking up space
where the battery should live. It looks like the bottom half of a kid’s
lunch pail that was made in a experimental primate drug testing laboratory
by an overdosed orangutan.