Knee Pad Templates

[Greg_imp]

Everything works now. Thanks.

Outstanding job Greg!!

I really like your other mods too. Those mirrors look like CB500F mirrors. What signals do you have? Did you paint your side panels? Different grab bar too. Vey nice!!

Thanks! I'm using CB500F mirrors and bars, Lockhart Phillips signals (122-9991 LP USA Aluminum Short Stalk II Turn Signal Clear Single Filament). I wrapped the side panels with matte black vinyl. I took advantage of the triangular opening in the Dart Flyscreen mounting bracket and made brackets out of .09" aluminum to hold the front turn signals. I painted the Dart brackets with black Plastidip to see if they looked okay in black. I plan to powder coat them matte black at some point.

If there is some interest from other forum members I might offer an alternate headlight mounting bracket that also has a mounting point for the LP signals.

Aluminum holders for small amber reflectors mount where the stock turn signals were.

The rear grab bar / turn signal assembly consists of 1.25 x 3/16 steel bar, bent and shaped to fit where the aluminum part was. It holds a stainless commercial door pull with 1/4-20 threaded holes and the same LP aluminum signals.

Incidentally, the LP signals are really nice, polished aluminum castings, but the fit between the housing and the mounting bushing is quite loose. They are shipped with a phillips head M6 screw installed really tight in the clamp. Even so, the purchase is inadequate to keep the signals from rotating with modest pressure. In addition, the threaded mount bushing is too long for my exposed install. I took each LP signal apart, cut the bushings to length, replaced the phillips M6 with a stainless socket head M6 and applied aluminum shim to the bushing before reassembling everything.

New stainless M8 socket head bolts attach the assembly to the same mounting holes used for the stock piece.

The CB500F mirrors are attached with a custom right angle bracket. It's a bit rough looking still but black powder coat and possibly some black vinyl covers will tidy it up.

You might observe that my horn transducers are positioned higher than stock. This little tweak is perhaps the easiest of all CB1100 mods. The two horn units are mounted on flat steel arms that attach to a single bolt under the headlight. Each unit has two spade connectors with vinyl slip covers. I bent these connectors back to clear the bottom of the headlight case, loosened the acorn nut in the center and rotated the horn units up towards the headlight. The higher position looks much better to me and possibly allows more air to flow through the oil cooler (but I only did it for looks!)

My mods are attempts to get to the essence of this bike without being showy or novel for novelty's sake. I believe there is a core designers' vision somewhat buried under regulatory film flam and possibly marketing department gimme's and that's what I'm going for, without compromising safety.

However, as I designer, I also have an affection for some arbitrary touch that isn't completely rational that somehow elevates the entire composition. Sounds contradictory, I know.