Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner Thinking about chopping off some rear fender

...but I'm not sure about the taillight assembly. The stock one would probably ride too high on the fender and point up if I just relocated it. Any takes on where to get a tailight/turn signal set that sits higher on the fender? Or any other ideas?

There's plenty of folks who've bobbed their rear fenders with a lot of different solutions. Some have used Bonneville taillight assemblies, others have mounted the taillight & number plate on the side of the bike, and either left the turn signals off, or mounted small ones like the kellerman lights directly to the side rails at the top of the rear fender.

Do a search through the forums for "bobbed".

Matt

"others have mounted the taillight & number plate on the side of the bike"
I have some pics in my gallery. Both ways should be easy mods.
The most important thing, in my opinion, is to lower the bike low enough so there isn't too much space between the tire and the fender.

Check out JANGO's gallery. Also before settling on the tail light take the old one off cause there are a few surprises underneath.

JANGO used the Tombstone tail light and it covers the recessed part under the stock tail light.

I really like the look of it on his Speedy.

One thing you may consider is get a second rear fender to play with, just in case you ever want to go back to stock.

Once you have chopped it to your liking, there are tons of aftermarket or old style tail lights, turn signals and marker lights you can use to get the custom look that you like.

There was one that I saw once (in person, and unfortunatley did not have the camera with me) that they bobbed the fender, then instead of lowering the bike, they placed an oval tail light that almost matched the curve of the fender between the fender and tire. They had mounted the licence plate on top of the fender with a frenched in licence plate light, then had bubble like oval turn signals mounted flush on the sides of the fender so they were visible from all angles. It looked really sharp.

Soren

i have just chopped rear fender about six inches up and made a 1940s ford rear light fitted with leds its the shape of a sargents stripe so cut the fender same to a point
theres only three wires to the back light black = earth green = i think tail light and purple brake light

The possibilities are only limited to your imagination.

Soren

Well, I just chopped my rear (will stretch the front soon) and on the rear used an old style Lucus tail light, powdercoated and replaced the ugly stock turn signals with those off a Thunderbird....directly to the support frame, not stem.....pictures are coming...me thinks she be lookin' mighty fine.

I would like to see some pic's when done, I would also like a source for fenders, a new fender in Aus is $800 so that would equate to nearly $1,000 U S

Jack

I recently chopped my fender, and looks great, but I now need to lower the fender by 1.5"-2" any input in a compatable shock to do this. Tech section shows a 412 series shock, but I believe that this would only be a 1" drop.

if you are looking at lowering the back about 2" the easy way is to use boogeys rear lowering bracket. I am just about to order myself some. there are a bunch of people on this site who have done business with him (he is a member) and all have been happy as far as I know.

http://marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/deluxeSFshop.aspx?sfid=73147&c=49245

Ordered one yesterday. I will post pics once I get it on.

I put Boogieman's lowering blocks on, chopped the back fender, plus put the Progressives on....the lowering blocks, really did the trick, made it look WAY better.

Lee

I need to get a replacement bushing for a shock, as the old one was ruined while installing the lowering bracket. Triumph does not sell the bushing, it comes only with new shocks. Any suggestions?

Say Paschal,

Wonder if you might provide some specs on your settup. Nice bike by the way. I'm particularly interested in the size and make of your front tire (original rim?), and your ape hangers. Heighth and width and make if you remember.

Thanks,
Poimen

Just Do it!!

Poimen,
the front rim is stock, just powdercoated. The front tire is 120/90.
The back rim is a 16"x5.5" excel rim with Buchanan spokes. The tire is 180/60.
Both tires are Metezler.
Bars are 12"
Thanks for the comp.

Tim,

I'm just getting back here after being a ghost for most of the last year...so someone may have already said this. I would look at the galleries before you did this. It might just be me personally but I don't think our bikes look good with the bobbed rear. At some point, the bike no longer has any idea what it is. I think there's a limit to what one should do to a bike's identity irrespective of what CAN be done.

However, if you're set on it...I would check out the rear signal and lamp assembly from the T100 or the scrambler. (same ones) Nice Art Deco feel for the old school look and would probably work better with the bobbed tail since its axis is left / right instead of up / down.

In the end...if it's what you like, it's no one else's business. Have fun and post pics. We wanna see.

BB

I have one I'll sell for $150. I'm parting out a wrecked 2002 B.A. and keeping the motor for a Triton project. PM me if you're interested in any parts.

Quote:

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I would like to see some pic's when done, I would also like a source for fenders, a new fender in Aus is $800 so that would equate to nearly $1,000 U S

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$AU800 presently equals $US607
refer the following site, I use it all the time.
http://www.xe.com/ucc/

Iwas thinking bout doing the same but was going to replace rear fender with that of a softail was hoping that it would swap straight over!!!

I don't think you'll find any stock Harley fender the same width as our fenders(~8 1/4"). That doesn't mean you can't make something work though, but you'd probably have to fabricate new fender rails, or modify the ones on there.

Talk to Biker. He welded up a wider front fender for his since he put this montrous donut on the front end. I think he re-welded an Honda fender.

BB