ST rear fender surgery

["Lance LaCerte, Psy.D." <LACPSYD@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Eric just posted the pics I sent him of the chop job I did on the rear of my
'99 ST  (Martin are you paying attention?).   He also suggested that I
include how I accomplished it, so here goes:

All work was done with the fender on the bike.  I purchased a pair of
Lockhart aftermarket short stalk turn signals (see pics) for $15.00 from my
local scoot shop.  I pulled apart the stock ST turn signals and cut the
connectors off of them, then cut off the connectors on the Lockhart and
soldered the ST connectors onto the Lockharts so that they would push right
into the ST wiring harness outlets for the turn signals.

I held the stocks of the Lockharts up against the sides of the fender just
below the painted tail section to get an idea of how much of the fender I
could chop and still leave an area to which I could mount the turn signals.
Using a drill bit slightly larger than the turnsignal threaded stock, I
drilled through the side of the fender and continued through into the
plastic squared section under the seat (the open area under the seat release
mechanism where you can store some small items).  I then threaded the wiring
through (thread the nut through the wiring first) and tightened up the
tailights.

Using a ruler (also used to measure equal distances from the tail section to
ensure that the new turn signals were equidistant on the sides) I traced,
with a thin magic marker, a perimeter line just below the stalks of the new
turns signals.  This would become my 'chop line'.  I actually then removed
the new turn signals so I wouldn't damage them.  Using the REINFORCED
cutting wheel on my Dremel, I cut off the 'bulbous mass'.

I went to Home Depot and found a rectangular piece of galvanized roofing
flashing for something like 29 cents that was slightly bigger than my
license plate.  I traced the plate on the flashing and cut it/rounded it to
the exact size of the license plate.  I drilled the two upper holes of the
plate into the flashing piece.  I then popped out the rectangular reflector
still left on the remaining section of tail piece.  This exposed two holes
which I measured and transfered their measurements to the license plate
mouting piece (the flashing) and drilled two corresponding holes---- I
figured the postion of these two holes by holding the license plate directly
up under the tail light to ensure a snug fit.  Using two flat headed nylon
screws with nuts I affixed the backing plate through the two 'relfector
holes' and then used two wing nuts to attach the license plate to the
affixed backing plate.

Voila!!!! -- a basically simple task, with, what I believe are striking
results --- what a great rear end!!!!

Lance LaCerte, Denver, CO




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