Ducati Monster Forum

Can I really safely take a Bremel to a 620  front fender and end up with a 696 looking front fender. I'm a newbie and havent played with a Bremel at all. How hard is this and what else is needed to make sure it comes out looking clean and not choppy? Any tips/pics would be greatly appreciated.

Bremel? Do you mean Dremel?

I'd suggest practice on something that won't cost you.

And if it's just the plastic fender I'd say use hand tools. Lay down tape and draw out your new shape. Rough cut it with a coping saw and then use files and sanding blocks to get the smoothed lines. The plastics used for the body really don't need powered tools to shape quickly. If you're not experienced or steady with one, you can very easily bite too far into a soft material like that.

Also a lot depends on the bit you use, if you do use something like a dremel. A fine grit sanding drum wouldn't be so dramatic... but one of the spiral cutting bits would chew through the plastics like it was hardly there.

Bremels are a dremel-like gadget from Brazil.  They work a little and then you have to listen to samba for an hour, smoke half a pack of cigarettes and then put on a thong before they'll work again.

If you want to use a Dremel with a cut-off disk set the Dremel to the slowest speed.  This will keep the plastic from melting too much and making a mess.

But as suggested by Sad Panda, hand tools will take a little longer but you'll most likely end up with a nicer finished product.

Later, Doug

[laugh] [laugh] [laugh]

Buy a 696 fender on ebay...?

Yeah I've been looking on ebay but they aint cheap. I just lost one for $90 cause I was and cheap didnt go with the buy it now as I should've. I'd like to find a Matte Black and not another color that I'd have to paint. I'm also not really interested in a carbon fiber front fender I'd like a stock matte black.

A handy way to get the curve profile matched depending on how much material you want to remove :
Cut the end off  in a straight line just behind where the curve starts , then use the tip as a templet
to mark the squared off fender giving you a matched curve to the original , tape then cut.
Don't try to cut full depth straight away , make a slow shallow cut first time and go over it a couple of times to finnish.

Draw a guideline on the fender with a pencil first, it helps. I did it on my 620. I shortened them right to the side braces.

Much better than the Bremels from Brussels or Bratislava.

Just my 2 pesos.  If you're not familiar with machine tools (the 14t sprocket thread), washing a bike (the power washing thread) or Dremels, maybe practicing on something like a wood block, Uncle Fondle's lawn mower or mom's wicker baskets might be cheaper than ambitiously digging into a Ducati headfirst.

I understand the enthusiasm, but you can make a costly mistake on any bike if you don't know what you're doing.

Would a hack saw with the right blade work/be a safer way to go? Then after Last question is always the dumbest but I got to ask... do I take the fender off the bike an put it in a vise while cutting or can I cut it while on the bike? (I dont have a benchmounted vise so thats why I ask. I'm assuming I'll have to take it off.)

I would take it off the bike, but I wouldn't put it in a vice.

I'd use a dremel before a hacksaw.

Using a dremel, I'd put the fender on a wooden block with the block right up tight against where I'm making the cut.  Use good pressure on the fender right up pretty tight to where you're making the cut against the block.  This'll keep the fender from vibrating and bouncing while you're cutting it.

BREMEL  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cant wait to try this mod on my Brucati !!!

What kind of dremel blade do I want to use?

(http://www.swordsswords.com/images/products/detail/Spear_Points_Ninja_Throwing_Star_Set.jpg)

 [laugh]

Personally, I'd use a cutting disc.

So I thought I should post the outcome of my "Bremel" to the front fender experiment. My goal was to take my 2005 620 Front Fender which I felt looked too long and round and shorten it and give it more of a nose like the new 696 front fenders. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. For anyone that wants to try this it was pretty easy. Dremel with heavy duty cutting blade set to about 6 (higher speeds tend to melt the plastic) taped off with masking covered by liberal duct tape to protect against any slips with the Dremel. I chopped the back of the front fender first to get a feel for the cutting and used the cut off back end as a template to reshape the backend as the same round but shorter. Then I took a small cup and created the round part of the nose on the front end in pencil and drew lines straight back to each side and drew and erased and redrew repeatedly untill I felt it was fairly symmetrical then taped it off and began cutting. After words it was far from perfect but I used the grinder on the Dremel to take out any big jagged parts but only briefly as I found coarse sand paper was much more effective and cautious with only slightly more effort. This was followed by fine sandpaper at an angle to shape the cut edges so that they're facing down. They now cant be seen by anyone unless they're on the ground looking up at the fender but I took a black sharpie to the edge anyways as its white when its cut and even though it couldnt be seen I knew it was there. After that I cleaned it painted my ugly white clamps with some dark grey primer (I got new clamps coming from ebay as these were kinda chewed up those I'll paint black) and put it back on. Here it is:  [Dolph]

(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6196/6127911626_2b0052b676.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65036619@N04/6127911626/)
IMG_3086 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65036619@N04/6127911626/#) by ricknieto (http://www.flickr.com/people/65036619@N04/), on Flickr


(http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6066/6127911042_e48d78944b.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65036619@N04/6127911042/)
IMG_3082 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/65036619@N04/6127911042/#) by ricknieto (http://www.flickr.com/people/65036619@N04/), on Flickr

That looks awesome.  Great job!

 [Dolph]

Yes.  This is my preferred way.  It's hard to make nice flowing lines with a dremel - much easier with hacksaw and files, then emery cloth to smooth things out.

I'm surprised someone hasn't piped up and told you to remove the reflectors yet?!?!

it will look much nicer sans reflectors. just gently pry them off and use a bit of elbow grease with your preferred solvent to remove the glue/foam/much then sit back and admire.

+1 Thanks Roaduser!!   [thumbsup]

;D lol