Do it yourself accessories.

Maybe I'm getting old and cranky. (Actually, I'll admit I am), but I'm getting a little tired of paying these high prices on pretty simple modifications to motorcycles. I was looking at a crash plate for the bike, and I got a little surprised at $200 for a bent piece of steel and a few bolts. Anyone made your own??? Any reason why you shouldn't.

Some have.

Do you have a welder?
A way to bend aluminum/steel?

Some have used an old cutting board. Heated it and bent it to fit.

Get creative. Then post pictures.

I saw guy use an old licence plate...I think the bolt holes line up and everything...?
With the painted side in, you could barely tell it was a quick fix.
Not a full coverage plate but better than nothing.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

here's one <-- clicky

Or just be patient and look for used stuff. I bought a GYTR rear rack and a Flatlands skidplate together, $100 total. The rack needed bolts and spray paint, the skidplate was perfect.

jon_l wrote:

Or just be patient and look for used stuff. I bought a GYTR rear rack and a Flatlands skidplate together, $100 total. The rack needed bolts and spray paint, the skidplate was perfect.

Now that you mention it....I bought my bike from the classifieds...as well as my few main accessories...so far, I have made out well
I bought my first gps that way today, last model garmin, at a bargain...lucked out with a local buy.

It pays to do your homework, with patience.

When I first bought my DR650, I needed a skid plate in a hurry. Ordering one was going to take a week or more, so I just used the first thing that came to mind. I ended up using it for about 2 years before I laid down real cash for a real guard. Worked well enough, and cost was about the same as a six-pack. And, I had free parking everywhere I went

MotoJunkie wrote:

When I first bought my DR650, I needed a skid plate in a hurry. Ordering one was going to take a week or more, so I just used the first thing that came to mind. I ended up using it for about 2 years before I laid down real cash for a real guard. Worked well enough, and cost was about the same as a six-pack. And, I had free parking everywhere I went

Now that's just hilarious!

jon_l wrote:

Or just be patient and look for used stuff. I bought a GYTR rear rack and a Flatlands skidplate together, $100 total. The rack needed bolts and spray paint, the skidplate was perfect.

honestly, this. every accessory i've got for my bike since the time of purchase, i've bought from guys on here (other than barend mirrors). got a brand new oem fender still in packaging w/ a rear rack in excellent shape, for like $95 shipped. also purchased a skidplate for $80 from someone on here.. it was beat up but i sandblasted it and powder coated it a textured black. can barely even tell it's used (aside from some scrapes that didn't come out with the sandblaster, didn't want to risk warping it).

also in the process of picking up an fmf pp off a guy for $100.. patience my friend..

Limited volume is what ends up making these things so expensive. Not enough volume and proffit to afford tooling up to make them fast and efficient, so they make them low volume, slow, and expensive.