Rear fender removal

[major911]

So I come out of the restaurant tonight, get on the spyder start it up put in reverse and I hear this racket behind me. I immediately get off to investigate the sound and find that my license plate bracket is rubbing against the rear tire. Seems that the whole rear fender is pushed in a little bit and is making contact with the tire. No scrapes or other damage to indicate that another vehicle might have bumped into the back of me. Surely they would have broken the tag light assembly if they would have hit it hard enough to bend the fender in. My only other guess is that someone must have tried to stand on the fender. At any rate I managed to bend it back out enough so that it wasn't rubbing and made it home. So now i'm thinking I have 3 options. Replace the fender assembly (don't even want to guess what that will cost me), remove the fender and try to bend everything back as best I can, or remove the fender all together. I've seen pictures of spyders with the rear fender removed and it doesn't look bad. Just curious whether anyone on here has done it and if so where did you relocate the license plate and light and are there any negative aspects with this?

 

[arntufun]

Only one negative with removing the fender......... Your passenger will get a slight spray on his/her back from the rear tire when the road is wet. The spray is not enough to affect the driver even when riding solo.

Other than that, it's great !!!!!!!!! :thumbup:

 

[major911]

Only one negative with removing the fender......... Your passenger will get a slight spray on his/her back from the rear tire when the road is wet. The spray is not enough to affect the driver even when riding solo.

Other than that, it's great !!!!!!!!! :thumbup:

Can you tell me where you got that tag bracket in the photo from?

 

[NancysToy]

No matter whether you saw marks or not, I suspect someone hit you...unless your fender brackets cracked and you didn't notice. If you have the right coverage, you may want to contact your insurance company. If the fender was pushed downward, it could easily have been hit by a high bumper, without damaging the light.

 

[arntufun]

Can you tell me where you got that tag bracket in the photo from?

This is the bracket I have.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/UNIVERSAL-M...Parts_Accessories&hash=item257133ec61&vxp=mtr




These are the bolt lights I use that make it legal. The bracket above comes with a light, but it isn't any good. Use these below and reroute the wire that runs to the current plate location now. You can find these cheaper, but they come from China so it will be a few weeks before you get them

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2pcs-White-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item2323062cc7&vxp=mtr


If you are going to do this, set your rear shock on the stiffest setting so you don't rip it off when you hit a pothole. MR Orange did it a different way if you have a sport rack.

 

[DrewNJ]

We have done two RS's with the zx14 fender now and there is no way I'd consider going back to the stock rear fender.
http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/showthread.php?42475-ZX14-Rear-Fender
It also makes it super easy to clean the wheel...

I do my very best to avoid rain.....and I've never personally been caught in any significant rain so I can't comment much, but my friend has been caught a few times recently and he says it's not that bad and well worth the trade off for as little as you see the wet stuff.

Personally, it's a bad day if I'm riding in the rain, period...the passenger getting rain spray on their back is of little concern..haha.

 

[Diamond R]

I just had to purchase a rear fender for our 2012 RT, surprisingly it only cost $159.00

enjoy the ride
Allen & Patti

 

[ARtraveler]

If you are going to replace the rear fender, you might consider the Corbin fender. It is lighted instead of reflectored. Cost $289 currently.

 

[5PYD3R]

I did this pretty much for free. Used stock license plate bolts to bolt underneath. Only thing I bought was the LED light you see above the plate to light it. I believe I paid like $3 for two!

 

[NancysToy]

I did this pretty much for free. Used stock license plate bolts to bolt underneath. Only thing I bought was the LED light you see above the plate to light it. I believe I paid like $3 for two!



View attachment 60182

Be careful. To the best of my knowledge a license plate must be displayed with the lettering horizontal and the plate itself vertical in Michigan.

 

[5PYD3R]

Be careful. To the best of my knowledge a license plate must be displayed with the lettering horizontal and the plate itself vertical in Michigan.

already been pulled over and no problems with the license plate the way it is or even with having no fenders! Guess it stays as is LOL

 

[major911]

If you do a search for rear fender removal you'll get lots of threads on the topic. I'm sure someplace in there are photos of my Spyder. I'll post them to this thread when I get off work in the morning as I don't have access to my photos at work.

Thanks Mr orange. I always forget to check the threads first.:dontknow: After i posted this I found a slew of threads on this topic including your pics. I think I'm gonna go fenderless. I ordered a bracket from ebay that mounts on the swingarm. I'll make sure to drill the bolts clean thru and put lock nuts on the back to account for the vibration and a couple of LED tagbolts for the light. I like the look of this particular mount and I don't have to worry about my rear shock settings or riding two up with the plate getting ripped to shreds. Just waiting for the parts to come in then I'll see just how involved the operation is

 

[NancysToy]

already been pulled over and no problems with the license plate the way it is or even with having no fenders! Guess it stays as is LOL

As long as the same guy pulls you over next time...LOL. It is a C.S. bust, anyway, but you never know when a LEO may be in a bad mood. Better to be pleasantly surprised that you didn't get a ticket, than to be surprised to get one.

 

[Riker]

Here's mine with the fender removed..