The experiment starts innocently enough. I want to get rid of the afterthought of rear license plate holder, into something more sophisticated. Basically, I want to lose 1.4% of bike weight. I do feel bad as I peer down to take this photo. It's like a graveyard of unfilled dreams. No matter, out with that rubbish!
Will I am not totally prudish about 100% legal, I would like to attempt to seem somewhat legitimate. That means find a tail tidy with a license plate light. I also fancy ease of install and factory appearance. Amd if you recollect a few posts ago, I've chopped off the Dinosaur egg-sized front blinkers and now need to ditch the rear blinkers too (more on that later). With that, I select the Rizoma Bike Specific Tail Tidy Fender Eliminator Kit - Part # PT227B. Boy, did I underestimate the install for this project.
We probably accessorize one bike annually, and have a full garage with a lift. And this project somehow sucked nearly 2 full days by the time it was said and done. My biggest complaint about the kit is that Rizoma must use some of these components on multiple bikes, therefore they leave the final (and TEDIOUS!) assembly of components to you. Secondly, if you notice the big holes on the blinker mounts in the above photo. They are there for a reason--there is just too much variation from bike to bike. And Rizoma does not have a enough "slop" in the baseplate mount, which left me to some creative work arounds to get it mount. And they are itty bitty hardware that are basically hard to reach without dropping them 1000 times. And none of the hardware is captive, so you need to hold both sides incredibly odd angles and tight spots to get it assembled.
We probably accessorize one bike annually, and have a full garage with a lift. And this project somehow sucked nearly 2 full days by the time it was said and done. My biggest complaint about the kit is that Rizoma must use some of these components on multiple bikes, therefore they leave the final (and TEDIOUS!) assembly of components to you. Secondly, if you notice the big holes on the blinker mounts in the above photo. They are there for a reason--there is just too much variation from bike to bike. And Rizoma does not have a enough "slop" in the baseplate mount, which left me to some creative work arounds to get it mount. And they are itty bitty hardware that are basically hard to reach without dropping them 1000 times. And none of the hardware is captive, so you need to hold both sides incredibly odd angles and tight spots to get it assembled.
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My other minor nit is that for the really.expensive. price point it certainly should have included the 4 dang bolts to hold your license plate. But after much toiling, I finally enjoy success.
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