Before and after - Opinion needed

Ok, so I drug my 82 550 LTD outta the corner of the garage and started working on it. I had to put my new carbs in (thanks mjg15!) and put my new vulcan 500 shocks on.

So, bear with me because the bike is very dirty and some parts are currently off of it as I work on it, but I need to know... do you guys like the grab bar there or not there? The lower with the shocks is not up for debate .

I personally would go with the grab bar. Roy

I prefer the grab bar on too, although it doesn't look bad without it. Ed

650ed wrote: I prefer the grab bar on too, although it doesn't look bad without it. Ed

I like the grab bar also.
I'm going to a swap meet in a few weeks so will be keeping an eye open for something similar for my 750/4. Think I have the same chrome chainguard on mine. I have quite a few parts from recyclers

I am leaning toward agreeing with you guys on this one. Thought it might look cool without it, but the lines of the seat I think look better with it.

Case gaurds came off too. They fit like crap anyway, plus I had to take one off to get my timing advance out (had to use an impact), so I said to heck with them too.

The bike is still a work in progress....

no question in my opinion...grab bar looks good

I usually don't like grab bars, so it is surprising to me how much better it looks with it on your bike. Definitely keep it. Maybe it's because it looks to be in decent shape. I've seen too many rusty grab bars and sissy bars.

take it off :woohoo:

I like the grab bar too. I think it cuts down the bulky look of that back of the seat. OK I know the lowering is off the table but you didn't say anything about the case savers being off the table. I have seen case savers save hundreds in replacement cost. Just a little slide and your wallet slims down real fast. Not to mention your leg. Nice bike!

wireman wrote: take it off :woohoo:

wrong thread buddy. were talking about bikes hear.
not what u grab at the bar. :laugh:

i like the bar.

Keep the bar. It gives her something hard to grab and something to hook those bungee cords to.

hehe good point, somtimes I do strap stuff down.

@ proxy, good point on the case savers. I was going with pure asthetics, not functionality. Maybe I'll throw them back on.

The bike used to look a lot nicer. But I holed a piston 2 yrs ago (major carb issues along with rushing to ride it instead of park it and troubleshoot) Since then it's spent time in my buddies garage, my parents and now as of monday my own. Got new piston and rings, valve job (just in the holed cylinder) and some paint on the engine since it was already out. Plus I scored a new seat because my old pan was so rusty. Problem is the foam now is so big and tall, but I hate to mod it because it's in such good shape.

One cool thing I did last night was take my kawie emblems off and scuff em up (they were already dinged up alot) and paint them gloss black. I'm thinking of outlining w/ silver, but the black on black might look cool too. Next up is some carb tuning, general cleaning/polishing and a new chain.