This really simple mod might be helpful to anyone who commutes to work with a heavy backpack full of IT goodies, like a laptop, but does not want to install saddlebags.
I was getting nervous about the hooks on my cargo net and bungee cords eventually scratching the lip of my rear fender from sliding back and forth, when I found this product for $32 + shipping (to Canada): Cobra Bungee Knobs 027325 While it seemed like a clever device, it seemed silly to pay so much for some grooved buttons. :roll: So the engineer in me figured I'd be able to do something similar with hardware from Home Depot for <$10. The cost came out to about $5 for some eye bolts and rubber washers, so I'm happy.
From the Cobra Bungee Knobs, I learned that the size of the bolt on the fender is M8. However, go figure, even Canadian Home Depot only carries imperial eye bolts. Using the scientifically accurate method of "eyeballing", I picked up some 5/16" x 3.25" eyebolts including nuts, and some rubber disc washers.
Applied some blue Loc-Tite, and swapped out the regular rear pair of bolts for my stylish new eye bolts, one at a time. I did encounter a river that I haven't bothered to cross yet, since I'm happy with my change visually and functionally, but when I removed one of the front fender bolts, I noticed that the nut was somehow attached to the fender itself? Since imperial bolt + metric nut doesn't equal love, I didn't end up changing out the front pair of bolts to eye bolts. So, question to all you REAL MOD gurus: What's holding those front nuts onto the fender?? Was brute force all I was missing to crack them off, or are they really stuck on there?
EDIT: As suggested by ranger below, I looked for visible weld on the front nuts and didn't see any. I can give the nut removal another go with slightly more pressure in case something non-permanent is hanging onto them.
Pics attached, enjoy!
I was getting nervous about the hooks on my cargo net and bungee cords eventually scratching the lip of my rear fender from sliding back and forth, when I found this product for $32 + shipping (to Canada): Cobra Bungee Knobs 027325 While it seemed like a clever device, it seemed silly to pay so much for some grooved buttons. :roll: So the engineer in me figured I'd be able to do something similar with hardware from Home Depot for <$10. The cost came out to about $5 for some eye bolts and rubber washers, so I'm happy.
From the Cobra Bungee Knobs, I learned that the size of the bolt on the fender is M8. However, go figure, even Canadian Home Depot only carries imperial eye bolts. Using the scientifically accurate method of "eyeballing", I picked up some 5/16" x 3.25" eyebolts including nuts, and some rubber disc washers.
Applied some blue Loc-Tite, and swapped out the regular rear pair of bolts for my stylish new eye bolts, one at a time. I did encounter a river that I haven't bothered to cross yet, since I'm happy with my change visually and functionally, but when I removed one of the front fender bolts, I noticed that the nut was somehow attached to the fender itself? Since imperial bolt + metric nut doesn't equal love, I didn't end up changing out the front pair of bolts to eye bolts. So, question to all you REAL MOD gurus: What's holding those front nuts onto the fender?? Was brute force all I was missing to crack them off, or are they really stuck on there?
EDIT: As suggested by ranger below, I looked for visible weld on the front nuts and didn't see any. I can give the nut removal another go with slightly more pressure in case something non-permanent is hanging onto them.
Pics attached, enjoy!