New DIY Floorboards, Cheap TPMS, Daylight visible turn indicators +more (Many Pix)

I've had this bike for a few months now and I thought I would get around to posting some of my mods here.

Floorboards.

I've been looking to do some floorboards for quite a while, I finally got around to fabricating a pair made from 1/4" diamondplate aluminum. I got the aluminum when I had some chocks for the trailer made a couple of months ago at a local sheetmetal shop. I probably paid about 20-30 for the material, not quite sure since it was one price for everything. Add in about 20-30 for hardware and the rubber and its about 50-60 for the boards total.

Started out with making two templates out of plywood. Much easier to play with this then the metal itself.



I wanted the boards to be very stiff and stable. I had asked for them to be made in 1/4" diamond plate but they did them in 1/8" so I went with those. When you are working with a commercial shop, you dont want to be a pain in the butt, so I'm very flexible in turnaround time and such so they keep working with me.



I wanted these boards to span the front footpegs as well as have support all the way in the back. I was going to use an L brace to hold it to the slot for the rear foot rests but got an idea in the hardware store about using a large bolt and then some hard rubber to act as the mount and provide some more vibration isolation. I ended up ordering a 4" square of hard rubber off amazon as well as some 5" long 1/2" stainless carriage bolts. I bolted the carriage bolts in from the back and secured it with a stainless washer and nut.

I first drilled two 1/2" holes in the rubber block on the drill press and then cut the block on the bandsaw. I trimmed the length of the block a bit so I had enough screw thread left to put a lock nut on.



At this stage I had already cut the diamond plate and smoothed the edges from the bandsaw. I then drilled 4 holes in each rubber block as accurately as I could on the drill press so I could use the blocks as the template for marking the aluminum.



End part 1

I decided that I wanted to use some aluminum on the bottom of the rear bracket as well to spread out the load of the 4 screws holding it together. Some scrap aluminum was cut on the bandsaw and then drilled using the black rubber blocks as well as the aluminum boards themselves as templates.



In keeping with the vibration isolation theme, I had some extra 1/4 rubber from an old project that I used on top of each footpeg.



All the holes drilled in the diamond plate were chamfered so the heads of the bolts would fit as flush as possible. It's not always possible to drill the holes so you land between the diamonds, thats life. But the screws are essentially flush with the top. The nuts on the bottom are all locknuts. I may have to do some trimming on the back ones, they are a bit long.



Boards in place, very sturdy.

Cheap TPMS

Got this for around 50 on Amazon. Probably uses same sensors as FOBO. Display can be charged by usb or sunlight. Very happy with it, lets me keep track of the pressures.



Bright LED turn indicators.

These are visible in bright sunlight. Probably about 8 bucks each on Amazon. Small green LED with chrome bezel about 1/4" diameter.


GPS sunshade.

This was made from some plastic that is commonly used for things like knife sheaths. It is flexible when heated but when cool, retains the shape it was when warm. I added a 12v outlet in the dash and the gps is a common garmin nuvi with the ram mount system. Bike is always stored indoors, I suppose if it rains, I'll just pull it off. You can also see the ram cup holder on the left.

Nice job! I love stuff like this. Joe

:bowdown::bowdown: :firstplace::firstplace::firstplace:

This is totally awesome. I've been thinking about floorboards since I got my 2016 RT in Jan. Even thinking about turning out my own, but didn't know where to start. You fixed that problem for me with this post, so thank you for that alone.

But I also have a question as I'm very interested in the sun shade you made. Can you give any more detail on that plastic you used? I'm very handy with making things, but I've usually stuck with wood, so this plastic you speak of is totally alien to me. I'm willing to research how to work with it etc... I just need a starting point for my focus.

Thanks for this post and any help you can give me on that plastic.

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Originally Posted by Rishathra

This is totally awesome. I've been thinking about floorboards since I got my 2016 RT in Jan. Even thinking about turning out my own, but didn't know where to start. You fixed that problem for me with this post, so thank you for that alone.

But I also have a question as I'm very interested in the sun shade you made. Can you give any more detail on that plastic you used? I'm very handy with making things, but I've usually stuck with wood, so this plastic you speak of is totally alien to me. I'm willing to research how to work with it etc... I just need a starting point for my focus.

Thanks for this post and any help you can give me on that plastic.

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Thanks for the kind words. The plastic is called Kydex and it's available in sheets like 12x12 or 12x16 in varying quantities. Just search on Kydex on Amazon and you'll find plenty. I think I bought a 4 sheet pack of the 12x12 for 20 bucks when I did it last year. The GPS was originally mounted on my Silverwing, but when I got the Spyder I moved it to that bike. Since I decided to keep the Silverwing as well, I got another cheapo Nuvi for it with the same type of mount, but haven't made a new sunshade for it. Here are a couple of the photos I took when I made it:



If you have any more questions, then just let me know.

I got this backrest as a present last year and finally got around to putting it on the seat. Wasn't the easiest install I ever did, and I did look at videos online to see what was needed.

This is the backrest that is sold by big bike parts. It is not the quick remove version, although if the parts are cheap enough, I may get them and convert it. Most of the instructions are easy enough to follow, but where I had some problems was after I cut the top of the seat and put the connecting bar inside. I couldn't get it to go in far enough or get the holes close enough that I could screw the bolts in from the bottom. What I should have done is attach the top part of the mount to this bracket and that would have made it much longer and easier to maneuver. Like most projects, you eventually figure out how to make it work.

And when it was all put together, I tried to raise the seat up on the gas support only to find out I somehow got the bolts in the back tightened up without going through the hinges themselves. And that was after I got it put together without the bushings in the hinges. Live and learn.

How did you get the TPMS not to display the missing sensor?

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Originally Posted by Texas Al

How did you get the TPMS not to display the missing sensor?

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If you disable the sensor not used, eventually the monitor will drop it and only show the three active ones.

In post #3 the very last picture,you show something being held on by a hose clamp. I love hose clamps,you can hold anything anywhere with the right length. That clamp seems to be disappearing into a sheath of some kind down the side of your handlebar. Did you nake that or did you buy it somewhere? Great work on your mods.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pegasus1300

In post #3 the very last picture,you show something being held on by a hose clamp. I love hose clamps,you can hold anything anywhere with the right length. That clamp seems to be disappearing into a sheath of some kind down the side of your handlebar. Did you nake that or did you buy it somewhere? Great work on your mods.

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Paul, that hose clamp is part of a handlebar mount made by RAM.

Thanks Pete.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pegasus1300

Thanks Pete.

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https://www.amazon.com/Mounts-Strap-.../dp/B000WJ9104

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon....1cthoWQ0PL.jpg

complicates a simple idea

Quote:

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Originally Posted by pegasus1300

In post #3 the very last picture,you show something being held on by a hose clamp. I love hose clamps,you can hold anything anywhere with the right length. That clamp seems to be disappearing into a sheath of some kind down the side of your handlebar. Did you nake that or did you buy it somewhere? Great work on your mods.

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Thanks. Thats a RAM mount from Amazon as mentioned previously.

Eviltwin, thank you for the information on that plastic you used. I'll have to give that material a try myself on some of my Spyder projects.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rishathra

Eviltwin, thank you for the information on that plastic you used. I'll have to give that material a try myself on some of my Spyder projects.

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You're welcome. We took the bike as our "toad" and put about 400 miles on her tooling around PA near Gettysburg. Absolutely love having the floorboards instead of the pegs. Much more comfortable since you can move your feet around.

I may relocate the GPS and TPMS display with one of those brackets that mounts on top of the dash, it would be nicer to have it more line of sight that looking down. Also need to order the kit to make the backrest a quick release, wife wasn't having it on the trip so I had to remove it completely for her.

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, but Eviltwin seems to still be active and helping others...

Two questions:
1. Do you still have those plywood templates? If so, would you trace them on paper and send the paper to me? I will gladly pay postage. I can send you my address via PM.
2. On the rear, you just slipped a bolt through that slot, correct? I just want to make sure that I understand how it is mounted.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tonylmiller

Sorry for dragging up an old thread, but Eviltwin seems to still be active and helping others...

Two questions:
1. Do you still have those plywood templates? If so, would you trace them on paper and send the paper to me? I will gladly pay postage. I can send you my address via PM.
2. On the rear, you just slipped a bolt through that slot, correct? I just want to make sure that I understand how it is mounted.

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I may, let me check.

On the rear, it is a large carriage bolt, but it goes into a rubber square that I drilled a hole for the bolt to pass through. I got the rubber as a block off of Amazon and cut it to size. IIRC I drilled the holes on the drill press first and then cut them apart. That made the block a bit more stable to drill.

Better view of the underside:


Rear mount with the rubber sleeve:


Plate for bottom of rear mount:


Better view of the rubber mounts for the rear:


Cutting the rubber block on the bandsaw

Thanks, looks like you just ran the bolt through the slot for the rear passenger floorboards. Good to know.
I just had an idea. If you could trace your templates, or the finished products, and take a flat picture with a ruler on the long dimensions, I could just print it and scale it correctly. Probably easier than mailing it.

:clap::clap::clap: .... I DIY'ed the floorboards on 1`4 RT .... similar to yours ..... Make sure the BRAKE Pedal is able to achieve MAX pressure when depressed. The OEM system allows the floor board to actually move downwards a bit in an absolute Panic stop. Very nice work ..... Mike :thumbup:

This is the side with the brake pedal:



I'll see what I can do about measuring the actual floor boards. At the time I wanted to get 1/4" diamond tread, but ended up with 1/8" which turns out was fine in terms of strength. Since the boards are supported on either end, there is no flex to worry about.

This is the rubber block I bought off Amazon for the rear mounts:



Carriage bolts are stainless, something like this should work:



I'll try and get the measurements a bit later.