4th gen Q

Just curious; is a crack in the side plastic right around the helmet/seat lock standard equipment on the 4th gen? I noticed a short crack right where I grab the lock apparatus for the lift up onto the c-stand and it seems as though a crack there sooner or later is inevitable, given the flexing of the side panel.

BTW, I've had this bike only a few weeks now but I can only hope that with more mileage my 6th gen eventually shifts as smoothly as my '96 does; my '04isn't bad but the 96's shifts are buttery smooth. It also doesn't have that somewhat awkward upshift from 1st-2nd that my 6th gen has; I pride myself on riding smoothly but I haven't yet completely mastered the 1-2 transition.

 

Not normal on all the ones I have had.

 

I think my side panels are the only ones not cracked.

 

Mine developed a crack near that area as well. My remedy was to graft on a RC-51 tail section. The benefits, around 15 pounds in weight savings, and a one piece tail fairing, plus it looks pretty cool if you ask me...See my gallery for a pic...

 

Nice job! My panels are in really nice shape other than the crack but if/when they get really scabby I'm give that a try.

 

It's actually pretty easy. I thought it was going to be alot harder and require alot more engineering than it really did. The hard/expensive part was sourcing all the parts from eBay, other than that, it was cake!!!