Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Custom Corner Putting the rear end on a diet....?????s

Hi all,
I picked up a used rear fender off of ebay and want to trim a few inches off the back, get it repainted, and replace the taillight.
-I figure I will use a cutoff wheel to get the smoothest/straightest cut?
-How hard is it to get the fender off? (My SM is in my in-law's garage so I can't look at it at the moment) Is there anything else I should consider doing while I'm swapping the fenders?

Can anybody direct me to some pics of their fenders trimmed or other taillights? I saw one or two in the photo galleries, just looking for more ideas.

thanks

I've gathered a lot of pictures of bobbed TBA/TA/SMs (among other things) in my gallery on my personal site. Most of them are from the old version of the member's gallery here.
Check it out.

John-

In your gallery/site, the pic of the wild "british chopper"...what kind of exhaust are those megaphones??? I want those! Are they loud? I want people to look my speedy and say "******."

John,
thanks for the link to your site. Plenty of pics and great ideas.

I like JohnScoggings rear fender. Nice, clean, sporty look. I'd like to try something like that. I wonder if he cut down a stock America fender, or if that was an aftermarket job. I like his upturned pipes too.

Thanks for the pics FriarJohn. Nice collection.

John

Roundy,
I have a possible idea for you. I read a post where Robert was looking for another tank and fender to go back to stock. I know his bike has a bobbed rear fender which looks pretty darn cool. Drop him a line. Perhaps you and him could work something out? Just a thought.

Trumpy

I cut mine just above the taillight bracket before paint and made a new taillight/tag bracket. Still need the lowering shocks, stiil has that dirtbike look. All I did was make a paper template of a nice radius, found the centerline of the fender, and marked it off with masking tape. A decent jigsaw blade did a nice job of cutting it, just needed a little cleanup with a flap wheel in my grinder.

Once you disconnect the wiring to the taillights and turn signals, all you have to do is take out the 4 fender strut bolts and the two beneath the seat to remove the fender. No sweat.

Tape it up and cut it off!..I used blue masking tape to draw the shape I wanted, cut it with a jig-saw and a fine tooth metal cutting blade.Pull the strut bolts, and two bolts from under the seat, disconnect the wiring harness from the locating tabs underneath, and cut away. You might consider taillights, license plate mount and light, and turn signals as part of the upgrade. I've got a few pics posted of what we did to our two. Both were easy once you get over the fear of the initial cut!

What I usually do is cut the front of the fender and rotate it forward. That way, you get the original traling edge and the only repainting you have to do is a touchup to keep the cut edge from rusting. This gives you an excuse to get a Freak if you haven't yet, to save having to cut a new hole for the airbox.

Thanks for the replies and pics everybody. I think I have figured out what I'm going to do. I'll post pics when I'm done.

I cut 4.5" off my rear, and installed an SM front fender on my '02 TBA see pics under CUSTOMS gallery "GUSSER

I saw your pics, kind of hard to tell you cut the rear fender. Possible to get eye level pics of the side or rear? I like the taillight, I thought about the same one, BellaCorse right?

WOW I would have sworn that was a Harley Sportster sittin' there from first glance! Nice paint job!!

Backporch790

Hey bp,

If you can't tell the difference between a Triumph and a Sportster at first glance may I suggest an eye doctor!

Or maybe you need a proctologist!!

good tip guy - thanks.

BP - are you sure??? it doesn't have a springer front end !

keep postin - theres been a sincere lack of Harley bashin goin on of late.

hey BP -

i just got to wonderin ...... do you drink? that would explain alot.

Sir,

I dont drink any more............or any less!!!

Backporch790