| Author | Message | ||
     Littletree |
Not sure if this has been covered elsewhere, but I thought some of you might want to know about this... I didn't like the look of my top front fender, and seeing as I almost never ride off road, I thought I'd take it off. I rode for 2 weeks without changing the lower fender which was fine, although some water does spray upwards when going through puddles at speed. The best thing about it though was that without the top fender, more airflow hits the engine, so I found it was taking about twice as long for the fan to come on: On my 15km commute to work, it rarely comes on before I stop. I have since bought the lower fender from an XB12ss which fits perfectly, although 2 of the bolts holding the original fender were Loctited on so hard I had to drill them out. The light housing is a little looser without the top fender in place, but it looks like it would be easy to make an aluminium bracket to secure it to the forks. | ||
| Treadmarks |
I think the Uly suspension is longer than the ss. With the ss front fender, there may be about an inch or so of the front fork exposed to oncoming debris which could damage the fork. | ||
| Hughlysses |
That's pretty interesting. I have seen before that a small change in the front fork area can make a huge difference in airflow. I have a 1983 Honda Ascot (500cc water-cooled V-twin). On the first LONG trip I took it on (from here to Deal's Gap, ~350 miles), I made a poor man's tool bag out of a camera bag that I strapped on below the headlight. It hung maybe ~1" lower than the plastic electrical panel/horn cover that sits under the headlight. At highway speeds, the radiator cooling fan stayed on continuously and the coolant gauge was right at the border of overheating. At low speeds, everything was fine. For the trip back, I relocated the bag behind me on the seat, and the fan NEVER came on at highway speeds. I was amazed that such a small change made such a big difference. I can see where moving the front fender on the Uly would have a similar effect. |
