Well, it is all buttoned up except for the right ram air cover, which is waiting for my machinist friend to finish the pod I'm going to house the heat-trollers and BMW sockets in. Once they are hooked up, I'll put the cover back on.
The heated handgrips aren't wired yet, waiting on the above-mentioned pod to be fabricated since it will house the grip's heat-troller.
It was maddening to patch all those individual wires in the left and right wiring bundles that go to the switch pods on the handlebars. I just cut 20 some 7" sections of roughly 18AWG (maybe smaller) wire and then one by one, cut a wire, stripped the ends, soldered in the patch wire, taped it, and shrink wrapped groups to better protect it.
Amazingly, everything works perfectly. Well, not really amazing, I took my time, and I am quite good with a soldering gun anyway.
The XM smart antenna is mounted on a right lever perch ram mount, like the GPS is on the left lever perch.
All the hoses are bled and everything is working perfectly.
I am leaving the Illumiglo gauges for next winter, they are bling anyways, don't need them.
The mesh turned out great. I'm glad I got it from JP Cycles, its really quite good aluminum mesh, just the right thickness to not bend real easy but still be able to cut and form it.
I think that is just about the extent of major modifications. The handlebar is finally close enough that I can ride all day without my back and neck declaring war on me. I *might* get my machinist friend to help me do some one-off pegs with more drop and forward displacement, and modify the shifter and brake pedal to accomodate. I'll decide after this riding season, and maybe do it over the winter.
If I get enough back pay from my VA disability claim, I guess I'll do an Ohlins fork and rear shock, set up for when I've got the luggage mounted and full.
And if AAPERF wants to supercharge it, heck why not, I don't have to do the wrenching. Heh.
And the guy that makes highway pegs for the C14 is meeting up with a sportbike club to see one of their ZX14s and decide if he can adapt his highway pegs to the ZX14. Don't know about you, but after being in the saddle for 4 hours with just a gas stop, I put my legs down or back to stretch them, highway pegs or not. So I might have them.
My motivation for doing all this, besides the obvious physical issues, is I want to tour the USA and Canada before I am too old to do it. If the VA grants me a high enough disability rating, and a 401k I have from an old job with a ton of one particular stock recovers to 2008 levels (after it split 2-1) then I will be able to spend 6 months a year seeing America, more once I'm 62 and can get social security income and 401k retirement too.
I was never able to do it when I was making a lot of money (because I was busy making a lot of money - which was stupid) so I'm going to do it now, when I no longer care about money as long as I can put gas in it and eat, and pay camping fees, insurance, and licenses fees to keep the government happy.
This forum is cool, because I will continue to get ideas and learn new things about our great machines. And since I purchased a refurbished Dell laptop specifically to tune the bike, and can get internet with my cellphone hooked up to it, I can keep up with things on this and other forums while I'm on the road.
Pictures soon as the rain stops, and sun comes out. Time to unveil the ZX14 Express-Concours. :)
Living the Gypsy Life