Good news and bad news..

[Scottius]

Well I picked up a Raptor vented jacket, the Tour tank bag (teardrop shape to fit the Sprint tank) and a Triumph plastic hugger.

Love the jacket so far - very cool, if you'll pardon the pun. It fits well and the armor feels secure. Only issue so far is the lack of retroreflective stuff on the back. I'm gonna add some tape to the armor backpad - that way it'll shine through the mesh, but not be too bling.

Tank bag installed without a hitch. Running the straps between the tank and the frame at the front was the hardest (and dirtiest) part. It fits well and looks good. Only issue is lack of QDs to easily remove the pad for cleaning, but a trip to a sporting goods store and some sewing time will fix that.

Two outta three ain't bad...

So I spent about 2 hours messing with the hugger to get it to fit right, but it always ended up rubbing on the back tire. I tried everything I could think of with the exception of shimming it out (no reason for that - it's a GEN-EWE-INE Triumph part, right?), but it looks like either the hugger was manufactured incorrectly causing it to lean too far into the tire or the place on the swingarm where it mounts was milled to an incorrect angle. Gonna have to wait until tomorrow for the dealer to open so I can figure this one out. Good news is that I'm VERY familiar with how to install the bloody thing so when I get the replacement it'll pop on in no time - provided it fits. Sigh. Insteresting that all the screws to remove the old chain guard are torx and the replacements that come with the hugger are 6mm allen. Kinda odd - you'd think they'd be the same...

[yerguy]

Scottius,

I too have the Raptor jacket. As a matter of fact, while searching out a new jacket is how I came upon the Sprint.

I have the silver/black model and wanted to pointout that all the Raptors have a piping that runs down the sleeves which is 3-M reflective material and the sleeve adjusters have a reflective thread in the lighter stripes.

The guys I ride with say it looks like I've got neon tubes wrapped around my jacket, so it must work pretty good.

They also have all bought the Raptor now that it is available in 3 new colors for "04", a red, blue and yellow. In comparison, all the other vented jackets are pretty frumpy, ugly, poor fitting and of course have inferior armor.

On your hugger, you might want to double check if you've got the right one. After removing the original chain guard, mine went right on, no problems whatsoever.

Hope this helps....

Dan'l
So. Calif.

[ This message was edited by: yerguy on 2004-06-21 19:02 ]

Contact 3M as ask them where you can buy the scotchlite Diamond reflective series, they will properly point you to the nearest traffic sign builder, ring them up and ask to purchase some I did this morning and ruffly 3ft by 1.5ft was going to set me back $40AUD so I am off to pick some up.
I do alot nite riding especially its winter at the moment (days are just to short)
anyhow looking at grab some red and blue cut them out in to appropiate shapes to put on the bike.

if you throw a strange light off you then your more likely to be noticed.

cyberrodder

[ This message was edited by: cyberrodder on 2004-06-22 02:02 ]

[yerguy]

For those of you interested in adding to your night time visibility, www.ridesafer.com carries a number of items to help. They even have sew in/on reflective piping and striping similar to the stuff used by many of the riding gear companies, so you could easily add more if you'd like.

Also, take a look at their new Mini-Horns. VERY LOUD and very OBNOXIOUS!!!! Ain't NOBODY that's not going to hear these things.

A really big help when that bozo in the SUV with his stereo crankin', the cell phone to his ear and the video players going....(all at the same time. I see it everyday on the So. Cal freeways!!!) starts to move into your lane.

The Harley guys say "Loud pipes save lives!" Nah, their full of it, all they do is piss people off, but these horns will raise the dead 2 blocks away!!! Just make sure you've got your own ear plugs in, cuz' yer' gonna' need em'!!

Dan'l
So. Calif.