[kegan]

Thanks to "cbzdel" for the idea of this DIY!

I thought it was a great idea, and decided to snap some pics while I did this to my bike today. Sorry if it's too much, but I wanted to be thorough since I know there are a lot of beginners on this forum

Required tools: ratchet, 10mm wrench, 5mm allen key, 10mm socket, (loc-tite optional)

Remove front reflector from wheel fairing using a 10mm wrench.

Once loose, you can twist the whole unit off by turning the reflector itself.

Note: be sure to catch the spacer when removing the reflector, as it will be used again with the new bolt.

Remove the reflector from the bolt by using the same 10mm wrench to hold the unit steady, and your hand to twist off the reflector.

Shown are the three pieces of the front reflector.

Using your ignition key, pop the rear seat open by turning the key, and lifting up on the seat at the same time.

Insert your fingers as shown to pull on the tab holding the top tray closed, and lift it open to gain access to the bottom compartment.

Using your 5mm allen key, remove two bolts of your choosing, from the four shown here. It really doesn't matter which ones you choose - I just did the ones that were most convenient.

Add a drop of loc-tite or similar thread-locker to each bolt you remove and re-install. Thread-locker helps retain bolts where they are installed, when less than favorable conditions (such as excessive vibration from our little side-by-side engine) are present.

Re-install the bolts that WERE on the front of the bike, where you just removed the "flush" ones.

Slide the old spacer from the front of the bike onto the bolt that you removed from the rear of the bike.

With thread-locker on, and spacer in place, install the "flush" head bolt into the front fairing using the 5mm allen key.

Enjoy your "new", factory look, reflector-less front fairing!

Why are there so many steps for this simple mod??

Thanks for looking!

 

[Bthibodeaux]

Thanks for the detailed pics! Thanks also to the OP for the info. Looking at the steps, I might suggest that the first step be to unscrew the reflectors from the extended reflector bolts by hand, and then use a short 10MM socket to loosen the bolt. To me this would greatly reduce the risk of scratching the front fender paint with a 10MM wrench. I might also suggest adding SS washers when putting the reflector bolts in the rear compartment to create a better seal against moisture entering that area.

Thanks again!

 

[cbzdel]

Awesome, thanks for the detailed write up and pics!! Its such a simple mod and makes the bike look so much better!

Edit: I have to add, the white Ninja looks so sexy next to a white car

 

[cfrp]

awesome! thanks for the DIY. much appreciated. step by step photos were also a great help.

 

[Mike]

Great DIY w/pics!

I went with some M6 bolts from Lowes instead of putting the goofy long bolts in my tail.

 

[kegan]

Oh, nice! Those look great, too.

Thanks for the feedback on the DIY. If there's enough interest, I would be willing to do something similar for valve adjustment... when the time comes. The service schedule has the first adjustment at 7,500mi, but I think that's a little too long, so I'll probably being doing it myself around 3k, or whenever I can get my hands on the factory specs/tolerances, haha.

 

[Mike]

Oh, nice! Those look great, too.

Thanks for the feedback on the DIY. If there's enough interest, I would be willing to do something similar for valve adjustment... when the time comes. The service schedule has the first adjustment at 7,500mi, but I think that's a little too long, so I'll probably being doing it myself around 3k, or whenever I can get my hands on the factory specs/tolerances, haha.

That will be a good one. I remember my 1992 Ninja 500 valve job being pretty easy

 

[kegan]

Yeah, I can't really think of anything that would be too difficult to do yourself on this bike, maintenance-wise. Everything is so simple! In a good way...

 

[SClown]

Dude, this is great. Cheers for the write up and the pics. I'll be doing this as soon as I can.

 

[HydrogenMatrix]

Got it....

Sent from my ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T using Motorcycle.com Free App

 

[This Girl Rides]

That's my bike he posted ^
I think he is envious of my rim stripes so he decided to show mine off instead of his

 

[JTACKM]

Simple, yet clean mod.

 

[SClown]

Wonderful write up. Especially with those pics too! I look forward to doing this soon.

 

[SClown]

For the lazy:
Just unwind the reflectors by hand change bolts later

 

[jdalbani]

Here in Brazil, the bike already comes without this accessory ...

 

[Dark]

Great DIY w/pics!

I went with some M6 bolts from Lowes instead of putting the goofy long bolts in my tail.

They aren't aesthetically pleasing to the eye and they will rust. You'll want to stick with stainless/titanium/aluminum(depending on the task) exterior bolts unless you like rust.

 

[Muilisx]

so, I see you use one of the bolts from inside the trunk space for the one side, but what about the other side? Did you do the same thing with a 2nd bolt from the trunk?

 

[tmd]

There's 4 bolts you can choose from in the trunks. I installed my targa eliminator kit and it doesn't use the stock bolts, so I have 4 bolts that I could use to install to the front.

 

[Bentley813]

I finally got around to doing mine, went one step farther with it.

 

[Diesel]

very nice