Shroud wrecking report

[wence]

Just went for a quick blat around my cuz place and managed to weave through a few trees and rip off the right hand shroud.
All good you might say, just pop it back in. Not so....

The sapling managed to pull the shroud then also snap the shroud in two.
The shroud is very pretty in its two piece structure but as the top part is only held to the bottom part by three tiny tabs , guess what breaks?

I will need to now drill three small holes in each shroud and cable tie them together, Shouldnt look too bad but just a pain in the butt.
Anyway, just thought I would share

Cheers Mark

 

[GasGas]

Same thing happened to my brother falling over in a field.................

 

[Jakobi]

Just went for a quick blat around my cuz place and managed to weave through a few trees and rip off the right hand shroud.
All good you might say, just pop it back in. Not so....

The sapling managed to pull the shroud then also snap the shroud in two.
The shroud is very pretty in its two piece structure but as the top part is only held to the bottom part by three tiny tabs , guess what breaks?

I will need to now drill three small holes in each shroud and cable tie them together, Shouldnt look too bad but just a pain in the butt.
Anyway, just thought I would share

Cheers Mark

Throw it in the same basket as the headlight.

 

[wence]

Headlight is being sorted now hopefully.
Shrouds look great but seriously guys.... three tiny tabs?
Cheers Mark

 

[GMP]

Mark,

Sit tight, I designed a fix and have the parts to try on my bike when it shows up. It will be done before I ride it and I'll post the info. I saw this one comming. They could have acheived the same look with a conventional mounting design.

 

[mcnut]

Honda is making their pretty 2013 shrouds by molding the red and white simultaneously!

 

[GMP]

Why not just keep things simple and functional, it can still look good. Husky did this two part/tab thing years ago and keeping plastic on the bikes in the woods has been a nightmare.

Basically what I have to fix it is posts like the rad braces I designed years ago that Les sold. These mount the rad and slip through the grommets, and can be used with or without rad guards or frames. The goofy inserts that pop into the rad grommets are completely removed from the shroud. I have these really cool M6 standoffs with a U joint in the center. These will thread into the end of the posts. The other end will provide a bolt on shroud mount through M6 holes drilled in the shrouds, and the joint will accomadate the angle of the shroud. Should work good, I should just have to adjust lengths to get everything to fit with the same width. The upper/lower connection I might just cut everything off the back and plate it together from the rear, but I'll wait and see if the solid lower part mount is enough. I have some nice stainless M6 button heads that don't look bad at all. I don't want to deal with zip tying a new bike back together in the woods, a few extra bolts through the plastic does not bother me.

 

[GasTimppa]

Well I ended up to cut that little "nipple" that goes inside rubber ring away from lower connection. I drilled 6mm hole to both outer side of shroud and that extension arm inside shroud.

I bolted shroud and radiator together using old style "radiator shroud nut" and 6mm bolt. Now It stays...

 

[GMP]

The issue with that is if you snag the shroud it will bend the tab of your radiator out. Always better to mount the plastic to something other than the radiator directly. I saw a guy once that opened the radiator up like an accordian after catching the shroud on a tree.

 

[GasTimppa]

Thats just the way it has been at least in my few previous gasssers first was 2000 - last 2011. Never had broken radiators for that reason It is now almost the same connection.

 

[GMP]

Yes I know, thats the stock setup on the '11 and older bikes, but IMO its asking for trouble. Most of the rad frames now move this mount to the frame and off the rad. I just think that here in the USA, in the east at least, we have more very tight woods where this is more of a problem. Its common here for sections in an enduro to have trees closer together than the width of the bars.

 

[wence]

Glenn,
My problem at the moment is not the push in things.... they pop out every now and then but that is not such a problem as they just push back in. The prolem is where the top piece of shroud joins to the bottom piece of shroud. There are three tiny tabs that hold each piece together.
After going too close to the sapling the shrouds caught and now I have the top piece moving around independant to the bottom piece.
Hope this makes sense.
Cheers Mark

 

[GMP]

Mark,

Yeah I know exactly what your talking about. I guess my question is does it pop apart from the top edge catching something, or from the bottom part popping out first. I may just cut the tabs off and plate it together, no nonsense, like one piece then.

 

[wence]

I will just drill 3 small holes and cable tie the two together with small cable ties.
Spoke to the dealer today and he seemed to think it was not a warranty thing , fair enough I thought but still a little cheesed off about the crappy tabs.
Oh well.
Bike is awesome, just need to sort out suspension now.
Cheers Mark

 

[thumperrider1]

I'm sure they will address it with the 2013 and I will replace mine then. My tabs/hardware are all gone with 7hrs on the bike. It's a pain, but otherwise the bike is just plain awesome.

 

[wence]

Ditto...

 

[nato]

Mine have stayed with no problems at all even with tight single work and using it as a dozer through lantana!! Touch wood!! But when i got mine i put the 10 model rad braces on and they did not mount properly on the shroud on 1 mount so i cut it off the shroud drilled a hole and zip tied it on to the rad guard. Will get a pic if i remember for ya. Although its a bit late

Only prblem with waiting for the '13 to see if they maybe fixed the prob is even if they did what colour is it gonna be or will they run some to suit our bikes aswell?

Also has anyone heard if they are changing the air boot as they rub on the subframe, I know they supplied us with a rubber piece to help but its only slowing down the problem not eliminating it.

Only other problem is my sidestand bolt keeps coming loose and has stuffed my left plate

If all of these things were brought to my attention earlier i still would have it in the shed They are too cool not to.

 

[GMP]

This is all very easy stuff to fix, just minor quirks. You can do it up front and avoid any problems, which IMO is a good idea after checking the price of that upper shroud. I hope the '13 stuff is done well and molded in enough quantity. Color means little, as long as its not stupid ugly. Cosmetic focus is what got them into this little shroud mess in the first place.