Sometimes you have to take a step backwards to take two steps forward.
This is the case with my latest mod to my S4Rt.
I really liked the Cyclecat top triple/clipon setup I had on my last Monster (now owned by Swampduc) but as we all know, Cyclecat is pretty much defunct. I also really liked the way I had my Matris damper installed but I'm not crazy about how it looks with the stock triple/bars because it sits so high up. So that left me with a dilemma... how do I mount the damper across the front of the tank like on my old Monster with parts that are currently available?
The answer came by looking to the past... a set of clipons and top triple from a Foggy Monster. it took a lot of work to get them to this point. As we know, the triples that come stock on our Monsters have an ugly casting mark/seam that divides them horizontally. It makes them look rather cheap so I decided that since I had to powdercoat them anyway to match the semi-gloss black of my original triples I may as well remove the casting mark.
About 8 hours later I was ready for powdercoat. [bang] It was quite a lot of work to remove the casting mark even with a right-angle die grinder and coarse sanding discs. After it was removed I spend several hours with medium discs smoothing everything out and then another 2-3 hours sanding everything smooth by hand.
I thought this was going to be a simple swap when it came time to install the triple and clipons. I was wrong. The triple fit on without a problem but it's designed for the older style headlight U-bracket so I had to fab up a few things to make it work.
The result was worth it I think. Now all I have to do is order up my Matris damper and this years round of mods will be complete.
Here are a few pics of the finished product. Let me know what you think.
(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/S4Rt/NewTripleandCliponstop.jpg)
(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/S4Rt/NewTripleandCliponsright.jpg)
(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/S4Rt/NewTripleandCliponsleft.jpg)
(http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/MonstermashS2R/S4Rt/NewTripleandCliponsside.jpg)
Looks like rubbish.
Wait, no - it looks great [thumbsup]
No surprise [thumbsup] fantastic!
Are you mounting a damper? Matris has a kit for the S4.
That turned out really good!! [thumbsup]
Thanks guys!
I just took it for s short ride tonight when I got home from work. The new clipons definitely have a different angle than the stock bars. They are a little flatter so it takes a lot of pressure off of my hands between my thumb and index finger. I'm interested to see how they will be with on a long ride.
That came out gorgeous!
Looks good!
I did the same thing to mine over the winter. I used little 1" sanding barrels on my dremel. Still took me about 2-3 hours to to upper and lower.