chaz Posted November 17 #1 Posted November 17 I do like “older” fully original bikes, but modifying them by adding subtle and fitting accessories are what makes motorcycling so much fun for me. Meet my 1991 XV13TD, fully revised by the previous owner and now under my care. Having had a chopper / cruiser obsession I have now switched interests on big tourer bikes.. This mark 2 is fully functional, complete and drives really well imho. I found a set of original GL1500 smoke tinted Baker Built Air Wings and retrofitted them to my mark 2 with the supplied hardware. Really takes the wind away from the knees and lower legs, this along with simple highway pegs and a shorter antenna which used to be on my dad’s Street Glide. It’s cold and windy winter weather here and can’t wait for long cross country rides in the sun with nice temperatures! Next to mods like a cigarette lighter socket, phone and nav system mount, USB charging ports and a bluetooth FM transmitter, are there any mods fellow riders cannot live without that you can recommend me? Greetings from NL
Marcarl Posted November 17 #2 Posted November 17 Some of us have been known in the past to have put a nut on the seat. It's not an easy task but can be done if the back seat stays empty or just used for cargo. Besides that would be a drivers back rest
luvmy40 Posted November 18 #3 Posted November 18 I had a set of studs fabricated to replace the handle bar mounting nuts that extended inward and provide a couple places for bar mounted accessories. I found them to be well worth the effort.
chaz Posted November 19 Author #4 Posted November 19 Drivers seat rest with the same original upholstery would be an epic find @Marcarl 😄 I am still on the lookout for the plastic engine vent rightside. @luvmy40, smart, cause there’s such little space to mount stuff.. Thanks for the input!
Marcarl Posted November 19 #5 Posted November 19 4 hours ago, chaz said: Drivers seat rest with the same original upholstery would be an epic find @Marcarl 😄 I am still on the lookout for the plastic engine vent rightside. @luvmy40, smart, cause there’s such little space to mount stuff.. Thanks for the input! Got one of those vents, but it's still attached to the bike.
saddlebum Posted November 20 #6 Posted November 20 I would swap out the highway pegs for a set of Kurykan Longhorns. Make sure you get the smaller one inch diameter clamps. 1
cimmer Posted November 21 #7 Posted November 21 Some of the upgrades I have done include Progressive Springs for the front forks, replacing hydraulic lines with steel braid hoses, new horns wired to the battery via a relay wired to the horn button, and replacing the original coils with COPs, Coil on Plug and LED headlight. Check out the Tech Library section on the forum for a while list of ideas and a lot of how to do them in there. You can also do a search here in this forum for information on what others have done in the past. Hope this helps, Rick F.
Chaharly Posted November 21 #8 Posted November 21 I second Cimmer on the progressive springs. I replaced the horns. Instead of running an FM bluetooth adapter, I gutted the cassette player, wired in bluetooth directly to the inputs on the cassette player and wired an on-off switch to play the bluetooth over the radio. In the spot of the old cassette player, I bought an abs plastic sheet, screwed it into place where the cassette player used to go. I mounted my on-off switch for the bluetooth and mounted it on the sheet, mounted the bluetooth adapter, and mounted a three way switch for my aftermarket heated grips. You'll find you'll want to ride in the winter more with a full fairing bike, and the heated grips make a WORLD of difference! The rest of the bike is pretty much stock. One mod you may want to do if you're only getting mid 30s to 37 on the highway is to drop the emulsion needles on the slides further into the carbs. It leans the mixture and you'll pull 40s doing 65 all day with no wind
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