First Modifications
Since I have had the bike for several months before putting this page together I will summarize the first few modifications to the little bike. Protection of the machine was the first area to address with a nice thick aluminum skid plate from Ricochet. Hand guards from Tusk came next, in blue.
Extending the range of the bike was the next priority. A Safari fuel tank holding 3.5 gallons was the next mod. This was a little pricey, but the stock 2 gallon tank limited options for back country exploring. Nobody wants to run out of gas miles from town, not even me!
The rack and top case came next...
Extending the range of the bike was the next priority. A Safari fuel tank holding 3.5 gallons was the next mod. This was a little pricey, but the stock 2 gallon tank limited options for back country exploring. Nobody wants to run out of gas miles from town, not even me!
The rack and top case came next...
Making the rack
I shopped for a rack that would be large enough to carry a top case, or a dry bag for camping, but still be small enough to be unobtrusive in the woods. Readily available racks from providers such as Pro-Moto, Turbo City, Cycleracks and Yamaha were either very small and sexy, but useless for loads or they were huge with awkward mounting systems.
Though a contact on the WR forum I met Tom, who owns a machine shop. He is semi-retired from the shop, but still tinkers with stuff. A great guy, Tom loves solving problems. I described what I was looking for including the mounting system for a Givi top case and we set about drawing designs. It only took two drawings before we loaded an aluminum plate into a CNC milling machine to make my rack from scratch.
Though a contact on the WR forum I met Tom, who owns a machine shop. He is semi-retired from the shop, but still tinkers with stuff. A great guy, Tom loves solving problems. I described what I was looking for including the mounting system for a Givi top case and we set about drawing designs. It only took two drawings before we loaded an aluminum plate into a CNC milling machine to make my rack from scratch.
The finished product. Tom is now making these on a custom order basis and is priced competitively with the other suppliers. Other sizes and a few more goodies are available from Tom here.
