Hey guys,
I finally finished the epic installation of an Ermax undertray and
hugger on my Speed Four. The epic part is mainly due to a lot of
travelling and a busy schedule on my part, not anything terribly
difficult with the install. Although I did trick it out a bit.
The only tricky portion was removing the evap canister (CA only). At
least on this bike, it's totally an afterthought. Hidden underneath the
mudguard and secure with zip ties! :thinking It's even a, gasp, honda part. I
just connected the two hoses together and sealed off the vacuum line.
Cutting off the old rear mudguard/fender was an exercise in patience.
Cut, refit, cut, refit... The instructions I recieved were in French so
they didn't help much either. In the end, and one $15 dremel cutting
wheel destroyed it became clear, just cut it off as close to the
subframe as possible and that'll almost be enough. :nerd
Putting on the hugger was simple. Very straightforward. Remove the
chainguard, unbolt the two rear brake line clasps. Add a small L-bracket
to the chain-side of the swingarm, then fit up the hugger. Bolt down in
place (holes already exist), with the rear brake line clasps on top of
the hugger and it's done. Obviously, check tire clearance and allow
enough room for slight expansion after the tire warms up. I also used
neoprene washers on all the bolts so as not to damage the plastic. I did
run into an issue where the holes weren't quite in the right spot, and
the L-bracket had its bolthole too close to the angle for the bolt to
fit. Some time with the dremel resolved both issues.
The undertray might as well have been a completely separate project! It
shipped to my distributor from Ermax missing the turn signals. Luckily
the distributor builds custom sportbikes and had the same model in
stock. Generously, he cut and installed the signals the same way Ermax
would have at the factory, likely better. Given that the rear light
would no longer illuminate the rear plate, I needed a solution for a
light. In retrospect, there is a perfect place to install a light in the
undertray infront of the plate. However, I decided to go a different
route, using Lite N Boltz. They are bolts with a 12v light rod inside,
secured by silicone. They do a great job of illuminating the rear plate.
I had to fab up some spacers from nylon tubing to get the angle/distance
right, but once that was complete they fit right in. I also added a
single LED pointing at the plate for added lighting and a slightly
different effect. The only thing here is the Lite N Boltz come with
VERY short wires. I ended up using a couple vampire taps to connect the
Lite N Boltz into the LED wires and running that up to the rear light
wires. Stripped a little of the insulation off there, soldered in the
LED wire and used some adhesive-lined shrink tubing to cover it up. I
also soldered the turn signals into the stock turn signal wiring.
However, I added a yellow LED into both sides of the undertray in the
cutout portion as well, wiring it into the respective turn signal
circuits. Looks very trick and custom.
I really took my time with the project. I thought through every problem
at length, often going to sleep on it rather than pushing along with the
first solution that came to mind. All the wiring was done with WBT 4%
silver solder, on a weller digital pro iron. It made the solder joints
look like art and I'm very proud of how they came out. It's been a
couple years since I've done any real soldering. I also got MUCH better
at precision dremel work on this project, having to adjust things here
and there and cleaning up all the drilled holes (plate mounting, LEDs,
etc).
Alex
