StarFan Posted April 11, 2008 #1 Posted April 11, 2008 Greetings. Just finished a kind of a neat "Fender Trim Rail" modification on my Royal Star and wanted to share it with you. I had bought a "Mascot", the "Chrome Fender Tip" as well as the "Fender Trim Rail" even though the dealer told me that the "Rail and the Tip" would not look good together - the fender would look overdressed and the Trim Rail would hide/shade the fender tip so there was no logic in putting both on the bike. Me being a stubborn eskimo demanded all items and said that I would at least have an option of what to put on. To cut a long story short I saw when trying these on that the dealer was right - with both items the front fender looked overdressed and the Chrome Fender Tip was barely visible since the trim Rail hid it almost completely. But have a look at the pictures. I think I came up with quite a nice looking solution for putting all items on with a little modification to the trim Rail. How to do this is easy or as follows: Cut off the lower tubing of the Trim Rail. Have a workshop with a lathe make an insert that goes into the tubing but has the same diameter as the outside of the tubing at the end. Have them drill through the center and make threads. On the end of the Fender Trim Rail (the end that attaches to the fork/fender) drill a 4 mm hole so you can run wires through the tubing. Buy some LED lights at www.fortech-online.com/ (they have all kinds of neat vintage looking lights) and luckily the bottom radius of the lights chrome housing is exactly the same as the outside radius of the Trim Rail tubing. Open up the headlight and connect your wires to the blue wires inside the housing (there are two blue wires connected to one blue wire - the only ones with that color in the housing). Connecting this way makes the lights stay on constantly when bike is running regardless of high or low beam. They can of cause also be connected to the blink wire of the turn signal but that way they will only come on when you put the turn signal on. I am sure there are many other options in connecting these but I am not very clever when it comes to electricity so I leave other suggestions to those who have knowledge. The pictures show before and after to show the difference of these two different setups. Enjoy !
pegscraper Posted April 11, 2008 #2 Posted April 11, 2008 That is an interesting idea. I like one off custom work like this. Anyone can order more chrome out of Yamaha's accessories catalog or Kuryakyn's catalog or whatever. But stuff like this is truly "making it your own", as Y says.
Lone Eagle Posted April 12, 2008 #6 Posted April 12, 2008 Hey, that's sweet - I really like that - congrats.
Orrin Posted April 12, 2008 #8 Posted April 12, 2008 Jonas, that looks really great. Very creative and original on your part. I like the paint colors on you bike also. Ride safe
StarFan Posted April 12, 2008 Author #10 Posted April 12, 2008 Thank you all for your nice comments. You should really check out the Fortech webpage. They have all kind of little cosmetic lights - both LED as well as regular bulbs. Now I will be waiting for you guys to modify your fender rails and post some pictures. There are other options like having the tubes stick out a little further and so forth. Let your imagination take control.
StarFan Posted April 13, 2008 Author #11 Posted April 13, 2008 I like the paint colors on you bike also. Ride safe Hi Orrin. I simply fell for this old bottle Green and Beige/White color. Adds the final vintage look to the bikes design. I think the real Yamaha code name for these colors are Camellia Green and Ceramic Ivory.
jfluffy2 Posted April 13, 2008 #12 Posted April 13, 2008 sweet looking, great job, now I got to get working on front fender !!!
Bubber Posted April 13, 2008 #13 Posted April 13, 2008 Thank you all for your nice comments. You should really check out the Fortech webpage. They have all kind of little cosmetic lights - both LED as well as regular bulbs. Now I will be waiting for you guys to modify your fender rails and post some pictures. There are other options like having the tubes stick out a little further and so forth. Let your imagination take control. Can post the Fortech website I wasn't able to locate it during a search. Thanks Bubber
StarFan Posted April 13, 2008 Author #14 Posted April 13, 2008 Can post the Fortech website I wasn't able to locate it during a search. Thanks Bubber Hi Bubber. Got to read the first post Bubber, but here it is:) www.fortech-online.com/
Bubber Posted April 13, 2008 #15 Posted April 13, 2008 Hi Bubber. Got to read the first post Bubber, but here it is:) www.fortech-online.com/ Your right Flugar I got to learn to read betterer. Thanks for the info. Thanks for saving me some money on the rail too. I may have to try your mod. How did you prtect the end of the rail when you cut it off? Bubber aka Steve
Carbon_One Posted April 13, 2008 #16 Posted April 13, 2008 Nice job there. I always love to see someone come up with freelanced ideas like this. Keep those ideas flowing. Larry
StarFan Posted April 13, 2008 Author #17 Posted April 13, 2008 How did you protect the end of the rail when you cut it off? Bubber aka Steve Hi Steve. Well, I just did this on the floor in my garage with a hecksaw. Just did it very slowly and took care not to cut into the upper tubing. You can always wrap the upper tubing in a rag or something to be on the safe side. Afterwards I filed the end down to get the right angle for the lights (made the cut about two millimeters longer than I wanted it to be) .Secondly you can have the guys at the workshop cut it for you when you have them make the insert - presuming you do not have a lathe at your place.
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