Trunk installed onto my 2008 250

[slolane]

Hi All,

I just installed a trunk onto my 250, I wanted to check in to see if anyone had any suggestions. Maybe someone who has done this before could comment on how it worked out over time, what they liked/disliked and may have done differently. I mocked up the install with a small platform to mount it level but just didn't like the look of it so I went ahead and mounted it flat to the rear seat pan on the angle.

I picked up a used rear seat for $20 and a new trunk off eBay for $30, stripped the seat down to the pan and mounted the trunk directly to it. I added some additional metal brackets, fender washers, etc to make the mounting rigid as well as put some weatherstripping under the pan where it is close to the rear fairings. Any additional security suggestions feel free to Private Message me if you want.

I only ride solo now that my wife passed her MSF course and rode this entire year so that's not an issue. Mounting it to another rear seat allows me to swap the stock seat or this trunk on depending on my ride and what I need to bring with me.













If I can find a way to mount some Givi E21's up close to the Ninja 250 rear fairings that can easily be removed I may do that as well. The E21's are small and worked out pretty well on my ZX14:


Thanks!!

[Snake]

I realy like the saddle bags on the ZX14.

[spooph]

BlackBoar over at newninja.com did a very similar thing... He loved it. You're looks primo! I want to do something like this for my ninja, just haven't made the time yet.

[slolane]

@ Snake: Thanks, they worked really well. Actually I recently sold my ZX14 to ride the Ninja 250 full time. After the holidays I'm going to look into the Givi's for the 250, maybe tie into the rear turn signal mount and footpeg bracket... of course I went to the extent of doing the quick release setup on my ZX14 and then never took the bags off once mounted... just so nice to carry everything or get somewhere and dump your gear before going in, nice!

@ spooph: Thank you, I appreciate it. Easy mod, $50-80 total and about 45 minutes to do.

[ride2rideagain]

Bravo....very practical and cost efficient, I love it

[Sailariel]

James, That's a really clean installation. Hard bags for the Ninjette would be nice. I was going in that direction with my Ninja--a pocket sport tourer, when my back couldn't handle the stiff suspension. We looked into installing a different rear shock, but the R&D would have been expensive and the results, inconclusive. I settled on a sports tourer rather than giving up motorcycling. This bike will work out. I took two 100mi trips (with injured back) and had no problem. Yours is the nicest setup I have seen so far. You might consider a 15T sprocket--makes quite a bit of difference for little expense.

[slolane]

@ ride2rideagain: Thanks so much!!

@ Sailariel: Thanks, I went the other way myself… from riding the ZX14 full time to the 250. Sorry to hear about your back but that Honda 700 is SWEET and if it does the trick then that is very good news.

I'm ok with the stock 250 suspension for now. I have already regeared to 15/42 and love it, that along with the bar risers made the bike pretty comfy for me.

I have another front seat that I'm going to tear down and rebuild myself, put new padding in, reshape and then recover. If that doesn't work I will go with the Corbin. I have had Corbins on several bikes and once they are broken in they work well for me, just not as good as a custom. I did really well with building a seat for my ZX14 that was perfect for 400+ mile days.

As far as the saddlebags I will pick up some E-21's after the holidays and get to work on mounting brackets, I'm thinking of using the rear footpeg mounts and rear turn signal mounts as attachment points but really need to get the bags to see exactly. I have some thinking to do here since I have the top case now, I would probably use the saddlebags 4-5 times a year and may just go simple and use soft bags for those few trips. I just would love to be able to have stuff locked and dry.

[Sailariel]

Messing up my back--actually re injuring it was my fault entirely. I was home alone, heard a flapping noise, and it turned out to be some vinyl siding coming loose in a 40mph wind. The boneheaded thing i did was to get on a ladder with hammer and some nails and fix the problem. I fixed it fine. Then a real gust of wind caught me causing me to go down (Not a great distance-18') The mistake I made was trying to catch the ladder. The fall was uneventful. Lesson learned: 69 year olds don't bounce as well as 20 year olds. I am getting better fast. This winter I will rest the back, use the snow blower rather than a shovel, and work out at the Y three days a week. Then in the spring I can enjoy motorcycling and bicycling again.

[slolane]

Wow, that sounds like a pretty bad fall Glad your ok. I have found 36 year olds aren't 20 anymore either, LOL. I'm also a bicyclist, I just joined a local road racing team, did BMX in my teens and early 20's, did a little AutoX car racing (SCCA Solo I and II) but not road bike racing… yet.

[addy126]

I dunno, these trunks attached to sport bikes make em look more like 50cc scooters..... dont like the look myself, but that's just me. Kind of "emasculates" the sportbike image.

[highpsiguy]

I much prefer hard luggage to soft. All my years of Goldwing-n ruined me. I have a fabric cortech tank bag and tail bag which are nice, but I never feel good leaving my bike with gear in them. You tail bag install looks great.

I find it strange that aftermarket people don't look at the lil 250 for serious luggage. My 2002 would make a GREAT tourer if I had the hard bags mounted. I will be following your posts/pics for ideas.

[wild-bill]

I'd like to do that to mine, if I could ever find a used rear seat.

[slolane]

Originally Posted by wild-bill

I'd like to do that to mine, if I could ever find a used rear seat.

There are a few on eBay, they are expecting top dollar but a couple have "best offer" options. I got both of my seats by sending the sellers lower offers which were accepted. Either that or post WTB here on Ninjette, there has to be extra seats floating around with all the members that have the solo cowls. Best of luck to you!

[EVINRUDE]

Thanks for this thread Slolane.
I built a base out of 1/8" 6061 Aluminum. Used nutplates to mount it to the frame cross members until I can source a used (read cheap) seat. Wife has already said and is looking forward to the next warm day.

[spooph]

Evinrude, got any pics of the fabbing? I'm curious on how you mounted it to the frame...

Super clean job, BTW!

[EVINRUDE]

Sorry not many pictures of the fab work, it was done after hours and on lunch breaks at work. Boss is cool about using the equipment provided we bring our own supplies.
Pop the rear seat; I used the two factory holes either side of the lock in front and two either side of the seat tab in the rear. Spacers in front were just over 1" and rear was 3/16".
I can send you some more specific mounting pictures if you wish?

[setasai]

Bolting directly to the frame has to be more secure than using the rear seat and locking mechanism. I would feel much more comfortable knowing that the whole trunk is secured by 4 bolts than a plastic wedge and a pin. Well done Evinrude. A few more pics with different angles would be awesome.

[slolane]

Good stuff EVINRUDE, looks great. After the holidays I will look into using the front mount points as well... that and/or go through the bottom pan with some plates that may tie into a saddlebag mount... we'll see. Again, great job!!

[slolane]

Still didn't make any progress with saddlebags (winter usually has me focused on my Jeep more than my bike, lol) but I decided to firm up the trunk a little more as I didn't want to rely on the stock rear seat pan latch to hold the trunk and it's contents on. I like that I can quickly swap the trunk for the stock rear seat as needed and didn't want to install an additional mounting plate as this is a pretty clean install so I just drilled a hole through the stock undertail, up through the rear seat pan that the trunk is mounted to and through the bottom of the trunk. I used a bolt with some fender washers on the outside and another fender washer, lock washer and a wing nut on the inside so I can remove the trunk quickly and easily from the inside. I may use this point along with the rear footpegs to secure saddlebag brackets once I get the Givi E21's.

View from bottom of bolt/fender washers:


View from inside the trunk:


As always I welcome any advice/ideas/etc.

[Sailariel]

Originally Posted by slolane

Wow, that sounds like a pretty bad fall Glad your ok. I have found 36 year olds aren't 20 anymore either, LOL. I'm also a bicyclist, I just joined a local road racing team, did BMX in my teens and early 20's, did a little AutoX car racing (SCCA Solo I and II) but not road bike racing… yet.

Sounds like we have quite a few common interests. Used to autocross a SAAB Sonett III with a tricked out V-4 in the early 70's. I also have a serious bicycle hobby--riding Centuries and Charity Rides. I ride an Eddy Merckx Premium Scandium bike I built from a frameset. Also, for comfort I have an 80's Univega Comp, Tange ChromeMolly frame--rides like silk. The 18' fall was not bad. what was bad was that I tried to catch myself on a window sill when the ladder went. I should have just dropped and rolled like I learned in ground school--inexcusable for someone with 250 jumps. You are right. That 700 is sweet--kind of a truck compared to a Ninja.

[slolane]

Indeed we do Sailariel. Ok here are the cars I AutoX'd

I started racing my 03 Cobra Mustang...


Then later a friend invited me to race his Lotus instead, that was FUN!!!


Loved racing but took a lot of time, with the kids and all I couldn't keep it up every weekend.

[headshrink]

What type/class is that Lotus?

[Sailariel]

Those cars are sweet. Love the Lotus 7-corners like it's on rails. Tried a Europa and was really disappointed--the Renault engine did not cut it. Got out of cars entirely. Now it is only practical stuff like a Pontiac Vibe (essentially a Toyota Matrix) and a Chev Suburban. I get my adrenalin fix with the bicycles and the motorcycle.

[slolane]

Originally Posted by headshrink

What type/class is that Lotus?

DM (d-mod).

[slolane]

Originally Posted by Sailariel

Those cars are sweet. Love the Lotus 7-corners like it's on rails. Tried a Europa and was really disappointed--the Renault engine did not cut it. Got out of cars entirely. Now it is only practical stuff like a Pontiac Vibe (essentially a Toyota Matrix) and a Chev Suburban. I get my adrenalin fix with the bicycles and the motorcycle.

Yes the 7 was sick, I raced it for a year...didn't cost me a dime... A great friend!! I'm out of cars too, it's Jeeps now, on my 5th Wrangler and I love em... Kinda like the 250, having fun without breaking speed limits, just a different kind of fun. I'm trying to rehab a torn acl and lateral meniscus without having surgery so I'm being careful with cycling and no more running or soccer. Sound like you have a sweet road bike!!

[headshrink]

Originally Posted by slolane

DM (d-mod).

1/4 midgets are the only ones I know

[slolane]

Decided to paint the reflectors textured black:





Will post full bike pics when it's back together tomorrow.

[setasai]

Would there be anyway we could get some photos of the ZX14 bracket system? More for inspiration than anything.

[slolane]

Originally Posted by setasai

Would there be anyway we could get some photos of the ZX14 bracket system? More for inspiration than anything.

I found one pic that shows the brackets from the back, the thing I didn't like is that they offset the bags from the bike several inches.

[slolane]

Painted the trunk reflectors textured black, here are the finished pics...

[setasai]

Looks factory finished. Great job.

[slolane]

Originally Posted by setasai

Looks factory finished. Great job.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

[warlord]

Looks good, James!

The trunk looks much better blacked out!

[slolane]

Originally Posted by warlord

Looks good, James!

The trunk looks much better blacked out!

Thanks man, I'm diggin the all black too!!

[ScorpionNinja]

Very nice man!

Blacked all out looks good, but food for thought...

what if you painted some of the raised or lower areas on the Cases GREEN, to match the bike and add come contrast and break up all that Black on back?


What was the total Cost for this whole Mod?

[slolane]

Originally Posted by ScorpionNinja

Very nice man!

Blacked all out looks good, but food for thought...

what if you painted some of the raised or lower areas on the Cases GREEN, to match the bike and add come contrast and break up all that Black on back?

What was the total Cost for this whole Mod?

Thanks man!!

I can see what your saying about the color, I'm more of a plain kinda guy and will probably keep it black, at least for now.

Total costs listed below, since the last pic shows both the top and sidecases I'm not sure if you were referring to one, the other or both so I listed them both...

Top case $60-80
eBay case $30+ shipping
rear seat off wrecked 250 for $20+ shipping
hardware for mounting, paint for painting rear stripped seat pan $7

Sidecases $195
Givi E21's $170
Hardware for mounting, primer, paint, propane, 3 pieces of 1 1/4" wide x 48" long 1/8" strips of aluminum $25

Any other questions let me know.

[jetetaquine]

Slolane, I'd love to do this mod. Photobucket seems to have deleted all of the pictures of your hard work... any chance you still have those photos saved somewhere and you'd feel like uploading them again?

[perplexed]

[headshrink]

Your pics disappeared

[Numbersix]

Originally Posted by slolane

Yes the 7 was sick, I raced it for a year

My bucket-list car is a Caterham 7. The only thing is the modern generation of 7s is all what the Euros call track-day cars. The original conception was of an everyman's sportscar; affordable as a primary car, self-buildable, agile. They're still agile as **** and theoretically self-buildable, but no longer affordable.

Seriously, $29k for a kit (Classic) is not sensible when you can get the new "everyone's sportscar" or Miata for $23k completely built. I went with the even cheaper everyone's sport-vehicle, which is why I have a Ninja.