DIY - $0 Fender elimination

[Buffalony]

Hello fellow ninjette riders. This is my horrible attempt at a $0 Fender elimination DIY.
The reason I consider it horrible is because I'm going to try explaining this after I've done it and not while I'm doing it.
I did not want take apart the rear of my ninjette again to do a step by step.
If you request I will take it apart but I think I can squeek by without doing so. I'll answer any ?'s along the way. So feel free to fire away.
There are a couple others that have figured it out that I've seen.
If anyone feels the need to step in on this to help relay the basics behind this, please go ahead as I know I'm not the only one to do this chop.
I consider this a $0 DIY because everything the Ninjette owner needs to complete this chop is already included with the bike.

First a few things on fender elimination. One eliminates the rear fender of the ninjette to streamline the looks of the bike. This is really for aesthetic purposes (Though it may create a little drag at the track!) and it may not appeal to everyone. If you do alot of riding in the rain, you may not want to do this mod. I ride in the rain sparingly.
I believe it is important to note that the factory mudflap can be purchased for $25-$35 if you seem to cringe at the thought of hacking your pretty baby up. this is %100 reversible.

If You've already looked around the net to see what other people are doing to subtract this extra plastic from the equation. You learn the easy route is to order a $80-$100 premade section. Along the way youve probably seen every type of homebrew fender chop but always noticed there was something alittle off with those jobs. Either their license plate faced the ground, they didnt really take off the whole fender, they remounted their plate behind the rear wheel or something else was off about the overall execution.

Kawasaki may or may not have noticed but they gave you everything you needed to eliminate the fender and remount the plate. as in this pic:


Even though I say this is a $0 mod it can turn into a $10-$20 mod depending on your approach at Lighting the license plate which may or may not be needed in your area. I'll talk more about this in a bit.

If your still reading your probably anxious for me to shut up and get on with the mod. sorry... bare with me and keep in mind I want to make this as thorough as possible and try an cover every aspect one needs to think about approaching this for the first time.

Read through this whole thread before starting this ur self to prevent F-ing something up. Though its fairly easy to correct any mistakes.

Tools...not all needed:
Hacksaw for coarse non accurate cuts.
Heavy duty snips or thick wire cutters. or anything to snip the plastic away finely
Allen wrenches, sockets and or box/cresent wrenches to take everything apart
A cigarette lighter or butane/propane torch
Various grades of sand paper and/or Metal files for final shaping
Soldering Iron- round point tip any should work
Other helpful tools if you have them:
Dremel various tips. Cut off + sander or grit stone recommended
Hand Drill various bit sizes.

First step: Take the mud flap off completely. You'll have to disassemble the rear of the bike. Do what you need to do to get the mudflap in you hands by itself. There are DIYs to get you to this point but it gets self explanitory if you just start unscrewing Sh!t.
Off the top of my head...Remove rear seat. Remove all bolts attaching the left and right tail sections, disconnect Plate light, brake light, signal lights, etc, etc


Step Two: Ok. you have the mud flap in your hands. Now take off the License plate bracket and the License plate light. Remove the turn signals, and brake light. Set these parts aside for now.

Step three: Using a hacksaw or the dremel, make the coarse cuts first.

You need to cut out the section of mudflap that the LPlate mount bolted to and leave the angled tab above it connected. this is circled in red. leave as much of the piece labeled TAB intact



Four: Make the fine cuts using Heavy duty snips or the dremel to get the final shape of the fender. also trim around the PART OF VALUE you cut out still leaving all of the angled tab on the top intact. This tab will remount to the underside of the tail.

Focus on detail when cutting this section as it will be visible when everything is back together:


Its going to be used like this:



If you look at the First picture youll notice that the bend from the bracket protrudes out of the opening some so the opening you cut has to be atleast as wide as that part of the L-bracket.

Five: After everything is cut the way you want it go over all of the edges with either metal files and or sand paper to make to a smooth even finish. After you get something you can live with use a cigarette lighter or torch and quickly go over the fresh new edges with some heat to give it a glossy fresh formed look. No need for paint here as some modders recommend itll all smooth out and gloss up with heat

Six: Now the tricky part. Lets take a step back for a second and help make sure your ready to understand what goes on next. You should have everything listed in this pic in front of you in pieces:

If you check the fitment of the LP bracket TAB section against the underside of the fender, The TAB should sit perfectly flush with the underside of the rear fender right against the holes for the Brake light BRACKET. The only problem is the tab needs holes in it for you to mount the bracket over the tab to then put the bolts back through.
well the holes are the easy part. The real problem here is if you now check the metal BRACKET piece against the LP bracket TAB youll notice the metal BRACKET will not sit flush against the tab itself. This is because of excess plastic on that LP bracket TAB. It needs to be shaved out a little in order for that Metal BRACKET to sit flush.this is next

Step Seven: Modifying the TAB to accept the metal Brake BRACKET.
Inorder for the metal brake BRACKET to sit flush against the TAB you need to notch out some of the curve in the center of the tab. I used a hot soldering iron back and forth on the TAB and kept checking fitment. you could use a hack saw blade or a metal file for this. You really only need to work out some of the plastic from the center of the TAB to get the BRACKET to sit right. Try making the NOTCH as straight and parallel with the section the plate bolts to.that way the plate will point straight to the rear.The NOTCH will act as a little ledge or bearing surface so to speak.


Eight: Holes in the TAB.
Now that you have the TAB sitting flush to the tail and the brake BRACKET sitting flush against the TAB your ready to put the two holes through the TAB to accept the two brake light bolts.
Set the fender aside again. With the Metal BRACKET and PART OF VALUE IN HAND Place the BRACKET on the TAB section. Center the BRACKET not with the TAB but with the center of the area the LP bracket bolts to. There is a big circle in the center already there. Doing this assures the plate will be centered with the bike because we know the brake BRACKET itself is centered when mounted. Use the metal BRACKET as a guide to drill or burn these holes through.
If you trimmed off too much of one of the TAB sides then you may have to compensate alittle by offsetting the LP holes a little.

Do one hole then put a bolt through. Then do the other. Check the second by putting a bolt through it also.

NINE: Putting it all together again.
The step title explains itself
After you get the rear of the bike back together youll be remounting the LP bracket. This comes down to preference. Mount it upside down to give your plate that flared look as below.

Or mount it opposite to bring the plate closer to the brake light. which will give the plate more of a traditional straight back look with a smaller angle of tilt.

TEN: LP Lighting.
Deciding what to do with this area of fender elimination is up to the owner. To keep this a $0 mod there are three ways I can think of that you can illuminate your plate with out spending a dime.

1. You can reuse your existing LP light. There is a way to remount the OEM light to the side of the plate. I recall it being done by a member on another forum. I'll post a link when I find it. Doing this isnt the best looking imo but there is no wire cutting involved for those afraid to do so.

2. Slitting the Brake light. You can dremel a slit into the bottom of the red brake lense to allow the white bulb light to shine on the plate. Then seal the slit with a piece of clear tape. At $160 for a new Tail lamp assembly this lighting option isnt for most!
Again this has been done and the thread is out there. I'll post a link when found. If you chose to go this route you'll want to mount the LP bracket in its lowest position as the plate will get abit more brake light comparred to being mounted closer to the light. This is a nice mod among others if you want a clean look without additional lighting.

3. Dont light it. Though I swear there was another way to light the plate at no cost, it slipped my mind. So if you dont like either of the first two options and you don't want to cough up a few bucks on lighting, then your pretty much stuck. Check with your local ordinance to see if you need a License plate light.

LP Lighting thread is here: http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19668

If your going to use after market plate lighting the wiring is pretty straight forward if your using one or two plate lights. When wiring up the lights dont cut the connector off of the bikes wiring harness. Take the connector from the old LP light you removed.

There are various alternative along the way of this mod.

I did not use premade L-brackets to mount the plate bracket under the shaved tail, but you could. I tried with different L-brackets and NONE of them worked quite right. I did use aftermarket LP lights. Niether brackets or LP lights are needed. If you have the material you could make your own bracket with some sheet metal or the like. If youd like to go this route it'll give you a bit more options as far as plate location

There ya go guys. I have alot of editing to do here but I'm gonna post anyway just to get it on the boards. I'll keep it updated. So let me know of any errors or if I left anything out. Thanks for reading.

[Buffalony]

Sorry. I wasnt being a smart arse by posting this. I had this up on my PC for a couple of days and wasnt checking threads. I just noticed Tin posted a fender DIY while I was working on this.

[gizmogamez]

I like it, good job. I still need to do my fender...prob sometime over this weekend or next.

[tinng321]

Originally Posted by Buffalony

Sorry. I wasnt being a smart arse by posting this. I had this up on my PC for a couple of days and wasnt checking threads. I just noticed Tin posted a fender DIY while I was working on this.

The more the better.
Give people more choices and ideas.
I'm sure there will be people using ideas from my DIY and ideas from yours and ideas of their owns.
The write up was much harder than I thought.
Give yourself some credit.
I have to admit, your cut is much cleaner than mine.
My next mod is the seat cowl.
Did you try to fix the gap?

[Buffalony]

Originally Posted by tinng321

My next mod is the seat cowl.
Did you try to fix the gap?

Yep. Im happy with the gap on the right side. If you check the first pic above, its not to bad imo. The left side is a bit higher I just havent come around to it yet.