DR800: Stripdown and Planning
01 06 09 - 21:27 So on Friday afternoon (as it's now taken me over a week to write this up, that's a week ago last Friday) I came home from work, took a final photo of the bike as it was, then decided to take the topbox off. Then the side panels. Then everything else.
Suzuki didn't mess around when they built the DR800. They gave it a big old steel frame, then just in case that wasn't enough, they bolted another one alongside it, and added a big cast alloy rack on top, which is bolted to both. All this to hang a rack, some lights and a number plate from. You can't even see half the bolts until you remove various bits of plastic gubbins. However with a bit of persistence and a couple of snapped bolts later, I had a nice big pile of bits.
At this point I should introduce their replacement - the rather swanky Acerbis LED tail light/plate hanger in the bottom right of the shot. Slightly more simple and elegant.
And here's what's left. Looking at it from this angle it turns out that my off in February bent the mounts for the RH pillion peg. Another job to add to the list, but one which can wait for later.
Dismantling done, it was time for a bit of a mock up of the new tail light. Slims down the rear end quite nicely. Of course cable ties and clamps doesn't exactly constitute a permanent solution so this would probably be a good point to make a plan for attaching it properly. The key element of this plan being a requirement to be able to get to work on the bike the following Tuesday.
Those lugs on the frame were where the front of the rack was attached. However they also appear to be just the right size to accept the square tube that's sat on the frame. That tube is just the right size for the next size of tube, sat on the seat, to slide into it. Sounds like the start of a recipe for a set of easily removable pannier racks to me.
Cider makes any plan seem sensible.
Plan made, time for some dinner.
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