Now I just know this is going to get me in to trouble!
Since I first set eyes on the Prolink version of the CBX I have disliked the panniers. To my eye they are far too skinny and I dont like the spoilers at the bottom of the rear of the panniers.
I know others will disagree, this is just my taste and perhaps a modern trend for wider panniers.
So what to do, I want the carrying capability of panniers. I haven't seen any aftermarket versions I like and so as the panniers that came with my bike where badly damaged I decided to take the plunge and modify what I have got.
Firstly though some caveats, I know Honda will have designed them to restrict the weight being carried and perhaps not upset the aerodynamics of the bike. In my case I do not intend carrying a pillion (wife wont go on the bike) nor do I intend exceeding the 9kg carrying capacity so weight will not be an issue. As for aerodynamics well at my age I aint going hugely fast
So my main reason for this exercise is partly cosmetic but also to be able to carry bulky items like a decent set of warm waterproofs.
First task was to dismantle all the hardware from the right pannier and strip all the paint off the lid. The aluminum surround comes off with some work using Acetone to melt the glue and carefully prying it loose a little at a time. The space where the spoiler was attached was filled in and a couple of dents, cracks and hollows filled -
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This is where the gasps of horror start basically I am adding 75mm depth to the lid so my first task was to add a ring of balsa to the inside of the lid -
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Which is sanded flush then I can then add some 75mm balsa block all fixed in place with CA. I cut a piece of Liteply to the same outline as the lid and fixed this carefully in place -
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Then its a matter of filling over the 75mm block with car body filler and sanding it to the outline of the Liteply template. I spent a lot of time comparing the outline to the aluminium frame to make sure it would ultimately fit. Once done this is mounted to a melamine faced moulding ground and the whole thing is given 5 coats of release wax and a couple of coats of PVA release agent ready for mould production -
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I decided to split the mould into three sections as the model of the lid (plug) is quite slab sided making it difficult to remove from the plug and to make it easier to release the final cast. So I made a couple of fences using Liteply and held them in place with clay. I use a few domes of clay on the fences to help position the three pieces together correctly -
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Then its on to making the fibreglass mould. First a layer of white gelcoat -
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Followed by resin and layers of 200g woven cloth -
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The centre fence is released and the process repeated for the second section then the third to make a complete mould. At this point I drill holes through the joining sections so I can bolt them back together -
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As this is a one off mould I have not made it particularly strong or pretty.
After curing overnight the three pieces came off the plug easy and bolt back together to make the finished mould. This is then flatted off with 800 grit wet and dry just to remove any imperfections and polished with release wax and coated with PVA as before -
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I rolled on a thin coat of gelcoat then laid up multiple layers of 165g cloth with carbon fibre tape around the edge of the lid to add strength -
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