YelowJacket! is a Custom Bagger Now. Upgrade COMPLETED! New Pics

[jasonm.]

YOU WANT BLACK...?  DuPont #99 pitch black...it's a gloss black enamel that all paint shops know. I painted my whole '82 and parts of my '83 with it. No clear needed.  It's a deep black that makes others look grey.

[joevacc]

I have seen Jason's bikes and that color is a great match for the Yamaha Black.  It looks really good.

[YellowJacket!]

Spent a little time in the garage today waiting for the new battery to charge and I rolled YJ out to take a few pics of the silver bags.





One of the slight modifications that I'm going to have to do:




A little TOO close for comfort.  I need to add some spacers to the Peg bracket to offset it a little:


A little bend or a spacer should fix this one:


Back to the OEM turn signal stalks.  The shorty's were too short and got in the way of the release spring:



David

[Rick G]

David you make me sick!!! ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) No body should have a bike that clean!  Its really a beauty! :D :D :D :D :D

[jasonm.]

clean bike = dirty mind.... :)

[Brian Moffet]

I must have a really clean mind then....

[inanecathode]

David, let me know if you want/need pictures of how i mounted mine. I had to make some brackets and spacers but i've mounted the bags in all the areas you haven't yet.



I dont have any pictures of exactly where and how the bags are mounted, but i have a camera and i just wrenched blackula from the wintry grasp of the glacier that is the north facing wall of our house.

[YellowJacket!]

Inane,
That'd be great.  I'm holding off until I'm sure I won't mess anything up.
You can either PM me the pics or post them here for prosperity.  Either will work.

Thanks,

David

[YellowJacket!]

Been wrestling with the brackets a bit.  They are almost a perfect fit....almost.  So today I stopped by my local custom bike shop (Makes OCC look like amatures).  I've known the guy for about 20 years and he is the one that did the work on my first tank.

Anyway, I stopped by with the brackets today and he asked me to bring the bike next week.  He is going to move the tab towards the rear about 2 inches forward so it lines up with either the grab handle or the mounting hole just forward of it, bend the forward tab back a bit and add a bend to the lower bar so it doesn't hit the swingarm.
All cutting, welding, finishing, priming and painting...and a 10 year guarantee (seriously) - $25.00 each.  Not bad since he guarantees that it will fit perfectly and will make any necessary adjustments if needed.

He said I'd have to leave the bike for a few days but he would make sure it was perfect.  I'll have to post some pics when I get it back.

David

[kev10104]

Those bags look great and they look like they have lots of room.

[Tiger]

Those bags look great and they look like they have lots of room.

??? Have you fitted yours yet Kev ???

                8).......TIGER....... 8)

[kev10104]

I almost did it today but my wife came out and we went for a ride.

[YellowJacket!]

All I can think of saying is......WOW!  I got YJ back from Schraders Custom Cycles (the ONLY work that I did not do on YJ) where Mark Schrader custom modified the saddle bag brackets to Fit YJ. Theres some good news and some bad.

First, the good.
The job is done.  He did a fantastic job and it looks better than factory.  The way he worked the brackets to fit the bike makes them look like they were made for it.  It ended up being a much bigger job than anticipated and it may be a while before  I can afford a new back tire...or anything else, but I think it was worth it.  If I had anyone else do the job, I would have probably died on YJ because of something I did not know about.  My frame was cracked.  Yup, right under the seat covered up by the rubber bumper for the tank.  I knew YJ had been a little loose and thought it was due to a swingarm bearing which I planned to do when I replaced my shock.
He ended up bracing and welding the frame and you pretty much can't tell.  He primed and painted it too.
As for the brackets, he did an interesting thing.  He took the forward mounting pieces off each bracked and swapped them to the opposite side.  That gave each bracket about another 2" of clearence from the frame adn allowed him to mount them without having to cut my plastic rail covers under my seat.  Everythign including the wiring is done so I can remove the brackets if  ever need to.  I can still ride without the bags though if I need to as well.  He also cut the rear tabs off and moved them forward about 4", rotated tehm 45 degrees and put a 90 degree tab in them (I think I got the math right) so the mount directly to the grab rail mounting holes under the seat.  Again, it looks perfectly stock.

The bad news is that it cost almost 3 times my original estimate of 100 to 120.00!!  Most of the cost was due to the crack in the frame becasue he has to strip off most of the seat, tank, fender, battery and everything else.  He's one of the only local shops that insurance companies will let do frame repair and I have a lifetime (not sure if its mine or the bikes) warranty.  YJ is in it with me for the long haul.

Heres some pics for your viewing pleasure:



















David

[YellowJacket!]

Oh... forgot to mention.  While I was at the shop, one fo the guys that was interested in YJ came in.  He collects bikes and has quite a few Ymahas.  He was really impressed with YJ and wanted to know if I would sell her.  I went ahead and said $5000.00 and he countered with $4000.00!  No deal.  I'm tellin y'all....these bikes are worth way more than we think!  I've got his number in case I change my mind, come to my senses, or my wife kicks the crap out of me.

David

[h2olawyer]

Looks great, David!  Glad he caught the cracked frame.  At least now, the only cracked part of your bike is the rider!  (cheesy)

Even at the final price, it is reasonable for the amount of work he did.

I agree that these bikes are becoming more valuable all the time.  The ROV has gone a long ways in overcoming the stigma the Vision got from the early 80s motorcycle press.

H₂O

[funkamongus]

sssaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhwwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!!

[inanecathode]

I just took a big hammer and clearance'd those brackets that go to the passenger pegs, put in a longer bolt, and a nut. Did he move the bags back or out at all? Looks like theres alot of gap there now.

[YellowJacket!]

He bent the lower brackets out a bit so they fit between the peg and the peg mount rather than the peg mount and the nut.  They were rubbing on the swingarm on one side when mounted on the inside.  He also cut the front mounts off and flipped them from side to side. left is now right and right is left whic gives them the clearnence.  From a clearnece standpoint they fit perfectly with the standard turn signal mounts. Kenny's um, I mean KEVIN's shorties were actually too short and hit the spring loaded lock.  Finally, he moved the rear mounting tab forward about 3" and turned it sideways and put a 90 degree bend in it to give the rear part clearnece.  It matched up perfectly with the lift handle mounting hole on each side.  He got everything to fit so good that there was only about an 8th of an inch that he had to scrape off the side plastic to get it to line up perfect.
I think I have more pics I can post that tell a better story.

David

[YellowJacket!]

The gap between the bag and the plastic rail is 1.75".  Looks like a lot but its really not and gives me room to open the seat if I have to.

David

[Night Vision]

Kevin's shorties...