1983 Yamaha Venture trunk build for 1500 Nomad

[work4crown]

I don't know if anyone here would be interested in this story but I added an 83 Venture trunk to my 2001 Kawasaki Nomad.

 

I went through some design iterations, tried to add some new features like pneumatic lid lifts, an angle sensitive light, quick release bicycle seat adjusters, etc.

 

I also struggled with cracks and holes in the lower half of the trunk and made some repairs using ABS cement, a soldering gun, Bondo with fiberglass and steel plates.

 

Here's the story for anyone who's interested.

 

http://vulcanbagger.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43115&page=3

 

Todd

[VanRiver]

Wow Todd......It looks fantastic! Great work and thanks for sharing!!!!

 

Beautiful bike too by the way.

[work4crown]

Thank you very much. I'm a designer but not a builder. My friend milled and powder coated the big support bracket and I hired someone to weld it. I also hired someone to paint the outside of the trunk. So it was a big challenge for me to try to repair the plastics and I did make and paint the metal plates on the inside of the trunk. I didn't have access to a mill and a brake press like my friend did; I just used a sharpie marker, a jigsaw, sand paper and black spray paint in my garage to make them. A mosquito accidentally got spray painted onto one of the brackets and I had to sand him off and re paint! (I don't exactly have a clean paint booth environment!)

 

The Kawasaki Nomad is a much simpler bike than the Venture. It never had an OEM option for a trunk for example. But I noticed quite a few guys on the Vulcan Baggers forum and elsewhere were fitting Venture trunks to their Nomads. The 1st gen trunk lines really work well with the Nomad saddlebag lines and the trunk is small enough to not look out of place on the Nomad. The only problem is we have to make our own brackets to mount them since no OEM brackets exist.

 

Anyway, quite a few of us have been thankful for the affordable Yamaha Venture trunk and it's availability on Ebay, Craigslist, etc.

 

Thanks for writing back! Take care.

 

Wow Todd......It looks fantastic! Great work and thanks for sharing!!!!

 

Beautiful bike too by the way.