License plate relocate

The factory license plate is a bit...well...'legal'. It does the job for a touring bike with saddle bags, but not exactly what I am looking for. Motus made an updated license plate bracket with extra stiffeners to prevent breakage, a common issue. I moved this improved bracket to my MST-R and went on to a different type for this bike.

The factory plate holder sticks out a bit far for my taste on the naked bike.

A plate holder was picked up from ebay that does the trick. The unit looks great with all types of adjustments...until you get it. The adjustments are minimal and the gent who came up with the design needs to go back to school and learn how to make things more modular.



















The original plate is tucked up under the tail, so a couple of standoffs were used to space the new holder cross piece away from the body a bit. A new cross piece was fabricated and painted as the original that came with the unit was not wide enough. Easy fab work.

The factory wiring was attached and a Deutsch connector was put in for the license plate light. All is working and looks much better. Not at all the 'please pull me over' location that some sport bike guys use. Could be mistaken as factory if you didn't know any better.

Swedish Butt Jewelry

A little swag trade ended up with a brand new Ohlins TTX shock that is found on the MST-R bikes from the factory. The MST ships with Ohlins forks and a progressive rear shock. Quality shocks, but the low speed bump compliance of a Ohlins is unmatched.

 The factory shock and linkage is an easy removal- take off the tank, unbolt the shock, link, and pivot while the bike is on the center stand...pull out of the frame from above.

The Ohlins is not nearly that easy...notice the 'mini-me' reservoir at the top. That gets in the way of EVERYTHING.

 The tire must come off, then the suspension pivots removed. The swingarm is lowered enough to slide the shock in, bolt the suspension pivot on later. 
Wait, didn't I ~just~ do this?

While you are at it: try once, twice, and for fun take things back apart to get it right. It's a bit of a puzzle to get it all to fit in the correct order and be able to get all the bolts in and nuts on.

Lucky I have an R for visual reference. It's tight.

Yep, get someone who can fit their fingers in there to adjust the comp and rebound clickers.

Damn, they must of designed the bike around the rear shock. Everything works great, but there is not much leftover room.

Be aware of the remote preload adjuster routing. There are a few moving parts in the path that it wants to take to get to the mounting tab. The progressive and Ohlins remote mount to the same tab, but with different screws.