What did you do to your FJ-tracer-gt today?

[wordsmith]

Pic please, nh.

[wordsmith]

On 1/11/2019 at 9:27 AM, betoney said:

I am 6'-1" and sit fairly upright.  When I made the hood deep enough to block some glare the indicators could no longer be seen, I kept trimming it back until I could see them and soon the hood was completely ineffective.

I have been losing sleep over this problem of yours, betoney!   Looking at my little screen, I wonder if you could cut a 1/4" wide slot (actually two) running fore-and-aft, say about 2" long, or even drill a reasonable-size hole, immediately over the little directional arrows on the indicator signals, to let you see them.

Edited January 14, 2019 by wordsmith

[betoney]

26 minutes ago, wordsmith said:

I have been losing sleep over this problem of yours, betoney! 

I appreciate your concern as well as your suggestion.  I will look at this project again in the near future and see if I can incorporate your ideas.  Much appreciated.

[nhchris]

On 1/10/2019 at 11:38 PM, wordsmith said:

As many here have done, I added a pin-stripe of coloured tape along the shadow-line under the tank.   Visually it breaks-up the rather dark area there, and also seems to elongate the bike, unifying the red-painted tank and rear panels.  

The colour-match isn’t exact, but the tape - and indeed the bike's paintwork - is much less orange in colour than the pic below suggests: I’m happy with the effect.

A 9.8 metre roll of 6mm tape cost me $9.30 delivered, with heaps left over for other applications…

What a great look!  Where did you source the skinny colored tape? (I am north of the equator :!)

cb

[betoney]

20 minutes ago, nhchris said:

What a great look!  Where did you source the skinny colored tape? (I am north of the equator :!)

cb

I have used this EBay Vendor a few times.  He can get you different colors and different dimensions.  After doing the wheel stripes, I had him make me a sheet of 1/4" (6mm) wide X 24" long stripes.  If I remember correctly, 8x stripes were about $8-9, email him with your request.

When I installed the stripe along that curve, I did it very slowly following the curve and went over it with a heat gun.

[wordsmith]

1 hour ago, nhchris said:

What a great look!  Where did you source the skinny colored tape? (I am north of the equator :!)

cb

No need to apologise for being north of the equator - somebody has to be (and I was for 29 years)!

E Bay Motorcycle parts and accessories - kbh_autoparts.   Very quick delivery of about a week, nice product, inexpensive.

Edited January 14, 2019 by wordsmith

[wordsmith]

Put me within reach of just a few square inches of scrap carbon-look vinyl sheet and I go berserk!   Small note-books and other such things around the house have succumbed to my passion for carbon-ing any thing that doesn't move.   When my doggie sees me roaming around with carbon in hand and a gleam in my eye he hides, thinking he'll be next!

Stuck some onto the tiny rear hugger - all but invisible when re-installed onto the bike, but I know it's there!   I'll go much faster now...

[wordsmith]

7 hours ago, betoney said:

 

When I installed the stripe along that curve, I did it very slowly following the curve and went over it with a heat gun.

Same here: I actually made up a little 'tool' from an ice-cream stick, as wide as the channel and with sandpaper-smoothed ends, and ran this with decent pressure at an angle along the tape after using the hair-dryer (in place of a heat-gun, which I don't have).   Seems secure - time will tell.

[duhs10]

2 hours ago, wordsmith said:

Same here: I actually made up a little 'tool' from an ice-cream stick, as wide as the channel and with sandpaper-smoothed ends, and ran this with decent pressure at an angle along the tape after using the hair-dryer (in place of a heat-gun, which I don't have).   Seems secure - time will tell.

Should be fine.. I free-handed my pinstripe and didnt use any heat when applying it. Its lasted 3 years and has never tried to peel. 

[bugie]

My last wheel stripe (no heat appled)  lasted 10 years and is still going. Bike had over 60k done with them on, survived at least 5 tyre changes, rain, sun and the odd power wash. 

[BBB]

18 hours ago, nhchris said:

Installed an adventure-bike-type splash guard to try and contain the shower coming off the rear tire.

Now... I already know some of you naked bike guys abhor this look, so you don't need to comment and tell me so

No comments about liking or not from me. I am curious however whether this type of guard actually works. I’ve seen, but now can’t find, a video of a bike fitted with this type, viewed from the side in the rain. It looked like all the spray was directed even more strongly to the underside of the tail of the bike. I’m also curious how the replacement adjusters hold up, as I had to replace the OEM versions as they were too soft and deformed when torqueing up the axle nut. So, please follow up when you get a chance to see how it works 👍🏻

[BBB]

13 hours ago, wordsmith said:

Put me within reach of just a few square inches of scrap carbon-look vinyl sheet and I go berserk!   Small note-books and other such things around the house have succumbed to my passion for carbon-ing any thing that doesn't move. 

New idea for you @wordsmith

https://www.eachgstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17069

[nhchris]

4 hours ago, BBB said:

No comments about liking or not from me. I am curious however whether this type of guard actually works. I’ve seen, but now can’t find, a video of a bike fitted with this type, viewed from the side in the rain. It looked like all the spray was directed even more strongly to the underside of the tail of the bike. I’m also curious how the replacement adjusters hold up, as I had to replace the OEM versions as they were too soft and deformed when torqueing up the axle nut. So, please follow up when you get a chance to see how it works 👍🏻

I too am curious about how it will perform in the real world. I hope it will not make the mess worse, but I guess that's possible.

This style guard seems to be standard equipment on most dual-sport biles, so I thought I'd give it a try.

It costs $69 USD with free shipping on Amazon. If it does not work I'll toss it on the shelf and not feel too bad.

The replacement adjuster seems more robust than stock, probably because it is part of the arm that the guard supports mount to. We'll see.

I'll post a review after the first wet ride.

cb

[wordsmith]

6 hours ago, BBB said:

New idea for you @wordsmith

https://www.eachgstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17069

Old idea!   On my first Tracer way back in mid-2015 I actually made one of these, but I doubt it was as neat and precise as the one you've shown.   I recall that it was very fiddly and precise work - which made it an enjoyable challenge for me! - and that I had a cuppla tries that went into the bin, then I made a cardboard template and worked from there.   Looked OK I recall, and I still have material left-over so may repeat the process.   But what a pity I wasn't smart enough to have kept the template...  Thanks for sharing.

[wordsmith]

I did nothing to my Tracer today.   Some self-adhesive stripes to dress-up the pannier lids arrived, and I got ready to apply them using the approved (here) soapy-water method.   But as I started I noticed that the stripes on each of the two pieces were different - one piece had skinny side stripes and a wide centre stripe: the other had wider side-stripes and a narrower centre stripe!   WTF! 

This is the first time I've been dissatisfied with any purchase from E Bay, so I have e-mailed the vendor with a pic, asking for a refund.   The two stripes cost under AUD$7, so I'm hardly distressed, especially as the red colour was no match for the bike's Lava Red paintwork.   But it will be interesting to see how this request goes...

Edited January 15, 2019 by wordsmith