Engine Guard and New Silencer

3/4 front view - engine guard and muffler

Last December I posted about getting a package from Nfield Gear with an engine guard, Power Commander, and sports muffler that I wanted to install on the Bullet.  After many delays, last Saturday morning I rode the Bullet out to Joe's Cycle to get those things installed.

Last Saturday at 09:00 the temps were right at 36 degrees and I cannot imagine a more miserable experience than riding in those temps.  Doubling up and layering up helped but, even with the glove liners that I got from Cycle Gear last December, my hands burned from the cold.  Luckily, Joe's is not that far from the house so in the end it was doable.  Joe kept the bike over the weekend and called me on Monday, despite the fact that they are closed on Mondays, to tell me that the hardware package I got from Nfield Gear for the muffler did not have the right brackets.  Of course I missed that call and I also missed his call on Tuesday.  I got a hold of him first thing Wednesday morning and he told me that he could fab up some brackets if I didn't want to wait for Nfield Gear to correct the issue.  We went with that route.  Besides all of that, they also did an oil change and a Spring check up to make sure everything was good to go.  He had the bike ready by 16:00 and I headed out there from work to pick it up.

I did not take a big ride, had other things to do that evening, but I came home via West Chester Pike and 252 and the Bullet rode very well.  I think the new muffler and Power Commander combo will make a big difference.

The attached pics are from Wednesday morning when I rode it for my work commute.  I am officially calling 02 April 2015 the beginning of riding season.  Last season I put 2715.5 miles total on the Bullet.  Not bad for a little less than a year.

3/4 front

3/4 rear

Rear port side

Rear starboard

2715.5 miles on 02 April 2015 at 08:32

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Napoleon Bar End Mirrors

The next modification to the Bullet was the installation of a set of Napoleon bar end mirrors from Dime City Cycles.  You can get these in black but I went with chrome to keep with the look of the bike.  These cost me $34.95 a piece.

When I got these on Thursday, I need that installation was not going to be an easy thing.  I looked in youtube to find instructions and that best that I could find was here.  These instructions were for removing the handle bar plugs for a Ninja 250 but I figured that most of it would be translatable.  However, they involved using a torch, which I do not have, and rather than go out and buy trouble I decided to have someone else do it for me.

So, this morning, despite being under the weather, I rode out to Joe's Cycles on West Chester Pike in Broomall. I dropped the bike off and I got a call from Joe about an hour later.  The removal of the plugs would not be an easy unscrew because, according to Joe, they were welded in a had to be drilled out.  Glad that I had enough sense to have them do it rather than try it myself.  The installation cost me a couple of cents under $58.00, which I was glad to pay for not having the aggravation.

The mirrors really change the profile of the bike and make it look much better.  They don't adjust easily, however.  The mirrors and stems are one integral part and the only way to adjust your field of view is to loosen the grip screw and move the mirror around.  I wish I had known that before I bought these because I would have gotten something else instead.

To complete this mod, I added mirror mount plugs from NField Gear to cover the holes left by the removal of the stock mirrors.  These two screw cost me $9.95.

(See the full album on Flickr)

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