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Suzuki VS 1400 discussion forum:Parts and Accessories |
| Parts and Accessories |
| Mike said 2005-09-28 08:45 |
| Hi all, I have recently made a few changes to, or "customized", my bike and wanted to share a few things with some other intruder owners. First off I should say I bought my bike new in 2002 and love it. It is the blue on black 1400 and has, up until a little over a year or so ago, been completely stock. The only problem I´ve had with it was that the clutch seemed to catch up in 3rd gear. This problem occured shortly after I bought it and was fixed by the dealer free of charge as soon as I took it in. Of course this made me a little leary of its quality for a while but proved to be just a fluke as the dealer had said and assured me. I haven´t had any other issues with preformance since, and it has proven very reliable in many comparison. The only other problem was a parts issue. I lost the steering lock key and couldn´t get a factory replacement. I had to get one made by a lock smith or buy a hole new lock. The specially made key was still much cheeper. As stated, I just recently put a few new accessories and changed a few things on the bike. I first put on a windshield and engine case guards followed by a fork bag and a crome oil filter cover. Function and looks made easy. Those who are holding out because of looks, let me tell you that the windshield is great for highway speed wind deflection and rain or bugs, and can still be removed for all other riding. Some time later I added a tank bib. At that point nothing really to talk about except, I found that accessories are not plentiful for our bike. This is slowly changing though. Recently I replace the stock exhaust with strait pipes. This made quite a difference in sound and changed the looks while also adding a little extra power, something most everyone wants and should do. This installation was pretty easy and depending on which kind of pipes you buy, may not need a re-jet kit. Mine could have gotten away with just an adjustment by the friendly dealer, but I wanted to increase my power a little more. My next addition was the re-jet kit and K&N filters to ensure smooth preformance and add a little more power. I also took off the stock foot controls and added forward foot controls. I love the comfort of the new riding position these have added, and I´m not real tall, but the position is much more comfortable on long distances vise that of the old position from the stock foot controls. This adjustment would not have been to bad if the kit I purchased would have been complete. For those interested in this type of addition, please ask me about my experience, it could be helpful especially in your choice of kits. I also added new hand grips and mastercylinders for added crome. The hand grips are great and were extremely easy to install. I haven´t been on any long trips as of yet but I don´t think vibration will be a problem even without the weighted end caps from the stock grips. The new grips are a little larger in diameter due to the extra large rubber pads and vibration seems to be no different than before. I have recently bought new turn signals, not installed yet, to replace the stock "dumbo ear" signals which should help streamline the over all looks. I will replace these once I get the new risers I´ve ordered, and will let anyone who´s interested know what the result is. To sum it up, I have had a lot of fun with this bike and now that I´ve started customizing it, it´s like having a new toy all over again. Once more accessories become available for these bikes, we may find that more people will start looking to our bikes as a coast effecient replacement to their more expensive, less reliable cruisers. If you haven´t yet made changes to your bike, but are thinking of doing so, I can only say that the search for your custom look is well worth the time and effort and will be proven when you take it out to the next rally. |
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