Underwear for the V-Strom

Rev. Brian posted a comment on my previous posting "Summer, Seats, and Stelvio" and included that he was trying to decide between getting the OEM under cowling or a real skid plate.  I started writing a reply and then figured it would make a good posting, since it's been a while since I've added anything to the blog.  This, of course, then reminded me that I never made a post after attending the International Motorcycle Show in Dallas, TX last month, so that's something else to add.  Look for that soon.

Anyway, back to Rev. Brian's conundrum.  Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that the following is merely my opinion based on my experience and observations, be they correct or wildly not.  Much of it is supposition, because I have direct experience only with the OEM under cowling.  If you have better information from which Rev. Brian can benefit, then please leave a comment.  Flames or trolling will be deleted with extreme prejudice.  It is my blog, after all.  :-)

So for those of you who have not read his comment, Rev. Brian is planning an adventure to the Black Hills in June and is trying to decide what kind of underwear to buy his V-Strom.  My advice is to take a good hard look at the type of riding that you intend to do, and then purchase the appropriate item to meet that use case.

For me, very little, if any, of my riding is going to be off-road.  If I do go off-road, it will most likely be limited to fire roads or groomed gravel.  Certainly nothing requiring a 4x4 vehicle, so the risk of high-centering (maxing out the bike's clearance) or sliding over rocks/logs and needing to protect the exhaust pipe or engine casing is practically zero.  In my use case, the OEM under cowling should be adequate protection from any road debris that might get kicked up and threaten the oil filter and/or exhaust pipe.

Seeing as how Rev. B is going to be visiting the Black Hills, I would hazard a guess that he may see some off-road action during his trip.  Even so, the OEM under cowling may be adequate if sticking to roads such as those I described above.

Givi makes a belly pan that I think offers a level of protection between the OEM under cowling and a skid plate.  It's also quite cost effective at $160.99 from OneidaSuzuki.com.

It appears to be a light-weight aluminum belly pan that I think can be mounted without engine guards/crash bars.  It seems like it would provide a bit more off-road protection than the OEM under cowling, but not quite as much as a skid plate.  Having not seen one in person, I can't really comment on just how durable it is.  From posts on Stromtrooper.com, it seems to be fairly durable in light off-road duty.  I still think the OEM under cowling looks better on the V-Strom, but this option might look better with a coat of matte black paint or spray-on rubberized truck bed liner.

Another option that doesn't require engine guards/crash bars is the SW-Motech skid plate, which is available at TwistedThrottle.com for $259.99.

Some posts I have read showed concern for the fact that it attaches directly to the engine case and may potentially cause greater damage than the protection it provides.  I believe that the concept is that the mounting struts are designed to flex in the event of an impact, absorbing some of the energy.  This is SW-Motech's bread and butter, so I'd like to think that they thought this through and did some testing to make sure that impacts to the skid plate would not bust up the engine case.  Maybe I'm just too optimistic.

There are other skid plate options as well -- Hepco & Becker, AltRider, and many more that can be found on Stromtrooper.com -- that require engine guards/crash bars to be installed.  These are probably the strongest solutions, but I guess it all boils down to how the skid plate connects to the crash bars.  It would be interesting to see some crash testing done to find out how each solution performs and up to what impact levels.  The skid plates alone are probably on par with the SW-Motech, but then you have to factor in the cost of the engine guards/crash bars if you don't already have any.

So I guess to summarize, I would rank these as follows:

• On-Road Only -- OEM under cowling is definitely adequate; expensive but looks great
• Light Off-Road -- OEM under cowling is probably adequate; the Givi belly pan would be better, less expensive, but not as factory-looking
• Light to Medium Off-Road -- Givi belly pan on the lighter end; SW-Motech on the medium end; both have that after-market add-on look
• Serious Off-Road -- skid plate incorporated with engine guards/crash bars; after-market add-on or bad-ass adventure look, your choice

Remember, this is just my opinion based on what I've read and what I think about a product based on its manufacturer's description.  Rev. Brian, I hope you found this to be somewhat helpful in making your decision on what to get.

Installing the OEM Hand Guards and Raising the Windscreen

The next items up are the Suzuki OEM hand guards, which also came from www.oneidasuzuki.com.  While not as robust as the Barkbusters, they're also not as expensive and serve my intended purpose, which is primarily to keep small road debris off my hands as well as the cold winter winds when it actually gets cold here in Texas.  Having installed the OEM under cowling already, I've come to the conclusion that Suzuki's accessory installation instructions are actually quite good.  They even include mentioning the one thing of note when installing the OEM hand guards is this:  Loosen the screw holding the bar end weight, but do not remove the screw completely.  You only need to loosen the screw enough so that you can pull the whole bar end weight assembly from the handlebar.  If you do remove the screw all the way, it is quite likely that you will push the nut further into the handlebar, making it very difficult to remove.  I actually learned this lesson the hard way when I was helping a friend install these on his '09 V-Strom.

Bar End Weight Assembly Removed

Tools Used:

• Phillips Head Screw Driver
• 10mm socket
• Adjustable Wrench

Time to Install: ~1 hour

Starting with the left (clutch) side, I removed the clutch lever pivot pin by first removing the nut and then unscrewing the pivot pin.  From what I can tell, the nut on the bottom primarily serves to lock the pivot pin in place, but should the nut come off for whatever reason, the pivot pin would not simply pull free.  The stock pivot pin will not be re-used.

Clutch Pivot Pin Nut

With the pivot pin removed, it's a simple matter of rotating it so that the clutch cable comes out of the groove in the end of the lever, freeing the cable stop.

End of the Clutch Lever where the cable inserts.

The next step is to remove the cable from the lever mount and tension adjuster.  I removed the tension adjuster completely by unscrewing it from the lever mount, but as it turns out, this was not necessary.  All you really need to do is line up the slots to pull the cable free, and then pull the cable housing from the end of the adjuster screw.  By not removing the adjuster, you won't have to re-adjust the tension on the clutch cable when you re-assemble everything.

Clutch Cable Adjuster with grooves lined up.
Cable housing inserts at the top.

With the clutch cable free, remove the stock boot and replace it with the boot included with the Hand Guards.  The stock boot will not be re-used.

Clutch Cable with new boot.

Using the replacement clutch-side pivot pin, re-assemble the clutch lever.  (Be sure you press in the sensor switch before you try inserting the clutch lever, or it will not go in.  This is the safety switch that will prevent you from starting the engine unless the clutch lever is pulled in.)  The replacement pivot pin will screw in just like the stock pivot pin.  The washer and spacer go on the bottom side of the lever.  Re-use the stock nut.  There isn't any need to use Locktite as the nut has an e-clip to prevent it from backing off.

Clutch-side Replacement Pivot Pin
Note the spacer that only goes on this side.

Replacement Pivot Pin installed 

Washer, Spacer, and Stock Nut

With the replacement pivot pin in place, it is time to install the clutch-side hand guard.  Before doing so, you need to remove the bar end weight assembly as described above.  Loosen the screw about 4 turns, just enough to ease the pressure on the compression nut.  Then work it side-to-side while pulling on the weight until it pops out.  It took a good amount of pulling before mine came out.  Now disassemble the bar end weight assembly completely, and re-assemble it using the included screw, which is much shorter than the stock screw.  Insert the screw into the bar end weight, then slide on the included spacer with the smaller diameter end towards the weight, then the stock washer and finally the stock compression nut.  The stock screw and aluminum sleeve spacer will not be re-used.  Insert the newly re-assembled bar end weight assembly into the handlebar but do not tighten yet.

Re-assembled Bar End Weight Assembly

Take the left (clutch) side hand guard, and mount it on the pivot pin.  There's a hole in the top that goes over the top of the pivot pin, and a slot that will go around the bottom of the pivot pin.

Top of Clutch-side Hand Guard

Secure the top of the hand guard using the included washer and cap nut.  The outside of the hand guard will snap into place in the groove provided by the smaller end of the spacer.  With the end of the hand guard snapped into place, tighten the bar end weight assembly screw to tighten the compression nut, holding the assembly in the handle bar.

Bar End Weight Assembly with Hand Guard

Finally, secure the bottom of the hand guard to the pivot pin using the supplied washer and nut.  Again, this nut has an e-clip in it to prevent it from back off by itself.

Installing the right (brake) side hand guard is essentially the same process, so I won't go into the whole process again.  This side is actually easier, because you do not have to remove any cables, just replace the pin on the brake lever.  The key difference is that the replacement pivot pin is different and uses a screw to secure the top of the hand guard.  The top is a little crowded due to the cable assembly, but I was able to rotate them upward enough to remove the stock pivot pin and insert the replacement pivot pin.

Brake-side Replacement Pivot Pin Installed 

Top of Brake-side Pivot Pin with Threaded Hole for Screw 

Installing the Brake-side Hand Guard is a little trickier, because both the top and the bottom are slotted, so you have to hold the guard in place while trying to get the screw to go in.  It might be a little easier to start the screw first, but you still would have to contend with the washer.  Be sure the push the hand guard into place while tightening the screw as the screw will want to squeeze the hand guard out of position.  Do not overtighten the screw, and you shouldn't have this problem.

Screw and Washer Securing Top of Brake-side Hand Guard

Nut and Washer Securing the Bottom

The torque values on these nuts are very low, so it should be enough to tighten them until they are nice and snug.  I used my torque wrench on the first two and despite using the recommended values, I think they still may have started to strip before I even got the click.  So for the rest of them, I simply got them nice and snug.  Fortunately, we're not dealing with engine mounting bolts or anything like that.  The pivot pins are screwed in and the nuts are for locking purposes.  Even then, they're captured by the hand guards themselves and then locked into place by the nuts securing the hand guards, so I don't think there's any real danger if any of the nuts did strip.  The hand guards seem to be attached quite securely, and the levers work as well as before the installation.

The other thing I wanted to do was to raise the windshield from the stock middle position to the top position.  The wind seems to be directed towards the top 1/3 of my helmet, resulting in quite a bit of buffeting and noise.  Despite that, it's still better than what I got on my Ninja 650R, which was the air blast directed at my shoulders and a lot of noise from under the helmet and from being totally in the air flow.

Tools Used:

• 3mm Hex Driver

Time to Install:  ~ 10 minutes

Removal is a simple matter of loosening the four screws using a 3mm hex driver and pulling the wind shield free.

Windshield Removed

After removing the windshield, I removed the four plugs from the top position holes.  It took a bit of prying around the edges, but they finally came free.

Rubber Plug

Next, I removed the well nuts from the stock middle holes and moved them to the top holes.  I found that they came out and inserted quite easily using a twisting motion.

Well Nut

All that was left to do was position the windshield over the well nuts and tighten the screws.  I finger-tightened them first, centered the windshield, and then tightened the screws until they were snug.  I gave the windshield a good push on the sides to make sure it wasn't going to shift positions.  And that completes the major modifications to the V-Strom for now.

I rolled it out onto the driveway to take a picture in the bright sunshine.

After a couple of rides, I find that I do like the hand guards and new windshield position.  I think they even help with the air flow and noise a little, but it's hard to tell for sure since I also raised the windshield after installing the hand guards.  The air flow seems to have improved with the raising of the windshield.  The noise and buffeting do not seem to be as bad is it was previously, and if I duck my head down a few inches, it all but disappears completely.  I may look into installing one of the MRA X-creens with that extra wing to see if that does the same thing.  That will be a nice change from what I've been used to.

And with that, the only things left to do are to install the brake light wiring for the Givi Maxia 3 and the RAM Mounts for my POV camera.  That will be covered in another posting.

Suzuki OEM Under Cowling and Tank Pad

So last week my remaining two packages arrived -- one containing my Givi Maxia 3 topcase and mounting plate, and the other the Suzuki OEM under cowling, hand guards, and tank pad.  This posting will cover the installation of the under cowling and tank pad.  The latter will pretty much consist of a picture of the finished installation since it's not exactly rocket science.

Many people say that the OEM under cowling isn't worth it, because it doesn't protect the bottom of the bike, is made of plastic, and costs as much as a metal skid plate.  While I do admit that it was a bit of a mental struggle to justify its cost, it suits my needs since I don't plan on doing any off-road riding that would require the additional weight of a metal skid plate.  I just wanted something to protect the oil filter and the front exhaust header that didn't add a lot of weight to the bike.  I considered the Givi belly pan but I think the OEM under cowling integrates with the bike's overall look better.  The best price I found was at www.OneidaSuzuki.com, and they were able to get it to me in 5 days despite being in the path of Superstorm Sandy.

This is a very simple installation, and the Suzuki installation instructions are actually quite good.  Even so, I still find it helpful to have pictures of the actual parts.

Tools Used:

• Philips Head Screw Driver
• Sockets: 8mm, 10mm
• Ratchet
• Hex Driver: 5mm
• Torque Wrench

Time to Install:  ~45 minutes

Center/Front and Right pieces fitted together.

Left piece ready to be fitted.

The under cowl comes in three pieces (left, center/front, right), individually wrapped in foam padded sleeves.  These foam sleeves served a nice dual purpose as layout mats for keeping the parts off of the floor.  The three pieces snap together, which I discovered unintentionally as I was checking their fit, and then secured on either side of the center/front piece by three screws.

The tab from the side piece snaps over the screw post on the center/front piece . 

Notice that the two top screws are shorter than the four bottom screws. 

Here's how it looks fully assembled.

The installation kit includes a neoprene pad that attaches to the under cowling at the top-center.  The pad is peel-and-stick, so it's simply a matter of locating it per the instructions and sticking it on.

There are four (4) rubber grommets that go into the holes where the under cowling connects to the mounting brackets.  It's easiest to insert them from the inside of the cowl by squeezing them flat and inserting the end of the grommet onto the edge inside the hole.  Then it's just a matter of pushing the rest of the grommet in and making sure the sides lay flat on the inside and outside.  There are four (4) aluminum sleeves that then get inserted into each grommet, but I decided not to put those in until I was ready to mount the cowling to the bike.

Now that the under cowling is assembled, it's time to install the mounting brackets on the bike.  The front bracket mounts to two stand-offs on the front cylinder housing using the 10mm socket to drive the two provided bolts.  Be sure to install it with the bar above the bolts as shown below.

The stand-offs are just below the exhaust connection.

Front bracket installed.

Front bracket mounting point.

The lower/side brackets are mounted using the 8mm socket to drive the existing bolts from the clutch cover and generator cover.  The brackets are stamped with "L" and "R" even though it's fairly obvious which one goes where.  The installation instructions say to torque all of these bracket bolts to 10 N-m / 7.0 lbf-ft.

Right side (Clutch) bracket with "R" stamp.

Left side (Generator) bracket with "L" stamp.

Now that the brackets are installed, it's time to mount the under cowling.  Before doing so, it's time to insert the aluminum sleeves into each of the four (4) rubber grommets in the cowling.  It's a simple matter of working it into the opening and sliding it in until it's flush on both sides.

If you are working on the bike with it on the side stand, you will want to start mounting the cowling from the right side.  If you start on the left side, the cowl will want to rotate out under the bike thanks to gravity and flex at the bolt holes.  It seems as though the material is sturdy enough to not crack or anything, but why risk it?  By starting on the right side, it will simply hang on the bolts without any flexing.  I snugged everything up on both sides using the 5mm hex driver and then torqued the bolts according to the installation instructions to 7 N-M / 5.0 lbf-ft.  And here it is installed:

The tank pad installation is quite tricky.  Not.  The package comes with an alcohol wipe with which you can clean the surface.  Then it's simply a matter of eye-balling it where you want to put it.  Again, this is a little more expensive than other aftermarket tank pads, but I like the factory look of it.  Now that I look at it again, I wish I had put it a little further up towards the warning stickers.  Oh well.  It also reminds me that I need to bust out the hair dryer and remove those.

UPDATE:  With regard to removing the stickers, I ended up just letting the bike sit out in the summer sun for about 30 minutes, and that was enough to allow me to gently peel them off without leaving any residue behind.

So that's the OEM Under Cowling and Tank Pad.  Next up is the Givi Maxia 3 top case and mounting plate.