M1100, Evotech tail tidy, Swatt clip-ons, and stuff

[bigjilm]

I was going to drop a bunch of pics of my bike on a number of threads, then thought it would be more tasteful to start a new topic instead.

I bought my Monster 1100 last year in June, and rode the wheels off of it all summer.  I did a few small mods over the summer (Evotech Tail Tidy, Rizoma Avio signal lights), leaving the major stuff until the snow flies.  I had some serious hand-pain by the end of the riding season, and decided to tackle the hand controls over the winter (Swatt clip-ons, Oberon 75mm bar-end mirrors).

The theme of the bike will be "stripped and black".  The exhaust will likely be either some boom tubes or a custom set up similar - in black if I can.  The top triple is probably going to be black, though I want to make sure I like the clip-ons before I sink any more cash into this setup.  I may end up doing something with the headlight/bezel, but that's next winter.

Evotech Tail Tidy

The Evotech is an amazing component, and I can't recommend it enough.  The company is excellent as well - the original shipment was fast and accurate, though the instructions that came with it were a little sparse, and perhaps dangerous.  They said you could use some grease to hold the mountings in place during assembly, but this lubricated the mounting bolts on my bike which then vibrated out at speed.  I got home, and three of the four bolts were gone, and the fourth was hanging by a few threads or less.  I called Evotech, and they air-mailed me new bolts and spacers right away, so I would still give the company and the product a perfect 10/10.

Rizoma Avio LED Signal Lights

After I did the tail tidy, the stock signals didn't look right to me.  I liked the stripped down look of the tail tidy, and thought that I wanted a more minimalist look to the signals.  The Rizomas looked good on the web, so I ordered them up.  On the rear of the bike, I think they look pretty good, but I don't particularly like the way they look on the front.  I like having a matched set, so I'm going to leave them on for a while to see if they grow on me.

Mounting the Rizomas is a bit dicey.  The mounting holes on both the Evotech and the front headlight bezel are not round, and the Rizomas don't mount well.  I was able to mount the rear signals using some locking washers on the inside of the bike, but they still don't grip great (though they held in place for almost 1000kms without problems).

When I tried to mount the front lights, I realized that they won't stay on the bezel well at all.  I bought some mounting plates (MonsterParts:  Rizoma Indicator Light Adapter for 696 - 1100), and though they solve the mounting problem, I'm not convinced that they look OK.

Installing the wiring was a major cut-and-splice job.  On the rear, hiding a mass of resistors and diodes wasn't easy, as the Evotech doesn't leave a ton of room.  In the front bezel, it was even more difficult, so I decided to double-up the resistors in the rear instead of trying to mount them up front.

Swatt Clip-ons, 3.5" Rise

After seeing the work-of-art that is Ungeheuer's ride, I decided to get the same clip-ons as him.  Swatt appears to be toast, as their website is down and they didn't return a couple of calls from me.  Too bad, as the guy I spoke to was very helpful, and the Swatt components are very well built.

There are a number of threads on Swatt installation elsewhere on the forums, so I won't go into too much detail.  At the time of posting this thread, I'm still struggling with the install, especially the turning radius.  This is likely due to my clip-ons being 'swept back' too far, and I'll be posting follow-up pictures as I resolve this issue.

The headlight bezel needs to be lowered slightly to allow for the cables to route nicely behind it.  Before I moved the bezel downwards, everything was mashed together with way too much tension.  Look for Ungeheuer's description for lowering the bezel, if you're interested in reproducing his success.

The 'sweep' on my clip-ons can't be lessened easily to correct the steering radius, as the bezel prevents them from pivoting any further forward.  See the pics, though I hope that the second set of pics coming shortly has a solution to this problem.  I may have to move the light further downwards, or further forward...

Oberon 75mm Convex Streetfighter Bar End Mirror

As I was dismantling the front-end of my bike, I snapped off the bolt holding my right mirror - yes, it's a reverse thread.  The left mirror was loctited in place, so it was a biatch to get off.  When I went after the right bolt, it was even more of a biatch due to the threading.  Ooops.

After I reassembled the bike with the Swatt's, I realized that the hand controls were all canted forward too far to mount the stock mirrors back on anyways.  I'm not sure if my hands will be more comfortable like this or not, but I didn't want my mirrors dictating the angle of my levers anyway.  I looked for some options, and the Oberon's seemed like a good idea.

Now that they're mounted, I'm not sure I like them.  They make the bike look wider than I like, and they don't have the look I want.  I'm going to ride with them for a while, since riding season is now here, but I may end up doing something different.

Enough words, now for some pics.  If you don't see them below, hit the refresh as I'm probably still figuring out how to post them.

[greenmonster]

Code:

now for some pics.

Nothing,  you ?  

[bigjilm]

First of all, let me apologize for the dark pics.  A black monster in a dimly lit garage isn't easy to photograph.  The next set will be taken outside, weather permitting.

Here's a shot of the Evotech and the Rizomas from the rear. 


Here's the side shot:


And another side shot, why not:

[bigjilm]

Let's move around to the front of the bike:



From the cockpit - notice the sweep back.  Wishful thinking on my part, I guess.  You'll notice the stock triple, and the speed holes left behind by removing the stock bars:



A close up of the front.  Check out the angles on the levers - no idea if this is a comfortable angle yet, but feels pretty good sitting on the bike and yelling VROOM.

[bigjilm]

Let's dive into some of the current opportunities....

The clip-ons are probably going to have to be rotated outwards, reducing the sweep back to retain a reasonable turning radius.  This is going to be difficult, as the bezel for the headlight is only a mm or so from the edge of the clipon at the moment.  Note that I've lowered the headlight about 5mm at this point, though it may have to go further:



As it stands right now, the horn on the left  and the start button on the right both hit the tank cover, even with the end-stops wound right out.  I anticipate having to turn the bike at some point, so I'll probably have to fix this shortly.  Yes, this is turned fully to the left:



I have the clip-ons up as high as I can on the fork legs, though a replacement top triple might afford me a couple more mm if I understand the situation.  I don't think a couple mm is going to do it, though:



That's all the photos I have at the moment, but I'll post an update once I get the geometry all sorted.  It has to happen soon, as spring has sprung here in the Great White North.

-Bigjilm

[ungeheuer]

I think the sweepback is to blame for your bars contacting the tank sides so early...... Compare:

Mine

Yours


Now I see that you have an issue here.... if you wanna reduce sweepback your new bars look like they're gonna collide with the headlight bezel.  How about 5mm spacers on the headlight mounts to move the entire headlight assembly forward, thus giving you sufficient room behind it to rotate the bars without the collision?  Remind me.... the top headlight mounts into rubber grommets in that wire loop component that bolts to the top triple, yeah?  Might have to make up a new wire loop thing to space the headlight further forward at the top....  

Kinda like this


But....  you know what will fix it for sure  .

[bigjilm]

Might have to make up a new wire loop thing to space the headlight further forward at the top....  Or....  you know what will fix it for sure  .

Kinda like this

I'm pretty sure you're right.  Fabbing new mounts top and bottom won't be too tough, though I'll have to tear it down again.  Any ideas how you made the lower screws long enough to add spacers?

When you say that something evil will fix it, you're referring to a new top triple?  Does that give me more adjustability somehow?

[bigjilm]

Actually, it also looks like you've mounted your levers and such a little further up the clip-ons, too.  That would give you a bit more space at full lock, no?

Is the angle on your levers comfortable?

(edit)  I just realized that you've mounted the clip-ons "backwards".  I remember reading about this, but I could've sworn that the conclusion was that the new ones are already "backwards", so I went on with my life.  Swapping sides might actually buy me enough space to rotate the clip-ons without relocating the headlight!

Sucks to be this excited about wrenching, but too exhausted to haul my arse down to the garage.  I'll keep you posted.

(edit again) I just realized that those aren't Swatts in your pic...  enough rambling for tonight.

[ungeheuer]

I'm pretty sure you're right.  Fabbing new mounts top and bottom won't be too tough, though I'll have to tear it down again.  Any ideas how you made the lower screws long enough to add spacers?

Yeah coming up with a new top mount that stands the headlight off further ought not be too difficult.  As far as adding spacers to the lower headlight mounts goes.....  just carefully unscrew the threaded rubber mounts from the headlight, drop on a couple of suitable spacers and screw the rubber mount back into the light assembly.

When you say that something evil will fix it, you're referring to a new top triple?  Does that give me more adjustability somehow?

Well.... a speedymoto top triple (I'm sure there are others, but thats what I have 1st hand knowledge of) would allow you to mount your bars higher up the fork stanchion tubes and the way in which you have to mount the headlight to it kinda forces you to solve your spacing issue - a self resloving problem  

I just realized that those aren't Swatts in your pic...  enough rambling for tonight.

The red bike pic is a 696 wearing Speedymoto 3.5" tallboys, not Swatts, yeah. I included it only to illustrate the headlight forward spacing solution.

[bigjilm]

It looks like I'm done, for now.  Spring is here, my bike is operational, so I think I'll put away the tools and enjoy what I have.  More changes next winter?

I moved the headlight forward 1 cm, and down about 1mm.  This gave me enough room to push the clip-ons out wider, and restored almost all of my steering.  I had to wind out the stops about two turns, but I don't notice the difference wheeling the bike around the garage.

I took it out for a shakedown ride tonight, and it all seems to work together, so I pulled apart the critical parts and loctited it all up.  While I was in there, I took a few more pics for the next guy that thinks this is all a good idea.

I want to thank a couple folks again for their support.  Ungeheuer and StopInTime both provided amazing advice (see the other threads...) and I couldn't have pulled it off without their help.  Especially Ungeheuer, who encouraged me to put down the 20 lb persuader and follow his lead.

So, the final step, as per the pics above, was to move the headlight forward and/or down to make some space for the clipons to rotate outwards.  I chose to focus on moving it forward, as that allowed me to use the lower headlight mounts without doing anything serious.

There are two mounts that are screwed to the underside of the top triple.  They had to be lengthened by one cm, so I had to choose between either fabbing new longer ones or just extending the existing ones.  I chose to extend.

I'm pretty sure that next winter will see a brand new triple, and that probably means I have to tackle these mounts again.  I decided to focus on fast, not perfect, and here are the results:

Here are the assembled brackets.


Side view.  The slight curve happened when I fastened them to the triple clamp - it must not be a flat surface under there


I picked up a sheet of aluminum at the "Metal Supermarket".  The guy at the store said, "80" when I asked how thick it is, but I don't know what units we're talking about.  You can see that written on the metal as well.  It seemed to be the right thickness - pretty easy to cut and drill, but plenty strong for the purpose.



Here's the view from the saddle.  The flash really brings out the brackets, but they're not quite that obvious in daylight.  If they end up staying on the bike longer than a season, I'll probably grind them into a nice shape and paint them black.



Finally, if you move the top of the headlight forward, you have to do the same on the bottom.  I used some washers, but I'll keep my eye out for something a bit nicer along the way.

[ungeheuer]

....I want to thank a couple folks again for their support.  Ungeheuer and StopInTime both provided amazing advice (see the other threads...) and I couldn't have pulled it off without their help.

Man, I'm embarrassed.  << See?  .  I've received so much valuable help and advice from this place that its a pleasure to give a little back.  Good job on sticking with it  .

Might wanna get some nice allenhead hardware to hold it all together now that you've figured out the "how"  .