First ride of the year!

First ride of the year! #yamahabolt #motorcycle #bobber #gopro #ridingseason #cruiser #spring #yamaha #video #ride #firstrideoftheyear #motorcycling #xv950

Video, jonka Webbiker (@web_biker) julkaisi 2. 04ta 2016 klo 6.04 PDT

The flipped mirrors work! The custom made riser bushing also seem to be a success. Some vibrations come through, but nothing that will likely bother me. The Puig screen works as intended. not perfect protection, but a good compromise.

Acrapovic exhaust sound on Yamaha Bolt

With and without DB-killer.

The DB-killer for the Acrapovic pipe for Yamaha Bolt

Yamaha Bolt riser bushings / washers - the final solution

The custom made washers (4) have finally been installed and the handlebars now have virtually no play at all. The effects on vibrations is a big question at this point as test riding is not possible due to the sub zero temperatures.

Below you can see the amount of play before the installation

Top down view on how the bars are now

UPDATE [16.8.2016]

Picture courtesy of SS Custom Cycle

Just a heads up. It seems that SS custom cycle has these for sale now so you don't need to have ones made when installing taller bars or risers. SS Custom Cycle website

3rd person GoPro motorcycle mount

I have long wanted to fabricate a 3rd person motorcycle GoPro mount, but I haven't been able to come up with a reasonably portable and elegant solution on my previous bikes. With the Bolt, the mount could finally be doable due to the sissy bar of the Bolt providing an excellent rigid and elevated mounting point.

The mount

The mount is essentially an inverted camera monopod. The GoPro bar mount is attached to the rubber end of the monopod and the monopod is zip tied to the sissy bar. By doing it this way the height and orientation of the camera is fully adjustable. On the shaft of the monopod I have zip tied several silicon hoses to dampen vibrations and ad friction between the sissy bar and the monopod. The monopod attaches very securely with only 2 zip ties.

I haven't been able to test the rig yet and it seems I wont be for some time as winter has descended. I'll get back to this when the weather allows it.

The monopod is zip tied to the sissy bar. The sissy bar has silicon hoses zip tied to it to prevent scratching, dampen vibrations and prevent the monopod from moving.

Monopod extended half way