Installing your own accessories

 I know there are people who, like me, can't stand paying a dealer MSRP
for an accessory and then pay an installation charge on top of that.
And there are still others who don't want to be bothered spending time
to install accessories and possibly screw something up and feel paying
a dealer is money well spent because they are free to do other things.

My latest accessory are engine guards. I don't care for large engine
guards on my VTX. It makes the bike look bigger and that's the last
thing I want for this bike, so I've been holding off.

I originally bought a set of MC Enterprises hiway bars that are not
engine guards per se but offer some drop-over protection without
imposing a large footprint on the look of the bike, but they don't fit
because of aftermarket pipes. I even looked into having the bars bent,
but knew that would ruin the chrome coating and I didn't want to go
thru rechroming or even custom-made brackets. I don't want to be one
of those guys who, at the end of the day, has $14K into a $6K bike.

This time around I went with National Cycle's Paladin bars. I had them
on my Aero 750 and really liked their undersized look while offering
the functionality I wanted. Installation was a breeze on that bike and
since I currently had NC's windshield and lowers on my VTX, I went for
it.

First off, instructions and supplied hardware were wrong. Instructions
to replace certain bolts identified the wrong bolts *and* some of 2 of
the 3 the bolts supplied did not fit the bike (and yes I had the right
product for my bike). Hanging the brackets on one side of the
downtubes was not without its cuss-word raising moments. In the end,
of the 5 primary steps enumerated in the instructions, only 2 were
correct.

I would have paid about $100 more to do this through a dealer instead
of the $150 I paid to do it myself, but when looking back at the time
it takes, it may be better just to let the dealer do it.

My wife doesn't come out in the garage to give me attaboys for putting
new guards on the bike. No, she wants to know why I need them and how
much they cost. If I took it to a dealer, I could concoct a story of
why the bike is at the dealer and when it came back, she'd probably
none the wiser  and I'd get to watch TV, mow the lawn, or slap the dog
around instead of putting accessories on.

Accessories I refer to include normal items like windshields, lowers,
sissybars, clocks, guards, or new pegs/grips - not LED engine lights,
girl-whistling horns or any other whizbang gadget I've joked about in
the past (except of course, the tire LEDs which I admit to).

As an aside: the guy I bought my VTX retired a few years ago as a jet
mechanic in the Air Force, so he could have easily done his own mtc.
But he took the bike into the dealer for everything, including oil
changes because his time was so important to him. Me?  I can't stand
paying a dealer for an oil change, final drive oil change, and other
simple mtc, so I do it myself, but it sure would be nice to have
someone else do it all.

So, do you prefer to DIY for accessories or let the dealer have the
headache and you simply ante up to pay the bill? I prefer the latter,
but do the former.

Greg

 22g2000hsm.googlegroups.com


I do all my own stuff since most dealers won't work on my 1995
Nighthawk (too old).  The few accessories I have were simple installs.  
Anything more complicated to install would also cost more than I want
to put into an old bike.  If I had $20,000-$25,000 invested in a BMW or
a Harley, I would probably let the dealer do it.

--
Lew

 
And if, unlike your 1995 Nighthawk, you had a 1995 Harley...  the
dealer *would* work on it if that's what you wanted.

 On Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:03:40 -0700, Road Glidin' Don


    Oh, here we go ......


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