getting naked

[phatnogin]

After a recent small crash, I have decided that I want to make my 97 tillis into a naked bike. rather than replace the fairing and headlight. Does anyone have any suggestions on mods or headlight conversions? Or does anyone have pics of a tls that would give me some ideas. Im not sure how to mount the gauges an make them look cool. the stock gauge cluster is kind of huge. Im also on a very tight budget but Im good at fabricating. Ive seen lots of pics of street fighters, but no tls. most of the fighters ive seen though have used gauges and lights off other bikes.

[jasonstiller]

a couple of cat eyez would be sweet!!

[Wondertwin]

A Buell headlight (Bosch brand, same part as the Ducati Monster but cheaper) would be cool and not too expensive. Plus more functional than spots... I think $70 should get you the whole assembly. You can also get the Buell headlight mounts from the S1 or X1 Lightning, as they run inverted forks. For your gauges, you might try making a custom mount for them that atteches to the steering neck and fabricate a metal enclosure of some sort to go around the outside and hide the guts. Also, you might give a set of those new SV gauges a try, though I'm not sure how compatible they are. Maybe TLR gauges would be more suitable (smaller)? Good luck!

Pics for ideas:

[Wondertwin]

This is a custom framed jobbie, but it the front is similar to what I was talking about with the Buell/Ducati light. Looks like he's running a STACK gauge assy..?

[Wondertwin]

Another...

[yeller_twin]

I have a set of HID fog lamps from Auto Zone on my Katana. They are super bright and they have a small light built into the body.....did you say turn signal That's right, swapped out the purple bulb for an amber one and no more worries about signals.

I need to work on my mounting, used a set of old clip ons. Cut the bar off and mounted the braket from the lights right to the clamp. Kinda rigged up at the momment, but I have my tiller to ride. I wired it up so I have one low and two high, because they are super bright.

Naked bike are sweet too.

[phatnogin]

do you have any pics of the rigged up can o tuna?

[yeller_twin]

Your gonna make me walk all the way to the garage I suppose.

[horkn]

thank you.

[yeller_twin]

Don't go laughin' at my Kat. This was merely a way to get it legal so I could ride it for a week or two. The lights are just screwed into holes I drilled and tapped. I want to make a bracket similar to a triple clamp that will hold the lights further away from the forks. This was my spring project but the man, decided that I should visit a desert for a few months. I haven't touched it since I brought it home in March. I want to lay up some Carbon or Fiberglass to smooth the transition between the frame and tank. I want to make a new sub frame too. There are so many things I want to do to this bike, but I just haven't had the time or the tools. I think the Katana has a very sweet look without all that nasty plastic on there. So I plan to make it look like it should...some day. Can you see my new battery box I fabricated at school. I am damn proud of that thing. Made in about three hours. Now I have a sealed battery instead of those crappy lead acid vent batteries that leak all over frame and take paint off.

[yeller_twin]

I zippy tied them in place. Every now and then I would have to rotate one back in line. The clamps aren't the right size, so I opened them up and now the bolts won't line up. That's why it's zippy tied. Call me lazy, but it got the job done and I got my last two weeks of riding in.

[yeller_twin]

Did I mention these things are bright? Well I will say it again. Most people don't mind when I drive with my brights on at night on my tiller. But people get real pissed when I leave these babies on. HID. Don't have to worry about people not seeing me while these candles are burning.

[dragonbro]

"no disassemble! number 5 is alive"...............


im not baggin on ya, its just those little lights always make me think of little robot warriors...........

[phatnogin]

thanks for the pics, im off to auto zone or pep boys tomorrow. I still cant think of what to do with my gauges though.

[yeller_twin]

Here is what I had planned for my gauges. I am getting rid of that nasty tach and adding a Revlight to show engine speed. The one I bought has made it's way onto the tiller for now....no sense in letting is lay around. The leds can be programmed to light up at what ever RPM. There are three modes, sequence, one at a time, and shift light or as they call it track mode. I have it on shift light mode now. They all flash at 10,500 and will get my attention before I run into the rev limiter, unless I am in first then they flash a tad to late and I hit it anyways. They are not really bright during the day, but you can see them. At night......you know when they are on.....like fire works going off in your helmet. Suppose to dim at night but I don't know if they do that well.

For my speedo, I was going with some type of digital bike speedo. If you do some searches on google you can come up with may differnt brands that will read up to 200 mph. The only bad thing is they read off the front tire and need a pick up mounted on the rim. Maybe one of those track tools.....can't think of the name of it, would work great for speedo. Anyone Could even go GPS, but that's pricey.

I want to lay up a small windscreen to cover some of the front up, like a buell. I might put the stock speedo back on, if I cannot make a bike speedo work. These are my thoughts on gauges.

With all the plastic off the Katana it power wheelies, imagine what a TL would do. It's going to be very windy and you lose a lot off the top end speed. Poor Kitty Kat struggles to get over 120 now, used to reach 135 with the plastic.

Does this help