Update on Kawasaki Concours Main Fairing Bracket Re-welding

I got my Kawasaki Concours main fairing back from my neighbor, and as usual he did a much better job than I anticipated and looks great.  Not only did he repair the cracks in the tubing, he cleaned up the old repairs and made triangular pieces to reinforce the corners.  He also repainted that area a nice gloss black-covering up the faded and scratched paint and some rust.

While its not really late time wise, I just flew in from the East Coast and three hours "ahead" still.  I'll maybe re-install it tomorrow morning, especially if I wake up long before I need to be at church.

I'll also get some photos of the great work Mark did!

Quick update-1994 Connie Restoration

It's been a while since I updated the progress on the 94 Connie restoration.  I've got the bodywork sorted out on which pieces from all the body panels are going back on the bike but still need to do more sanding and coating light scratches with resin.  I also need to patch one turn signal "cut-out" where most of them on Kawasaki Concours main fairings break.  There are some YouTube videos on how to do this so I'm going to try.  The drive train is solid from the small amount of riding I've done and the front brakes are working if not great.  I'll likely replace the old front brake pads and re-bleed before putting the bike in daily use.

Other than that I'm pretty happy with this bike and look forward to riding it for years to come.

Kawasaki Concours Main Fairing Bracket Re-welding Time

While putting the left inner fairing piece back on my 1986 Kawasaki Concours last week, I noticed what looked like a crack in the main fairing bracket.  Sure enough, right beyond an area already re-welded/repaired once before (at least) a new crack had developed and the bar was completely "cut".  On the other side of the re-welded joint another crack was about 50% through the bar there too.  So Saturday I took the inner fairings off the bike, removed the mirrors, disconnected all the wiring to the headlight and turn signals and then removed the main fairing.  While the shop manual says to remove the main fairing and main fairing bracket as one piece, I've found it's easier to remove the main fairing separately.  This is especially true if you are doing motorcycle maintenance projects that require them to be separated anyway.  I also removed the speedometer from the bracket while it was still attached to the bike to get it out of the way of the welding work.  Once this was done it was pretty easy to get the bracket off the bike and delivered to my friend.

He's a good welder, having done the tab on my old Sportster.  He also has made his own bicycle frame before, so working with tubing won't be an issue.  Hopefully he'll be able to get it done this weekend and I can re-mount everything.  If not, I'll move some parts back over to the 1994 restoration project but this will slow my climb toward 100,000 miles on Miss Swail, the 1986 Concours.