to further expand the Rebel's ability to carry stuff, i've had a sissybar installed for strapping things to
and what with the new brake light LED's covering the stock rear reflectors
i had the semi-bright idea of loosening up the pad and slipping some red retro-reflective material
behind the back plate and then tightening it back down
this turns the back of the pad into a large reflector
while allowing the backplate decor pattern to still look cool in the daytime ...





AARRRrrgghhhhh ...

it had never had a passeneger - it hadn't done anything but suppport my helmet when i was parked doing errands etc ... it never had a load put on it - it just fell off at a stop light with no warning at all - not even a wiggle that one leg was loose - they both just gave way and fell over backwards - it was fine at the store where i had my helmet ontop it while i ran in to get the oakley keychain used for my 'alien skull' LED eyes brake light mod - then when i got home and was putting it in the garage - GASP its GONE ?WTF? - jumped on the bike and sped back the way i came - found it 4 blocks from home at the last stop light i had stopped at - picked it up - lucky it hadn't been run over yet as traffic wasn't very active on that road at that time of day - took it directly to the shop that had ordered and installed it for me - he said he would inquire of the mfg about warranty replacement and let me know what they had to say about it ...

went home - stared at it - figured it had a design issue with a stressed area right where the brackets held it and the 'C' channel became a 'L' channel - figure the rebel's buzzy vibrations had been working on it since it was installed and that there might have been a slight sizing issue that stressed the uprights where they joined to the side rail mounting brackets - and it was just a matter of time and riding vibrations until the sides of the uprights had vibrated a concealed crack all the way through the inside of the side plates then the back part of it just tipped back and split off when i rev'ed away from the light - plop ... just glad it hadn't fallen off on a highway between indy and portland when i was at the rebel meet last week - also glad the rough broken ends didn't drag and scratch the paint on the fender - tho i am not happy that it DID make a mess out of the tail light housing top ... anyway took the broken parts and used them as both a template for drilling new mounting holes and as a spacer to allow me to re-mount the bar inboard of the brackets ... glad i got the tall one so i still had space to salvage what's left of it ... gggrrrrrr ..... shop emailed and said to take pics of it for the mfg to view - so i took it off and took this pic series - am sending this to the shop to be forwarded to the mfg and we'll see what they have to say about it - tho quite honestly, if they're going to send me something to make up for the part falling apart, i'ld much rather have the lower priced RACK that goes with this set instead a new sissybar because i think my re-mounting job is stronger than the orginal design and it has the full 'C' channel supporting it now instead of just the 'L' with it's design stress point issue AND because the rack will do a lot to help cover up the scratched tail light from when it broke and fell off ...





!@#$%^&* !?!...

here we go again ... or - it's done gone and done it AGAIN ...

at least this time it did have a passeneger - and i caught it in advance of it actually falling off - see first photo below where the side part is broken and it's starting to bend back but the rear lip is still intact ...

again it's that same design issue right where the 'C' channel becomea an 'L' channel (this time at the top where it changes to an 'L' for the pad area - and yet again, it's a good thing i had orignially gotten the tall sissy bar, because once more i have enough intact to allow me to (just barely) re-mount the pad section inside of the former 'C' side rails - and good thing it tapers too so the upper 'L' section of the pad nestles inside the 'C' of the side rails ... gggrrrrrr ..... never did hear anything after the shop emailed and said to take pics of it for the mfg to review - so am now going to be warning people to beware of Mapam brand products and lousy design done in cheap metal .....





The Incredible Shrinking SissyBar

it went from TALL to medium to shorty







It's not all bad tho ... the drilling also prompted me to drill one morr set of holes ...

My latest addition to the Rebel is a pair of chrome pull knobs for bathroom drawers ($1.79 each) mounted on the side of the sissy bar uprights to serve as anchor points for the bungee net - they can be seen below ...