Front end modding and insurance

[MC680x0]

Been reading lots of threads about front end mods to naked, street fighter, cafe racer and all that. And cluster mods and rewiring. All this madness me wonder what people say to their insurers when they ask 'has the vehicle been modified?'

Naturally there is a risk in not declaring and probably a cost of doing so. I lost £8000 in 2011 when my insurers didn't pay out after an accident of a trophy which had a modded frobt end;the police had the bike recovered and subsequenty engineers found out the bike was modded. Insurance void.

Just wondering what people tell their insurers and what extra costs they pay in premiums?

[dazza]

Ah, that's why you come across as so argumentative and bitter  :lol

[MC680x0]

Perception is everything.

So you don't have a useful comment then.

Anyone else

[dazza]

Yes, declare your mods or don't crash.

[MC680x0]

Read the OP  :pokefun

[Yamazer-92]

I declared all my mods and they made no difference; exhaust, modded seat, shock, aftermarket indicators, wide bars etc... As for the front end, I simply said "I've removed the fairing and screen" as that is the truth and he said yeah no problem. I guess now if the bike was damaged it will be much cheaper to replace a £50 headlight, £20 brackets and remake a £5 aluminium clock mount than fork out about £400+ for a new fairing, paint, screen, most likely OEM headlight and headlight / fairing bracket. 


I still have the original clocks on now so nothing has been rewired except the indicator connector points as one was a bit dodgy. Some wires have been shortened slightly to hide them easier in the headlight shroud. I would like to get a Koso speedo cluster but they are probably about £200 odd quid for the individual round guages in total and I'm not sure if I can be bothered wiring them up. If a fly screen can be fitted and looks good and covers all the iffy bits I will be more than happy, plus it might stop a few bees flying down my top which has happened every time I've been to Wales so far (3 times).

[NorthWestern]

I told mine (bmw shock, r1 forks) and it went up a bit,  nothing outrageous.  I have known insurance companies not bother in the event of an accident unless they believe the mods had some bearing on it. Ie magnesium race rims collapsing

[MC680x0]

Thanks guys
I'm thinking of modding the front to avoid issues raised by yamazer-92
There are lots of threads on here about this but not one I can find on how to mount clocks without manufacturing since form of bracket. I have no tools or  mechanucal/electrical knowledge of this particular bike  to do this. So looking for a simple solution then works use forks mounted lights and screen etc. Just wondered about insurance. Sounds like my issue is the clocks or something I can slot in, rather than insurance ?

[Yamazer-92]

I had no real idea what I was going to do to mount the clocks other than a few little bits of info here and there in threads. Obviously step 1 is completely strip the front end down to the forks and headstock / ignition. Then you can think about your clock bracket and see what needs doing better. I bought a sheet of aluminium that was about 30x50cm or something and quite thin I would guess 2-3mm and that was £5. Myself and my Dad then went about making templates from cardboard, it was a lot of trail and error, then went for a first prototype in the aluminium when we were happy. The plate is big enough for 2 attempts so your first one doesn't have to be exact first time. It can all be done with a hacksaw, a file, a drill, a hammer and some patience. For the bend so that the clocks are visible when you're in your normal riding position, you need to carefully hammer away at the underside of the aluminium and it's once again trial and error and taking your time. I will try and get a photo of what I made this weekend and the shape of it if you would like, it's crude but it works. It's also worth buying some rubber trim to neaten up all the edges and make any sharp areas safe.


As for actually mounting it, I drilled and tapped a hole into the underside of the top yoke and used a hole that was already there for the throttle cable guide or something then bolted it on from there. We then drilled two holes in each corner for the clocks to mount into, I sawed off the third clock bolt at the top of the clocks and painted the rear of the clocks black to try and tidy it up a bit. It's all a bit tight with the ignition like I say as the whole thing is bulky, leaving a bit too much of a gap between headlight and underside of clocks which you don't see on purpose built nakeds. I will be trying to sort this out though. If you want I can try and find the links for the ebay items I purchased tomorrow, things like the headlight brackets, rubber mounts for them to fit our forks and the headlight itself which is actually far better than the OEM boxeye headlight. I would say though if you plan on doing this it pays to get some better looking handlebars as the OEM ones look terrible naked.

[MC680x0]

If I knew what you were taking about I'm sure that was a helpful post.

Regrettably, my expertise is more electrical. I could bite you to tears with science of electromagnetism, ohms law, fluid dynamics and more. But what you say means very little to me. I wish I understood as I'm sure it's simple. Ah well
Edit: referring to the process of turning metal and machine engineering in one of the threads on the forum where I read of a foccer building a custom bike. Can't recall the thread link tho as I didn't save it.. But then I read post above again and noticed references to hack saw and tapping which is pretty straight forward, just need to find somewhere that sells thin alloy around here, not easy.

[midden]

:woot  Congratulations to Yamazer-92 who gets todays tweetytek seal of approval


                   
:groan  Dazza YOU'RE FIRED

[His Dudeness]

:woot  Congratulations to Yamazer-92 who gets todays tweetytek seal of approval


                   
:groan  Dazza YOU'RE FIRED

Let's keep it relevant midden ffs. He can rabbit on about ohms law and electromagnetism if he wants but you keep your mouth shut you fool!

[ChristoT]

[quote author=midden link=topic=15054.msg170461#msg170461 date=1413589502]
:woot  Congratulations to Yamazer-92 who gets todays tweetytek seal of approval


                   
:groan  Dazza YOU'RE FIRED

Let's keep it relevant midden ffs. He can rabbit on about ohms law and electromagnetism if he wants but you keep your mouth shut you fool!
[/quote]

In fairness, looking at other posts he's put up this evening, I think Dazza's had too much of the happy sauce!  :eek

[midden]

[quote author=midden link=topic=15054.msg170461#msg170461 date=1413589502]
:woot  Congratulations to Yamazer-92 who gets todays tweetytek seal of approval


                   
:groan  Dazza YOU'RE FIRED

Let's keep it relevant midden ffs. He can rabbit on about ohms law and electromagnetism if he wants but you keep your mouth shut you fool!
[/quote]
Well how rude

[His Dudeness]

It would be terrible if this topic was filled with nonsense

[His Dudeness]

Like squirrels with guns :lol

[ChristoT]

Who here remembers Squirrel Head?  :lol :lol :lol

Squirrels are awesome. 

[His Dudeness]

Squirrels surfing?

[ChristoT]

Squirrel transvestites?

Eddie Izzard: Army

[His Dudeness]

Lets get back on topic...motorbikes






































squirrels on motorbikes