I commented on Harleycruiser's thread about the level of his craftsmanship and said I had fabricated some things for my bike. He said he wouldn't mind seeing some of the projects, so here they are. Some have been on here before, some haven't. Hope you enjoy.

The first thing I made was something I thought was dumb on a bike, cup holders. I used some left over ABS pipe I had and cut some ends from ABS caps with a hole saw. I glued the ends in the pipe and put some weather strip around the top. I put it on a 3" drum sander and put it on the drill press and used emery cloth to make the finish a nicer. Then I got the idea to try some paraffin wax on it and used the back of the emery cloth to buff it up. It worked they looked OK. I used some hose clamps to put them on,,,and they were coming off after anyway. I found them handy for other things so I got some nice P clamps and they are ther for good.

 

Project backrest....I wanted something that would come off without bolts and couldn't find anything I liked. I got some pipe and shaped it like a passenger backrest and welded on some little "U" brackets made from some flat stock. I rigged it up to fit on the seat rail. I used some stainless 1/4" bolts with the head rounded for pins. I drilled some holes for locks. I had it powder coated and put on a HD passenger backrest pad.

 

I messed up this post, enough for one day.

 

Very cool love both of them very ingenious.

 

We live out of town and lots of deer on the way home. I wanted more light so I changed the passing lamps from 27w to 50w. That helped...night and day type of differance, I didn't like the passing lamps only working on low beam so I got an auto floor type dimmer and used that to turn them on and off with my foot. If you are younger you probably haven't driven a vehicle with one of these. I didn't like the heel shifter so I had taken that off earlier and that area turned out to be a good mounting area for my new light switch. Made a bracket, painted it black and installed it. There passing lamps working when I want with the main head lamp Hi or Lo beam.

 

Arm rests for the better half was another thing that was on my list of wants. She is with me on most rides and I wanted her to be comfy. I got some Kuryakyn armrests and got the grinder out. Scary cutting them up as soon as I got them. I made up a bracket, had it powder coated and bolted my newly cut armrests to it. That setup slips onto the passenger backrest and a couple of pins and locks on each side holds it on. The pins are made out of 1/4"stainless bolts with holes for locks or retainer clips. I didn't want to have to use tools to get things on or off. My copilot now has her own coffee holder and arm rests. She says she didn't realize what she was missing.

 

Thanks Harleycruiser they aren't works of art like yours, but for us they are functional.

 

I got some Boss Bags, very nice bags and good guys to deal with. I didn't want to open the bags to have to put them on or off so I used Easy Brackets to mount them instead of their system. For me works much better. I got some hang bags but didn't like how they sat on the saddle bag. Time to pull apart something else you just bought. I took off their aluminum bracket and went with one longer. I put a slot in it to allow the "D" ring for the carrying strap. Now I didn't have to open them to take them off and didn't have to take off the hang bag to use the carry strap to
haul them around.

 

The Boss Bags are the 42D bags. They needed some support and I didn't want something that stayed on the bike or you needed tools to remove. I initionaly made up a little bracket had it chromed and had some bearings for the bag to travel against. I used that for a few years was never quite sattisfied with it. Last year I tried something new. I had a machinist buddy make me some docking points like Easy brackets and matching key hole in some stainless plate. A tinsmith buddy bent it for me. Nice to have friends that will do that for you. I had to drill a hole and do a bunch of filing to get the hole for the lock just right. I welded it together and did a bunch of grinding and filing ( I'm no welder). I put the docking points on the bolts below the seat. I can now put the bag support on in a second, OK two. I went to Alaska last summer, that took away any doubt I may have had on the ability of the bag support
to do it's job. There was some really rough spots.

 

Oh yes, I have to get some bolts with nicer heads.