It's Official

The time has come when I have put more accessories on my new bike than I did on my first bike.  Truth be told, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  The other part of this feat is the fact that I did it in three weeks as opposed to an entire summer.

Part the First: The Saddlebag Odyssey

So, I knew I wanted saddlebags on my bike.  I've know that since I bought my first one.  They just make things easier when dealing with carrying stuff around (as one would expect).  I thought I could beat Murphy by going to the Star Motorcycle website and actually finding the correct part number before I placed the order.  Lo-and-behold, they were, indeed, available.

After they arrived I had to wait a good two weeks before I could even think about putting them on the bike.  When I finally got around to it, Murphy laughed in my face as the spacers that were supplied with the supports were too big.  Curses and other such words.

Well, I wasn't about to let that beat me.  After spending a whopping $2.20 on some washers, I got them attached with absolutely zero fuss.  And, truly, nobody will really see the washers as the saddlebags are in the way.

Here's the end product:

Not too shabby...

Part the Second: The Windshield of Destiny

After some of my longer trips last year, I sorely started to miss the windshield (albeit damaged) that my old bike came with.  The best part of the whole thing was taking the brunt of the wind's force that I would, otherwise, have to defeat with my arms alone.

That said, motorcycle windshields are freakin' expensive!  A full kit (Windshield and mounts) costs on the order of $400.  Well, that's if you want a large one.  I didn't want one that was too big, so I started digging, and found a decent setup for around $80 with the mounting equipment included.  Granted, this is most likely a stop-gap windshield until I can save up for a larger one.

All things considered, she doesn't look too bad with it:

It's her best angle, really.

Part the Third: The Aegis of the Freeway Bars

The most recent (i.e. today) installation I've finished is to add a set of freeway bars to the bike.  There really isn't much to say about this except 1) I found them for significantly cheaper online and 2) they were a lot easier to install than I thought they would be.

And they look pretty sweet, too:

Aww Yeah!