Motorcycle Rider Blog. Behind the scenes of VRIDETV, Canada's motorcycle touring and travel site.
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Carbon fiber vrod fuel cell side cover

by Editor on 03/27/20

I was very happy with the arrival of this carbon fiber vrod fuel cell side cover made by MDI Carbon Fiber. This will be a very nice addition the the rest of the carbon fiber parts on our 2003 Harley-Davidson VRSCcf V-Rod. 
One thing I wanted to do to it was find something to fill the hole for the ignition cylinder since mine had been relocated after the 5.3 Unlimited Engineering fuel tank was installed. I tried a lot of different things to fill that hole and wanted to find something that looked as how it would have come from the factory, then I finally found the perfect piece, a 100th anniversary handgrip end cap. Next thing to do was try and figure out a way for it to fit in there the way I wanted it to. Several different methods came to mind, then a few attempts with results making me thinking there must be a better way, then it hit me... I cut off approximately 3/4 of an inch off the soft rubber sleeve from the hard plastic tube of the grip, popped on the end cap and slid that into the hole allowing me to make the adjustments for precise fitment. 

carbon fiber vrod fuel cell side cover

Vrod chin spoiler fitment

by Editor on 03/23/20

I had a few questions in social media about the chin spoiler fitment on our 2003 Vrods. Normally it's not an issue but when you also have a chrome voltage regulator you run into a small problem. It will fit but you really have to push to get the sides of the rad shroud onto the raise bolt holes. It was way to tight in my opinion and decided to trim it as shown in this picture to have it fit properly. I ended up cutting up a plastic lid and made a feeler gauge to have the same clearance on both sides. 

Now that the black one is done it's time to trim down the orange chin spoiler, then sand off all that orange paint to have it painted.

SC chin spoiler for VROD

Spring riding season

by Editor on 03/20/20

So nice to see the arrival of Spring, have a great riding season everyone and ride safe! 

Spring motorcycle riding season

CoronaVirus Covid19 self isolation pastime. Virtual tourism.

by Editor on 03/17/20

A lot of crazy stuff going on in the world right now with the Coronas Virus / Covid-19 being declared a pandemic. If you have been quarantined and are looking for a way to help pass the time check out our extended length videos, they're as real as it gets without getting bugs in your teeth!


virtual tourism 
tags; sightseeing motorcycling adventure travel Canada touring tourist 

Harley Davidson 100 anniversary emblems

by Editor on 03/09/20

These came off pretty easy, just needed, patience, a hairdryer and some dental floss in order to remove these 100th Anniversary emblems from the airbox on our parts bike. 

harley davidson 100 anniversary emblems

VROD chin spoiler fitment

by Editor on 03/06/20

According to the Harley-Davidson parts catalogue this chin spoiler will not fit with this regulator... However with a little trimming and patience it most certainly does. 
Genuine Harley-Davidson colour-matched radiator cover and spoiler part number: 57621-06DH vivid black.
Genuine Harley-Davidson chrome voltage regulator cover part number: 74497-03 


VROD CHIN SPOILER

VROD parts

by Editor on 03/01/20

Gotta love the V-Rod community.
There are some pretty great people in the V-Rod world and a lot of them are in Facebook groups. I've bought, sold and shipped parts from around the world but this is the first time I had someone bring them to me during a vacation. Stomper & his wonderful wife from Ontario came out to BC a few days ago and packed all of these parts into their suitcase!
Prior to this, we messaged each other few time on Facebook and he said they had a couple of hours to kill once they landed until their ride was able to pick them up. I offered to pick them up at the airport and bring them back to our house to visit and talk V-Rod stuff. 
Here's the funny part of the story, I had no idea what he looked like because his profile pic is a V-rod engine and he had no idea what I looked like cause I've got my helmet on in my pic. Both our wives asked if you've never met & don't know what each other looks like, how will this work at the airport? 

I had already told him what I drove & would be parked out front, he told me the colour of the suitcase and that was all we needed. I will say that I was surprised that he did actually look like his profile pic ; )

VROD PARTS

VROD colour-matched radiator cover and spoiler part number: 57621-06DH

by Editor on 02/28/20

Super stoked to have these arrive!
Genuine Harley-Davidson colour-matched radiator cover and spoiler part number: 57621-06DH vivid black.
Genuine Harley-Davidson chrome voltage regulator cover part number: 74497-03

These are V-ROD unicorn parts!

SE chin spoiler radiator cover VROD

Leg Brace

by Editor on 02/26/20

Going through some old stuff and I came across one of my leg braces from years ago...
After a motorcycle accident with a tow truck, I was confined to a wheelchair for a couple of years while the doctors performed surgery after surgery to rebuild my legs. My left leg had the most damage, three compound fractures that left a tennis ball size hole in my femur and a golfball size hole in my tibia. Bone graphs were needed to fill the holes using bone that was harvested from my iliac crests but there still wasn't enough, so additional materials called osteoset beads were mixed in to fill the defects. Once the doctors were confident in the strength of the bond I was fitted with this brace at G.F. Strong Rehabilitation Centre to begin the long road to walk again. 
If you're interested you can learn more about the accident click here 

LEG BRACE

VROD shifter linkage

by Editor on 02/22/20

The Vrod shifter rod I ordered from Fitzgerald Motorsports arrived for the carbon fiber bike! 


VROD SHIFTER ROD

VROD cam tensioner covers

by Editor on 02/14/20

When it comes to customizing a motorcycle I'm a firm believer that, "the Devil's in the details" it's the little things that make the over all presentation pop.  Scott Fitzgerald of Fitzgerald Motorsports has come through once again with this beautiful cam tensioner cover! 

Visit the Fitzgerald Motorsport's website for this cam tensioner and exhaust systems, motor building, case machining, 26 tooth pulley, 32 tooth pulleys, Vrod shifter rods, B2 handlebars, straight cut second gear, drag handlebars, engine brace, aluminum oil pan, heads, 58mm throttle body, and he is also a distributor for the DAYTONA TWIN TEC VRFID.

VROD cam tensioner cover

Motorcycle riding videos

by Editor on 02/08/20

Extended length videos

Escape Parked Motorcycle Syndrome with VRIDETV....
We know there's a lot of people out there that have had to park their bikes until Spring...

We asked the question: Would you like us to post some motorcycle riding videos 30 to 60 minutes long, with no editing, no music, just the sounds of the wind in your face and the motorcycle's engine and exhaust?
The response was overwhelmingly YES : )


BEST Motorcycle riding videos are at VRIDETVcom

3 camera mount set up on motorcycle

by Editor on 02/04/20

Our carbon fiber Harley Davidson V-Rod camera bike is ready! After many, many, hours of design, fabrication and finishing the three camera mount set up is complete. Since starting VRIDETV in 2006 I've built countless camera rigs for our motorcycles and these were the most challenging. On this bike the goal was to have a rock solid steady shot of course but also have it compact and aesthetically pleasing. 

BEST motorcycle camera mounts

Selfiecam installed

by Editor on 01/31/20

It's a tight fit but the selfiecam is mounted and ready to go!


selfiecam on motorcycle

Vrod clamshell

by Editor on 01/30/20

While waiting for the speedo to arrive, I stripped off all the factory silver paint on the clamshell, sanded with 220, 320, 400, 600, 800, 1000, 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper, then polished it by hand with Autosol. 


VROD clamshell

Camera mount parts

by Editor on 01/28/20

Here's a look at all the selfie camera mount parts polished and ready to be installed on our carbon fiber Vrod.

camera mount parts

Vrod instrument cluster arrives

by Editor on 01/25/20

It's been quite the journey for this instrument cluster for our 2003 Carbon fiber Vrod build. It was caught in a USPS computer glitch that caused it to bounce back and forth from Texas to Chicago for 67 days before it was finally returned to the sender. Due to this debacle he resent it via UPS ground to me here in Langley BC and they got the job done in 8 days! 

VROD gauges

Update on Selfiecam

by Editor on 01/23/20

Made a lot of progress on the selfiecam mount for the carbon fiber bike. The shaping is complete and it has been sanded with 220, 320, 400, 600, 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper. Still have to finish it off with 1000, 2000 grit than begin polishing, in the home stretch now!

Here's a link to the video we posted on our Tik Tok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@vridetv/video/6784184320207752454

DIY selfiecam for motorcycle riders

Facebook like VRIDETV

by Editor on 01/22/20

Have you checked out our Facebook posts recently?
We've uploaded hundreds of images, videos and post on a daily basis!

FACEBOOK LIKE VRIDETV

Follow VRIDETV on Instagram

by Editor on 01/21/20

Have you checked out our Instagram posts recently?
We've uploaded hundreds of images, videos and post on a daily basis!

BEST motorcycle travel on Instagram

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