Since the paint's not in, I decide to start messing with the stock fender and trying to get that all set.
I totally forgot to mention the paint purchase. I'll back up to Saturday for a second. I went to the second paint shop to get some paint and some advice. I went to Bond Paint Co. in Albuquerque. I met Syl the General Manager, who helped me a lot. Once I got him sorta wrapped around my project he helped me with some alternatives to what I had thought I wanted. And it actually turned out better... at least in theory, we'll see how it looks.
Instead of the Hot Hues Hot Rod Flat Black and white, which had a very quick time allowance for you to paint. When you start to paint those, you have 24 hours to get the coats finished and the clear coat on to seal it up, or it flakes. Then he showed me the other company's paint which was called Waterford or water-something. With that paint, I didn't need to thin it, I didn't need to sand it in between coats, I could take as long as I wanted once the first base coat was on, it dried in minutes and could be taped on top of 90 seconds after it was dry to the touch. And it was about 1/3 the cost of Hot Hues.
'nuff said, Doc. I'll take 'er.
So I got a pearlized black which is like the child of flat black and gun metal and a pearlized white, which will be coated over with a clear matte finish. And I can take longer than 24 hours to do the whole job, which I might need. Maybe not, I'd like to just stay up non stop from here on out until its done but I actually have to work during the day which si totally cutting into my bike mod time. But it's also funding it as well so its gotta keep rolling. Especially if I keep fucking shit up like yesterday.
So I still spent $300 on supplied for paint with the paints, the clear coat, the primer, actuator and hardener, etc. So that was a pretty healthy chunk of cash.
Ok back to today. Let me just say, or reiterate what others have said which is that the undertail instructions are a laughable joke at best. I'm not even sure they are talking about the same piece of equipment that I have. They are so vague and unclear that they are pretty much useless. In fact, so far, I've figured out most of it on my own after reading them over and over again wondering what the fuck they are talking about. Remember in grade school when you had to write instructions on how to get out of a paper bag or tie your shoe, shit like that? Well this writer totally failed that assignment. I'm totally rewriting the instructions with photos so other people can get a clear idea. These are, bar none, the worst instructions I've ever seen.
So I proceed to determine where the fender needs to be cut, because you still need to keep as much of it as possible. And we cut it off right here...
Which was just behind the two bolt holes where it attaches to the rear of the frame, that's required in order to hold it up, but it has to be as close as you can get with out chopping it off or the undertail wont fit either. You actually have to cut around them and let them stick out a little, and then shave them at an angle so you can make room or the LED' strips or they will never go in there.
Here's a close up.
Next I decide to see how it all fits together to see what kind of rigging job I'm going to have to do. For starters, only 3 of the 4 holes actually line up and the fouth is a good 1/4" off. The #3 hole has less than an 1/8" of plastic on the outside of it. Gonna have to be real damn careful with that one.
So I go put the stock undertail back on, and situate the new undertail in the place it's supposed to go to see how it looks.
It looks friggin awesome.. if I can figure it out... and I will. So I go grab the lock for the "trunk" to see how that is gonna work because from what Im looking at, its not making any sense, knowing how the lock mechanism works and how much cable there is. Sure enough, there is no way that works without some new engineering. And the instructions.. ha ha ha ... oh man, this part is great, it tells you to pull off the L plate from the lock and straighten the metal piece. It does not tell you what the L plate is, nor show you, and that's the last they mention it. So you have no idea why you remove it or why you straighten it. Then it says to install the lock seat into the new undertail. THAT'S IT. That's the extent of the instructions. No mention of how the cable is supposed to go from a horizontal entry to pull a horizontal lock to a vertical pulling a horizontal. Then the best is the shot of the back of the bike and the locking mechanism. its showing the lock and the cable isn't connected at all. It's just sticking up in the middle of no where. I'm not sure the company ever thought that oen through.
I'm going to email Rumble concepts and see if they have anything, even a picture of the inside of the tail finished and working would be enough to get me rolling. I'm sitting here thinking I need to actually cut the cable 2 inches shorter and try to rig my own holder some how. And don't even get me started on the fact that you still need to some how rig a mechanism to hold the end of the cable in place while it actuates to create tension, but you can't twist it too much or the friction keeps it from locking again.
I'm gonna post a message in the cbrforum and see if any of them have done this before. And I might resort to chasing down someone with one if I see one on the street.
Ok, I'm off to post.
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