I Can See The Light At The End of The Tunnel...

... hopefully it's not a Freightliner goin' the wrong way.

The fiberglassed signal light recesses got bondoed... re-bondoed... and then spot puttied...

... and primered...

... and still... I can't but admit... there are blemishes if you look.

A body man I ain't... but it'll keep the rain and dust out.

The finish paint was put on yesterday... in enough time that I could get the garage door closed before the days storm arrived.

That few additional coats of epoxie paint will have to cure for a couple of days before I go to handling it much doing the reinstall.

... as well as the installing the new turn signals and license plate carrier frame I'm waiting on from J & P cycles...

In the mean time I've been conjuring ways to carry my auxiliary fuel bottles on long rides...

How I carried them to Alaska worked pretty well. But, I've not got that ruck any more... (that's a picture of it that generally comes in the popular posts gizmo on the right sidebar)

I've thought of racks bolted on somewhere... or plates zip tied under the new tail rack that will be going on shortly... but... nothing seemed to fit or "Feel" right...

So... with the painting done and a storm brewing... I took to experimenting with a piece of old canvas I had stuffed in a compartment, my fuel bottles and some barge cement.

One thing I'd decided was I didn't want a "permanent" mount.

No need to carry those bottles on day rides...

Only when I'm gonna be out in unfamiliar country and long rides where I might find a stretch with 150 miles 'tween filling stations.

Like on that return ride I'm planning on making to the Yukon and Alaska...

That brought me back to that ruck mounted carry.

I've drawn up all sorts of complicated racks with clamps and straps and pockets and ... to hell with all that... I decided that simple and easily replaced if it wears out, breaks, is stolen or I simply want to try something new... is best...

So... I've got most of a prototype, auxiliary, fuel bottle bag worked up. The idea being that it will strap/clip to my current ruck sitting on the tail rack, or whatever cargo bag occupies that space...

One piece of canvas cut to fold and glue/stitch/rivet into a bag that will hold the bottles securely but still allow easy access.

 I'm planning on adding a quick release strap running from side to side through the loops in the caps to assure retention...

 

And still need to add a couple straps to close the flap and straps that will secure the fuel bag to whatever part of the camp cargo I tie it too... and probably soak it in some black or OD dye ;) ... and... set some rivets to make sure the barge don't let things go... but not too bad for 45 minutes of fiddling with canvas and cement.

Need to get her done... and on the road again...

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

SpringTime in the Rockies is Obstructing My Progress...

I got two coats of epoxy resin applied to the bad lid before things went south... Put the first coat on, and it was so cool it took overnight to cure.

So... I sanded it fairly smooth and after brushing on the second coat I hung a heat lamp to bring it along quicker.

*Saddle bag lid with two coats of epoxy resin applied*

I sanded that as best I could... but I was truly wanting to NOT sand off all the resin I'd just put on!

Along in here is where I've really remembered myself that I'm NOT a body man. ;) This is the second primer coat I've applied after filling with a spot glazing putty and sanding "defects" that the first coat made real clear!

I'll sand this and likely do one more spot glazing of any small lil' faults I find... then put on the finish coat of flat black I'm refinishing the bags with...

*Sanding Primer applied*

So... I'd been hoping to do that today... and that's where things went "south"...

Momma nature had somethin' else to say 'bout that. Never thought of the Ol' girl as bein' bitchy... but I'm gettin' weary of her "spring" weather.

Since that shop building over across the way there is unheated... the temperature is 'bout 30 if you're generous... and most of what I'm using says wait for it to be 60 or better...

THIS kinda shut down the works. :)

... and then it kept on snowin'... added a few inches of wet sloppy crap on top of this...

SO... I'm sittin' inside, drinkin' too much coffee and workin' on fiction books and other projects... waiting for spring to find it's way back to Colorado with enough energy to push this gol durn #@$% winter... OUT!

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

The Hits Just Keep on Coming

Got deep into the saddlebags yesterday. A refinish of them was required due to cracking in the paint on the curb side bag lid...

I figured just sand off the cracked paint...

clean off the dust... primer if I went through into the gel coat...

... and then I'd just rattle can on a fresh new coat of black... and a new clear coat...

Good Plan...

Yeah... there I go planning again...

I hadn't but started sanding to remove the cracked paint...

... when I discovered that the cracks didn't originate in a failed paint coat...

... but in the underlying fiberglass...


I worked for a little while... searching out all the spots where the paint was cracked... I'd noticed the first little crack maybe a year ago.

Over time they multiplied... and sure enough...

Underlying each spot of cracked paint... the gel coat was spidered with a thin crack.

There was also no shortage of bad spots... at least it's only... as far as I can tell, the one single saddlebag lid.

So... work on the saddlebags is temporarily suspended... while I wait on some word from the manufacturer of the bags.

I'm not expecting any good news to be honest. My recent experience with companies and warranties has not been confidence building... but we'll see. I did at least get an automatic email response from the outfit.

It advised me they were "On Holiday" until the 22nd... so... I'll go do something else for a bit... maybe study up on Motorcycle Saddlebag Fiberglass repair.

At least my son-in-law who did the paint job can wipe his forehead and breathe easy... it wasn't His screwup. ;)

Grab Your Handles and Ride
Brian

Making Progress Slowly

Work on the bike goes slow... Partly because it's been a bit cold... and it's not a really happy bit of work... but...

...mostly because I've become unsure of the route I'd picked out. That's the problem with reading more... AFTER... you made a choice.

 

I got the pipes pretty much stripped ready to paint... and just got the quivers. I know I'm only doing it to sell the scoot... but... I don't want to be the guy that sold her with a crap job done. I've made enough bad turns in this life, no need to add to it.

I found several people doing exactly what I am... and using the high temperature paint I was intending to use... who had the stuff fail... as they were going through the curing process!!!

So... a few more phone calls and I found a guy doing powder coating with a High Temp coating that's supposed to be rated to 1000 degrees. Now, those shrouds around the pipes get warm... but when my leg is sitting an inch or so from 'em at a stop... I can't believe that the pipe shroud is anything close to a thousand degrees.

That, he told me could be done for 'bout $150 bucks... since the paint and such is gonna cost upwards of $40 or so, if not more, I figure... seems like a good bet... and a better deal for whoever Sonja goes home with in the future. I think that's the way I'll go... I don't want to send her off with a lousy job of it.

Then... on to the Harbor Freight "Dent Repair Kit"... um... NO.

So... fourteen bucks. Read the reviews on the website... and all sorts of guys claim they were "Surprised" when it worked like a champ.


This ol' cowboy was not... surprised.


Cuz... it didn't work. Not even a quivering grunt of a try.

The glue stick stuck to the tank just fine... but it wouldn't hold to THEIR puller part.

As soon as I'd start screwing up the pulling tab... POP! it just camp loose. Didn't pull that dent a sliver.

The dent is a hail dent... from a big honkin' hunk of hail...

It's been there as long as Sonja has been with me... and kinda irritated me at times...

But also... it was/is kinda cool at the same time. Some of that "patina" that you can't find on "Show" bikes...

The scars of the road wars that tell the power that lives inside a person... or a machine.

I put the glue on the pulling tab... just like they said.

...after cleaning the dent area with their "release" agent...

And stuck the pulling tab to the dent... NOT pushing it in... just like they said...

I waited for several minutes to make sure the glue had time to set up and hold...

Then I attached the crossbar gizmoe... spun the knob onto the pulling tab... and started "screwing"...

Well... crap... might as well have been making a pass at a statue... I tried a dozen times... cleaned the tab... cleaned the tank... held my left ear with my right hand and wiggled my butt like a gypsy hooker...

and EVERY time... EVERY time... the tab just let go. I even put glue on to wrap up around the tab trying to get a good mechanical hold... NADA.. works bout as good as a hooker in a convent.

The glue stuck fine to the tank... and cleaned off ok to try again... but it's a $14 dollar profit maker for the boys selling it. It don't work.

The dent is still there and ain't even a whisker off a fleas butt smaller.

So... tomorrow I scrub up the Saddlebags...

The left one there developed some cracks that I'm just not willing to send on to a new owner.

The majority are on that front sloped surface of the lid...

and a few more on the very top.

No idea why. I watched the guy that painted them.

He was finicky about how they were handled and what was used to clean them.

Some sort of special degreaser/cleaner just for the purpose...

And he put that high dollar paint on there awful thin with each coat... but... like you can see there... after a couple of years... it's cracked...

So... I'll sand down the cracked areas to smooth it out... and take the shine off the rest... and then do a cowboy paint job with plain black and clear coat... and call it good.

Sometime in April I suppose I'll have to pull the trigger and put up the sales advert... gonna be a melancholy day...

Ride if You Can
Brian

Pushin' Into the Wind to Make This Trip Happen...

Scrambling trying to get the bike and my gear together as well as locking down all the other bits and pieces around the rig so I have the "Window" to ride for a week or ten days...

Got back to a friends farm in Fort Collins the other day to do some maintenance work on the scooter and install the New Yamaha back rest that goes along with the change of saddlebags and pipes.

Turned into a standard bit of an ordeal. The bolts that came with the backrest were to short to accommodate both the backrest AND the Tsukayu saddlebag mounts. Took me most of a half dozen hours chasing bolts to finally think of tryin' Yamaha. :) They had a couple layin' 'bout the shop and just handed 'em to me. Awesome.

So... I race on back to the rig and put everything together... only to find that the heads of the new bolts were too thick to let the lids of the saddlebags close... arrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhh!

Came whisker close to pullin' the offending bolts and applying their heads to the working end of a grinder. Then the thought crossed my mind; "That miserably shyster Murphy like as not has some unintended consequences hidden in there"... so I took another angle at it.

I drug out my angle grinder and drill and quick fabbed up some shims out of bar stock aluminum to space my Tsukayu saddlebags over a 1/4 inch to give enough space for the lids to close past the offending forward fender strut bolt heads.

They worked before 'cause the original bolts were thin headed hex bolts... and the new bolts for the backrest are Allen headed and quite a bit thicker...

But it's all bolted back in place and she's lookin' pretty ready for the road.

*The Raider with the new Yamaha Backrest*

 So those are the first pics of this summers modifications... the 3" Hard Chrome big straight pipes, the Tsukayu Coner bags, the New Yamaha powder coated back rest and the License plate sub fender shaved with the plate relocated to under the left bag.

I'm likin' how she's looking. I've come to the realization that I'm not a Chromed out Scooter sort of rider. The subdued black with chrome accents fits me far better...

Just have the oil change, air filter and spark plugs... as well as a few family tasks to lock down... so it's looking now like mid to late week... and I'm gettin' anxious as hell...

It's a race 'tween time... and what lil' dinero remains in my pocket to ride with! :)

Pushin' Hard
Brian

Comfort and Motorcycles

Completed the refit of the Raider yesterday. The Tsukayu Hard Bags are on along with the Hard Chrome pipes.

*Yamaha Raider with the Hard Chrome pipes and Tsukayu Saddle Bags*

I also shaved the plastic sub fender under the tail light; relocating the license plate and shaving the turn signal lollipops since the new bags have built in turn signal lights.

In the process I've seen quite a few conversations on forums and had 'em in person where the subject of "comfort" always seems to enter the dialog.

I think ~ pure comfort ~ has somehow seized too big a place in peoples thinking. Especially when it comes to motorcycles.

The refit I did was not for comfort but for function and convenience. The Raider has always been sufficiently comfortable.

But... what is comfort? Do you climb a mountain to be comfortable? Is Riding a horse comfortable? Is golfing comfortable?

I mean... sure you don't want ill fitting shoes to go hikng in. You don't want jeans so tight they put your feet to sleep. You don't want to wear a heavy down coat when it's 95 degrees. But, it seems the FIRST thing that enters peoples mind when they start doing ANYTHING is Comfort!!!

Not the experience of LIVING... but... doing it without risking being ~ GASP! ~ the least bit un-comfortable.

I've heard people say; "That bike is too uncomfortable for me"; yet when asked, they've NEVER even ridden the bike they're criticising! ... Huh? ...

I've heard people say; "It was raining... it's too uncomfortable to ride in the rain... it's too hot... it's too cold... it's this or it's that"... and on and on and on...

The thing that has come home to me is that "society" has devolved to where anything that is a risk... any risk at all is WRONG... anything that is less comfortable than a flotation topped mattress... is WRONG. Anything that provides SENSATION of the world around you is WRONG.

Anything that provides a tactile sensation of actually being alive is "Un-Comfortable" ... Oh Boo Freakin' Hoo!

If COMFORT is your controlling motivation, which must be satisfied BEFORE all else... what the hell are you doing on a Motorcycle? Get yourself a chauffeur and one of those limousines with climate control and a hot tub... I'll bet you can even hire a waitress to serve you as you ride around... we don't want to see you get strained by having to pour your own seltezer water... and make sure you keep the windows rolled up... Don't suffer the discomfort of Wind in your face!!!

I guess a "Good" Motorcycle is supposed to roll you through the west with No wind, No rain, No heat, No cold, No traffic, No fuel stops, No dust, No skeeters... No No No No No No...

No Freakin' Sensation of Life!

Geeze... You might as well just lay in one of those sensory deprivation tanks and just look at post cards with a triple insulated flashlight... held by someone else of course... We don't want your hand to be subjected to the discomfort of having to hold up a heavy, lumpy flashlight.

Yeah... a postcard with a PICTURE of a Motorcycle being ridden in the wind and rain... and you can read the lil' blurb on the back that TELLS you what it feels like.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Making Progress on My Tsukayu Saddlebag Install

The only real obstruction is we're parked in Fort Collins and the bike is in my kid's garage way down in Northglenn... about a 75 mile commute. ;)

A pretty efficient way to do a saddlebag installation! It adds juuuuust a mite to the cost of a custom saddlebag installation! :)

But I am making progress on it.

*New pipes and Old Saddlebags*

*New Tsukayu Saddle bags on and waiting for Paint*

*Old Bags and Plate Placement*

*New Bags and Plate Placement*

The bags have been mounted to test fit and placement. They'll come back off today to prep for painting... as soon as I work out the wiring placement and a few other lil' odds and ends.

I did a mediocre job of shaving that factory plastic bit that carries the plate and turn signals... That's what happens when you have a brain fart and you start cutting on the wrong side of your scribe line! :) It will go back on today. The saving grace is that the "rough" part of my mod will be tucked up under the fender... but... sheesh! what a squibb move.

With those bags set a couple inches lower and tighter to the fender... and all that junk NOT hanging off the fender... To MY eye it looks MUCH better! It's gonna perform far better for my Long Rides to boot!

* Easy access bags will be SWEET on the Road!*

I discovered a secondary function of the Tsukayu Designed Motorcycle Saddlebags... With the gas cylinder lid lift system they make pretty fair Air Brakes! :) Get too crazy on the throttle of that big 113 cid V-Twin and you'll need all the help you can pulling that big Yamaha back down below the sound barrier... :))

That original cast aluminum chromed back rest has been sold and will ship out in a couple of days. It's replacement is a steel  powder coated unit that is "lighter in appearance and is going to fit into the whole design scheme a lot better.

The bags are to be painted Tomorrow morning by my Son-in-law... They'll be a version of Yamaha metallic grey with a matte finish... the idea is to match the engine case/frame color...

Gotta head for Denver... again... and pick up some wiring bits along the way... so I'm in the wind again... though this time behind a dodge windshield.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Riding... How Much is Enough?

I've had the thought... That I've not been riding as much as I thought I would when we left the old life behind and started our full time yondering... nearly two years ago now.

Sometimes... that's been true. When we're camped 30 miles above Gunnison and ten miles up a dirt road... there's something that just interferes with my desire to put the Raider on the ground.... and that just ain't right.

But what can I say, dirt roads just don't shine for that big road burner. The result is that sometimes that bike has sat on the truck for several days at a time... too many days.

Since we've been roosted back in Fort Collins I've been back to pretty much daily runs for one purpose or another. It reminds me that I'm a much happier old coot if I'm pushin' that sled through the wind at least once a day.

Now... sayin' I've not been splittin' the wind enough since we left so many months ago might have some folks scratchin' their heads...

... considerin' that I started out this wandering journey of ours two years ago riding to Alaska and back in mid 2010. The Million Dollar Highway through Silverton came next in the fall.

The Raider rolled through Arches National Park and Canyon Lands. It ran the Pacific Coast Highway a few miles; We covered the roads around Redding and Mt. Shasta in California. We've ridden Yosemite, and Going to the Sun Road up in Glacier National Park... Twice!

Yellowstone has been ridden twice itself! We rolled around San Juan Island in Puget Sound and across the Sierras in Washington. Lolo and Lost Trail passes in Montana have seen me come through... as well as the Bear Tooth Highway! I've raced across southern Montana and Northern Wyoming to the Black Hills of the Dakotas.

The Arizona Desert and its Highlands have known the feel of my Raiders tires in the last two years, as well as Zion and Bryce up in Utah...

So... When I say I've not been riding enough... some might ask... "Huh? Are you kidding?" :) What can I say? It's an unsatisfied lust. Maybe unsatisfiable?

Yesterday after visiting the kids in Denver and needful of another asphalt fix, I chose to make a swing out to the base of the Front Range Mountains to circle back to Fort Collins, rather than the boring slab run up I-25.

I still had to fight my way past the lil' gals with their cell phone either stuck in their ears... or held in front of their faces... texting... while their volvo drifts 'cross the lane line... to get out of Denver and through Boulder to catch 36 to Estes Park. (this is where I'm just shaking my head)

So... I break out into some nice open mountain road... roll clear of the few hundred cagers with the same idea for a Saturday morning... (at least most of 'em weren't texting!)

To find the weather trying to keep things interesting... Which is why I turned up 36 and not gone farther west on 119 to catch 72 up through Nederland and Ward. It was REALLY dark off that way! :)

*Weather Brewing on a Ribbon of Asphalt*

I'm pretty sure some would look up ahead... see those clouds and then turn 'round and roll for home... I understand that... but think it's a mistake. All GOOD riding is not sun shine and balmy weather.

The truth is... there's something in the rain. There's something you get... riding through a storm... that you don't get otherwise. It's another shade of the healing power of the Open Road. I was wonderin' about it as I rolled... and wonderin' was I gonna get wet. I don't generally climb into my rain gear... 'less I'm pretty certain sure the thing is gonna last a while... I know... I know... the formal term is "Learning Disabled"...

Anyhoo... The only thing that came to me was that the Rain is LIFE. It's Life fallin' out of the sky. I don't know... Maybe that's why I'm always grinnin' when I'm rain riding. I love the fresh scent of the air... even the sound of the drops rattling on my Helmet. It's all good.

Yeah... I know... the old man is Weird! :)

*Two Wheels rolling into the Storm*

The truth is... I learned a lesson from a forgotten teacher... a Long time ago. "Don't fight the weather or fear it. Just go with it. Embrace It!"

But... even a weather embracing, puss gut, cowboy biker can choose to wimp out once in a while...

*Motorcycle Hideout*

 ... and that's what I did yesterday. I took shelter for a while to wait out the storm with a cup of hot coffee at McDonalds in Estes Park. ;)

So... I sat there till it passed... almost...

When I climbed back on the bike and headed down the Big Thompson Canyon... it jumped out from where it was hiding behind the mountain and said gotcha! with big rattling rain drops... that had me grinning one more time.

Now... maybe in the next few days I've got a 1200 mile... maybe three day run penciled out. If Murphy don't find out and gum up the works...

When I get back from that... there Should Be... some Sweet Hard Chrome exhaust pipes waiting to customize the bike... which will also provide the room needed to mount some Tsukayu Hard bags that should be arriving shortly after...

All to improve the bike... for splittin' the wind a lot farther and longer...

It is my intention to push Several good long rides into my yondering over the next couple of years.

I refuse to let age and poverty stand in the way of Living! :)

Don't Sweat the Rain... It's only a lil' water
Brian

In Pursuit of a Major Motorcycle Rebuild

I don't suppose the Raider is a quarter of the way through it's likely life span. She's carried me on a lot of roads in the dress she wore when she rolled off the Star Motorcycle Assembly line back in 2008.

I have a hunger to tailor her to better fit the current "Me" that has evolved ... or some might claim "De-Volved" the past few years.

While I haven't solved the big question yet; "Where's the dinero for her Makeover gonna come from?", I am zeroing in on what the makeover is going to look like. :)

... and some of it just might mean I've got another meal of crow feathers coming! :)

There's a few issues I'm looking to address. After many miles, all sorts of weather and the changes of thinking that life carries, I've decided I want to change from Leather Saddlebags to Fiberglass Hard bags. The Tsukayu Coners are currently standing at the head of the line, and will most likely be the Vinyl Wrapped variety.

To do that though, I must first swap exhaust pipes to make room... and here I'm waffling between Vance and Hines and going a bit different direction with Hard Chrome Black Ceramic 3" Res-Tec drag pipes...(their websites is dinged up so I can't show the link)

Then... up on the front end... the possible source of the Crow Feathers meal... another Tsukayu product...

Yeah... I know... Naked Motorcycle... It's pretty much been my Mantra... What can I say... maybe it's time for a change! :) I want the tunes and a few of the niceties in my old age!

The other major thing I would really LIKE to do... is custom paint... I'm still working on that... I've had a sketch I drew up, for a long time, of what I would like to do... time will only tell if I manage to pull the trigger on that...

This is... sort of... the color... I'm thinking a deep, metalic, burnt umber sort of Orange... hard to find in a colored pen! ;)

... and then the smiling Skull... and "Flames" that are sort of a hybrid between fire and dreadlocks :)... sure to offend some... :) ah well, If I quit offending it likely means I've died... so I'll live with it.

The base paint is the most likely... and then possibly as a "Phase II" the airbrush work... if somebody feels the need to read enough of my "westerns" to permit all that anyway! :) not to mention the grips, mirrors, shift linkage, tail light (making the turn signals integral) and a few other odds and ends...

The hardest part after finding the cash to shine her up... is the taking her off the road for the amount of time it will require to get it all done! :( ...

Ah well... if you're gonna own horses... there's a lot of shoveling that has to be done.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Making the Cruiser Motorcycle That Touched Your Soul, Your Own

You buy a bike and you ride it for a while. You come to love it. You put it in the wind and you love it. It fills your soul with something that you've never found, anywhere else. It's only a machine, but, it's a machine that touches your soul.

Then one day, you walk out, and it strikes you... that it looks just like everyone else's. Somehow, to you, the machine, the Motorcycle has a personality of it's own, but, it LOOKS like every other Motorcycle of that make and model that was ever built... and... THAT, ain't right!

Thoughts of how to put you, into the bike start rattling through your head. Thoughts of how to bring out that inner personality of the machine that you believe exists.

Now, you know as well as I do, that folks that don't ride, think when a guy starts talkin' like this; Why, he's gone 'round the bend and has fell down so many times that he's, by God bent something bad. and he is now... whooooee! Tee Total WhAcko! :)

Yeah well... Ok. :)

Well, WhAcko or not, this past summer, sitting up in the Montana high country, those thoughts of making my Raider my own started rattling in my head... and I started doing some doodling.

Not sure when the dinero is going to happen, to make this happen... but I've got a pretty clear idea of what my Raider should look like.

The first thing I did was envision a paint scheme... at first I was just thinking pretty conservative, solid color... but... it just didn't ring the bell... Like they say; "It wasn't happening."

Finally, one day when I wasn't even thinkin' on it, the idea struck me, ding! ding! ding! That bell started ringin'... and I went to work sketching it out...

Now, this ain't THE correct and proper orange. I didn't have the right colored pen for that ;) but... picture it with a deeper, bronzier or browner, metalic orange on my Raiders tank...

It's gonna be a hard time to have the bike down for the time it'll take to get this air brushing done... when that time does come.

Then... my current, traditional, Leather Saddlebags would be changed out to Tsyukayu Coner hard bags... of course, painted to match the tank color...

*Tsukayu Coner Hard bags on a Raider*

Even though I like the Factory Star Pipes... so that the bags will fit... I'll have to change out the factory pipes, to get 'em lower.  Not sure what brand the 2 into 1 style is in the Coner bag pic... but... I'm kinda Partial to the 2 in it 2 Vance and Hines pipes...

*Vance and Hines 2 into 2 exhaust pipes*

There are a couple other pieces and parts I'd like to change... but these are the big ticket, and major design ideas that have been collecting in those moments when I've got time between getting my next book finished and repairing broken parts on the fifth wheel, so we can get back on the road. :)

I can't wait to give my Raider the custom look the machine deserves... and put her in the wind touring on a long wide circle. The fact is simple and true. Machine or not. It touches my soul in a way nothing else does.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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My Star Raider Finally Has All Its' Custom Motorcycle Seats and Saddlebags!

Picked up the Raider at Bitchn Stitchn in Lakewood yesterday morning... and Installed the Raider Saddlebags this morning...

Now anyone who has a Roadstar Raider knows... that nobody is apparently making Saddlebag Mounts or Saddlebags for Raiders... at least if you want hard mount bags... and are using, and liking, for the most part, a Yamaha Raider Backrest.

Well... No Problem! Just fabricate your own Raider Mods... ie. solid, Raider Saddlebag mounts... and then there are plenty of Saddlebags that are gonna fit on a Raider...even if... like me... You are one of the few who LIKE the Stock Yamaha Exhaust pipes! :o)

I'll be building a page on the site in the next few days with pictures from a lot of angles... and some "noise" 'bout how I mounted 'em... etc. but for now... I think those bags... and the two custom seats (Pillion and Drivers seat) are Lookin' Good!

Both seats have a gel insert, with fake ostrich Vinyl and some fancy stitchin'... They added some material to the drivers seat, that moves me about an inch and a half or so, forward... eliminating, for me, I think, the need to replace the handlebars for a better position... right now... I'm happy... so I'll ride it a few thousand miles and make a final decision, some time into the deep dark future.

So... now I'm 'bout to go make a test ride... to see how it all works together... and of course... just because the sun is shining... the road is calling... and there's fuel in the tank!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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