| Author | Message | ||
     Cirwin2010 |
Bike: 2006 XB12SS Long I bought some carbon fiber composites to replace the plastics that were painted by the previous owner. The tank/airbox cover vent design is different from stock. Rather than having the air intake vent right behind the gas cap, their are two vent that come out the sides of the tank. Here is a link to the product so you can see what I am talking about. https://mdicarbonfiber.com/products/buell-xb9-xb12 -1125-airbox-cover-carbon-fiber The problem is I just discovered that the handle bars on my bike do not appear to be stock. They have the same shape as stock, but they are a bit lower than stock and have a slight green color to them. When the bars are turned all the way to one side, they barely clear the tank/airbox cover and the control wires will touch. This configuration will not clear the vents on the new tank/airbox cover. I am thinking about getting some OEM bars which look like they may clear the side vents with their additional height. It is a bit hard to tell since my bars don't look THAT much lower, just a little. I like my current setup so I don't know how much I will like higher bars, but I already bought the product. Does anyone have any experience with this or suggestions for what to look at? | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
How much clearance would you gain if you rotated the bars forward a few degrees? | ||
| Cirwin2010 |
I think very little, but I will have to take another look at it when I get home. I think that might put the bars too far for comfort, but worth considering. | ||
| 1_mike |
Nate - Rather than asking others that do NOT have experience with YOUR setup, it'll take you 5 minutes to go out and give it a try for yourself..! Loosen, rotate to your hearts content, retighten in the position that YOU choose. If that doesn't work, different bars OR risers can be used. Simple. Mike | ||
| 1_mike |
Sorry, my post above should have been directed to Cirwin with Nate also reading. Mike | ||
| Tpehak |
I recently bought MDI carbon fiber airbox with side inlets (see picture in my profile). It had no interferences with stock 2009 Buell XB12 Scg handlebar. Currently my motorcycle has Firebolt handlebar, it has no interference too. Fitting that MDI airbox covet was PITA - wrong holes location, cover is badly warped and non symmetric, perimeter trimmed wrong. I had to trim the cover properly, open the mounting holes, design and 3d print bushings for fasteners, machine fastener spacers. Now it sits OK, but still not 100% perfect. Now I 3d print grills for that inlet holes, each hole has unique shape and size. The only good thing about this cover is the finish, they made it perfect, the rest is horrible. I spent 2 days fixing this crap. | ||
| Cirwin2010 |
@Tpehak Thanks for the input. And wow, it was that bad to install? I just ceramic coated the pieces yesterday and to my eye the holes seem to be in the right spots and I did not notice any warped bits. I got the cheaper fiberglass and carbon fiber composites instead of 100% carbon fiber so I wonder if this changes anything. I can't tell from the picture, do you have other carbon pieces? I got a bunch more for the belly pan, front fender, read fender, and fly screen. I guess I am going to have to try to fit some of these pieces tonight to see what I might need for tools. | ||
| Tpehak |
I have only airbox cover. It is carbon + fiberglass too. You can't tell if the part warped or assisymmetrical until you try to fit it. So if you already tried and saw no issues your is probably OK. I knew people had issues with MDI carbon airbox cover for Buell, I expected it won't fit out of the box and I'm glad I was able to fit it. There was a lot of work with Dremel when you draw the line, sand it, check it, sand it again. I have Twill Matte finish airbox cover, I do not know if it changes anything. I know matte finish is just glossy finish covered with matte clear coat. After I trimmed my airbox I stripped original matte finish with acetone and recovered it with matte clearcoat from spray can and it looks identical.  (Message edited by TPEHAK on October 03, 2019) | ||
| Cirwin2010 |
Well, I checked the fitment yesterday and learned two things. 1. Rotating the handle bars will not make this fit so I will have to get new bars. 2. The fitment for the tank is pretty bad. (I did not check the other pieces yet at the time of writing) @Tpehak I can see from your picture that you enlarged the front holes. What else did you trim? The hole for the gas cap seems a bit too small on mine. I think opening that up will help it seat better but I think the piece might need some force to make the front and rear holes line up. | ||
| Tpehak |
I enlarged the gas cap hole first. I checked it and saw where it is necessary to sand down, drawn some marks with Sharpie, sanded it a little with Dremel, checked again, sanded it again and so on. Once I cleared the gas cap opening I started sanding the bottom line on both sides of the cover until I was happy with the fitment. And lastly I checked the mounting holes location. I enlarged front holes shifting them toward the true holes location and I designed and 3d printed bushings for enlarged holes. But you can use washers or spacers or something. I originally put washers in the enlarged front holes. Then I shifted the back holes closer to the position where they need to be (now they have oval shape), but not too much because of there is not enough material. I still have to stretch the cover a little to fit it on the place. I mount rear holes bolts first, then stretch the front part over to the place and mount front fasteners. By the way I put some spacers under the rear bolts to offset them a little because of they squeeze the tank cover too much. If your tank is matte finish you will not be able to erase Sharpie marks with alcohol without ruining the matte clear coat. Glossy cover will probably be OK, but check it first on small hidden spot. I had to strip the matte clearcoat on mine because of it was ruined after alcohol and I painted it with fresh matte clearcoat. You also might put some scratches on glossy finish during the work. You might be able to sand them down and polish off after all. I put some scratches on mine, then I polished those spots and with matte clear coat you can not see any imperfections, it looks like new. On glossy finish after polishing you might still see web scratches. (Message edited by Tpehak on October 04, 2019) | ||
| Tpehak |
Here are details: The front enlarged and properly centered holes  3D printed bushing out of black PETG plastic with aluminum press fit insert for front fasteners   Installed front holes bushing and screw    Rear shifted holes right and left. As you can see I shifted them back and up   Rear screw in rear hole with additional spacer I cut out of aluminum tube. I also put teflon washer to reduce carbon wear.   Inlet grill 3D printed out of black PETG plastic plug and play snap fit. I put painter tape from back side of the of each inlet hole and drawn the holes perimeter lines. Then I scanned the lines with paper scanner and designed CAD models for left and right inlets (they have unique different shapes).    Rusrt Oleum Frosted glass clear coat I used after stripping original matte clear coat.  Also after trimming the edges and before clear coating I lightly sanded the edges with 180 to 2000 sandpapers with water and then polished them with plastic polishing paste. (Message edited by TPEHAK on October 05, 2019) | ||
| Ducbsa |
Regarding staining from Sharpie marks, blue tape applied in the area to mark on can work. | ||
| Cirwin2010 |
@Tpehak Thank you for your well thought out and detailed response. This is exactly the information I needed. I hope to find some time soon to work on the gas tank opening and then go from there. I coated the composites with CQuartz before attempting fitment so that may help with scratches and at the very least, give a sacrificial layer for if it needs to be polished. I did try contacting MDI to see if they had anything helpful to say. They just offered to let me return my whole order and repurchase (again the WHOLE order) at a $45 guaranteed fitment discount. If they are using the same molds, I don't know how this is at all helpful and it took a few months for all of my parts to get here. |
