Rear lights are back.

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=137

I now realized that it may be time to remount some of the plastics that would no longer be in the way. I started with the side cover located below the air box on the left side of the bike.

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=138

While remounting the rear handles and the rack I realized I might as well mount the Touratech rack at the same time. It's the larger version (Touratech has a smaller version as well).

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=139

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=140

At this point I thought I should probably have a look at the mounting instructions for the SW Motech pannier mounts before continuing. When I did I realized that I will need to take the rear rack and rear handles off again to be able to mount the pannier mounts. Too bad I didn't think of that earlier. Well, nothing to do about it now. At least it's not too much stuff that needs to come off and not too much work getting it done. However, I took this as a sign it was probably time to stop working on the bike for today. I got enough stuff done to be quite satisfied with today's progress. Mounting the pannier mounts will have to wait until next time. Hopefully I will also have received the spacer for the crash plate by then so that I can finish mounting that as well.

Enjoying the build...looking forward to seeing the finished build! Steve

The new spacer arrived today and it seems to fit so the crash plate is now ready to be mounted. Looking forward to seeing it on the bike this weekend. :)

Yesterday I didn't really have time to do any work on the bike but I was too curious about that new spacer so I mounted the crash plate anyway. It didn't take very long.

I was actually quite impressed with the simplicity of the design of the crash plate. The crash plate comes already mounted to the crash bars and the crash bars are mounted using only two bolts which makes it a very easy job (when you have a correctly sized spacer). It is very sturdy and gives the impression of providing ample protection for the engine. In my opinion it's also the best looking crash plate I've seen for the bike.

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=141

Now I removed the Touratech rack and all the rear plastics I had remounted last weekend. It had to be removed to be able to mount the hardware for the panniers. The pannier rack was actually quite easy to install even though the angles of the mounting points seemed very strange at first.

One awesome thing about the SW Motech panniers is that the rack is easily removable using a quick release system. It only takes a few seconds to remove the rack and once removed you can hardly see any signs that the bike is prepared for using panniers. The panniers themselves look awesome and according to a couple of friends of mine they are water tight and of very good quality. I also have a set of locks for the panniers as well as locks for the rack but I will mount them some other time.

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=142

Unfortunately I realized that I had to remove the Touratech rack once again to be able to mount the mounting plate for the Givi top box I've had for many years. After putting it back in place again I hope third time is the charm. I'd prefer not having to remove it again.

I also put the bike down. It's no longer suspended. It's resting on the main stand. This way I could get on the bike to adjust the angles of the risers and handlebars (this was done after the picture below was taken).

I will be suspending the front of the bike to get the front wheel and fork legs off to change the fork springs and oil but it will have to wait until the rear wheel is back on. I was planning to clean the chain and to get the rear wheel back on this weekend but it has been a cold, damp day and I felt this would have to be enough for today.

http://www.xt660.com/picture.php?alb...&pictureid=143

Nice going!

You have a nice place to work on the bike, i envy you :)