Thinking about going naked...

[squirell008]

If you see my WTB post, you can tell I did some damage to the right side of my bike. It was stupid, sad, and painful, both physically and to the wallet.

I've pretty much recovered physically, but the bike has a way to go. The headlights and cowling are both gone and I was thinking that I sort of like how it looks without them. I've spent hours looking at various threads about different naked projects, and I am thinking about doing my own. But, I have a few questions.

Which conversion requires the least fabrication? If there are decent instructions, I can do most fabrications that aren't too complex, but my "custom" work tends to look a little ghetto after I finish. I don't mind spending money for something that will look decent, but do have a budget of around $500. Of course, if I could get away with spending less, that'd be even better

Also, is there a decent naked mod out there that still provides something of a windscreen?

Thanks!

PS, whatever I do I'll be sure to do a nice write-up with it.

 

[fzme]

You can do a conversion with minimal fabrication. You're going to need brackets to hold the signals/headlight/speedo gauge in place, but those are more labor-intensive than costly. The best way (for me) is to make a template for whatever bracket out of cardboard. Once you have perfected and re-perfected the size/shape of your cardboard, you can use it as a template for permanent metal piece.

As far as other costs go, you could pay more than your budget allows for just the headlight. Your best bet is to find a headlight that is either used or cheap. There are lots of nice looking single and bug-eyed lights that aren't expensive--go down to your local moto salvage yard and you'll see something you like.

About the wind protection, you just aren't going to have anywhere near the level of wind protection with a naked bike. The headlight and a small windscreen will deflect some of the wind, but really if most of your riding is at less than 100mph and you won't be doing any long-distance tours, you won't have any problems. Defyinertia runs his fz6 naked on the track, as do many others, without any wind problems.

Signals and mirrors are important too, and can cost a fortune, but again, look around and you should be able to make use of what's available.

Good luck! That's a tight budget, but you could do it.:thumbup:

 

[fzme]

Oh something else to think about is wiring. You're going to have a mess of wires out front to deal with. You'll want to get them connected the right way, obviously, but it's as important to protect all that hard work with lots of shrink wrap. I did a sloppy job of wiring up new turn signals with just electrical tape. When the bike got wet, the signals didn't work, and I had to untape all the wires and secure them more tightly and with better material.

Something else just came to mind: clearance. Make sure that whatever bracket/wire routing/mounting that you do, that you can turn the forks to max turn both ways. Again, I made a dumb mistake by spending hours on a bracket that didn't clear the tank anyway...

 

[goker]

Not that I want to hijack the thread, but I have a question to those who went naked about what they did with their mirror installation. I don't know about the earlier years, but 2008+ bikes do not have the build in mirror install locations on the handlebar. Aside from putting the mirrors at the end of the handlebars, what did you use to attach the mirrors on your handlebars (Pictures of that area if you have them would be helpful). Where did you get them?

I am not thinking about going naked, but I want to move my mirrors to my handle bars, so looking for options. My search on the forum did not turn up anything.