[Kovner]

So, I layed down my bike today. I'm fine, thanks for asking, but the front fairing broke, and I'm just going to streetfighter it, take off the front fairing.
At least until I can ebay a front fairing in the right color.

Anyways, the mirrors still mount fine, but the headlight and signals mounted onto the front fairing.
Has anyone done this? How should I mount the headlight and signals?
I have pics if its neccesary.

 

[fullgrownbear]

Ahh dude that sucks.

Just use rubber bands and attach a flashlight, to replace the headlight.

Its what most folks do these days.

(in other words, I DONT KNOW! sorry..)

 

[Thmastr]

I have seen turn signals zip tied to any part that will hold them.. I have also seen the headlight zip tied.... these were different bikes too! so I gess cable/sip ties work... I dunno

 

[JasonFMHS]

Make sure and post some pics man! We wanna see!

 

[Saki.Girl]

so sorry to hear but glad you are ok and the bike is not to bad off

 

[eidian]

Learn from me!

First off: I'm glad that you're okay.

Last June I couldn't get myself to cross the double-yellow line in a blind, left turn when I mis-calculated so I took my 500R into a dirt berm on the right shoulder instead. I bent the bracket to the left about an inch and had to break the right side of the top fairing to make the bike rideable. Amazing how durable the 500R is...

...I bought a new bracket in hopes of making a fairing myself. The fairing turned out horrible and I took it off after one day of use but I learned a lot!

If you're going to use your bracket buy the mirrors that are in the first picture below. They have integrated LED turn signals in them...turn signal problem fixed.

For the headlight I fabricated a brackets that mounted the light to the bracket itself. I have a pic of the bottom bracket (second and third pics) but not of the top one. The top one is just two 6" strips welded together like a corner strip. I mounted the home-made light brackets to the fairing bracket using pipe-clamps from Home Depot. I used the OEM bolts to and clips to mount the headlight.

If you really want to look "streetfighter", this is all you need to do. You'll have your mirrors, turn-signals, and headlight. The only reason why I ended up cutting my fairing and mounting it is because I wanted wind protection.

Hope this helps you out/gives you some ideas.

Pic of mirrors with integrated signals:

Bottom headlight bracket (bottom):

Bottom headlight bracket (side):

 

[ervins]

I have seen turn signals zip tied to any part that will hold them.. I have also seen the headlight zip tied.... these were different bikes too! so I gess cable/sip ties work... I dunno

+1 Zip ties are as golden as duct tape.

 

[A2rider]

...

 

[ervins]

I bought Darrell ones that are 4 foot long! We use them on the children. LOL

HAHAHAHA! I swear I get zip tie happy when I build a PC...But I love clean cabling.

 

[A2rider]

...

 

[Kovner]

Thanks for the replies guys

Eidian, what you did looks awesome.
First of all, what are those mirrors called?

About the headlight:
I forgot to mention that one of the side brackets on the headlight that you have that homemade bracket screwed into broke in the fall.

Also, my only machining experience is two days arc welding in highs school. And I have no access to welding materials.
If I went to a machine shop how much would it cost to get something like you have made?

 

[Tod]

I saw a Gixxer once that had like half the bodywork held on with zip ties.

He said it was faster and easier than putting the screws back in every time. :roll:

 

[Ninja_Wendy]

I bought Darrell ones that are 4 foot long! We use them on the children. LOL

Don't give me any ideas, my kids have been particularly naughty this week...

 

[eidian]

Thanks for the replies guys

Eidian, what you did looks awesome.
First of all, what are those mirrors called?

About the headlight:
I forgot to mention that one of the side brackets on the headlight that you have that homemade bracket screwed into broke in the fall.

Also, my only machining experience is two days arc welding in highs school. And I have no access to welding materials.
If I went to a machine shop how much would it cost to get something like you have made?

Thanks for the compliment but I don't know if I'd call my "hack" welding job "awsome" looking.

The Mirrors
The mirrors are just called integrated mirrors. I got them from this seller on e-bay (eBay Motors: Kawasaki Ninja 500 ZX6 ZX6R ZX7 ZX9 INTEGRATED MIRRORS (item 320194767997 end time Dec-13-07 17:15:37 PST). It looks like they sold the pair in black because I can only find them in the "CF look"; they will list the mirrors in black again when they get them back in stock. A suggestion that I have is that you get the mirrors adjusted perfectly and mark it with a silver ink, felt tip pen. Then loosen the alan bolt that tightens the mirrors stem movement and use some hot glue to hold it in place. The mirrors aren't the greatest quality (but they're not cheap pieces of crap either) so using the hot glue will hold them in place better instead of having to tighten the nut on the mirror to the point of bending the plastic.

The Headlight
Losing the bolt is no big deal, just take the OEM bolt to Home Depot and find a matching metric one or just go with four new SAE nuts & bolts that will fit through the mounting hole in the headlight. I could've done that just as easily--I was fortunate to have all four bolts and clips so I just used them.

Welding
Only two days of instruction arc welding in high school? I don't know how to tell you this but, you have two days more instruction in arc welding than I will ever have in my lifetime. It was actually the people in this forum that talked me through the very basics of welding (I forgot who it was, but a member directed me to an awesome "welding basics" sight).

Truthfully (and if you show this to my wife, I'll have hurt you ), I kinda used this project as an excuse to buy a small arc welder. I sure hope to use it in the future though, seems like such a waste to have something so cool and not use it. What I did is I measured and then cut and welded the bracket using 90* angles only at first. Then I tap-welded the pieces that were I needed to weld at different angles; I then cut off the right angle pieces and finished the welds on the non-ninety degree pieces. I hope that I didn't confuse you.

I just picked up some of that 3/4" wide metal stripping from Home Depot which is only like $4 bucks a 3' strip. A feeble-minded gimp like me took about an hour and-a-half total to put the two brackets together but I don't think that it would take an experienced welder more than twenty minutes to make. I don't know what welders charge but it can't be too much for that little work...hell, it might even be a great excuse for you to buy a small arc welder yourself!