New Headlight

So here's the new headlight and mounting brackets associated.

The process started with cutting off the stock tabs from the headlight hanger. The fabbing new tabs, then welding them on. Very, very painstaking process to get the alignment right.
All made of mild steel (probably too heavy a gauge but oh well), so I could weld to the stock hanger.

This headlight comes from a 2006 Yamaha MT-03. Only sold in Europe until recently, I imported the damn thing from England. I would have liked to use the bracket from the MT-03 but the fork rake is different and fork width is different, plus I didn't want to spend another $200 on the bracket. LSL has a kit for mounting this on a Triumph Speed Triple (my old bike), but the same problems apply. Plus the mounting kit cost ~$300.00. Way too much.



Posed for fitment, before molding and painting.

The stock horn bracket and horn were in the way of the new light. So the horn bracket got modified. I chopped it down, folded over the support for the hanger and drilled new holes:

More pre-painting fitment:
I started out with the light lower down on the forks, which I thought looked slightly better. I ran into troubles with the horn bracket even after modd'ing it. I ended up raising the whole thing up. It gives the bike more of a hunched up look. Maybe like a cat arching it's back with it's hair standing up.
The result of moving the light up is that it interferes with the stock gauges. I've now decided to use an aftermarket gauge. I was never fond of the stock gauges sticking up the way they do since I've removed the standard handlebars. I don't want the stock gauges being the highest thing on the bike, sticking up all crazy. Another corner to engineer my way out of.

Here's some shots with the bracket and headlight on final install. I've also installed new front brake master cylinder and controls.
And the new modd'ed horn bracket, painted and installed:

Front view looks nice and tidy!
Here's the top view. You can see the new brake master cylinder, and custom mounting of the reservoir:

In the above photo you can see the way I mounted the brake reservoir. I took the stock clutch lever assembly, sawed off the mount that connected it to the handlebars. I then filed this down nice and round, and painted it up. I made a custom bracket to hold the reservoir, out of aluminum, and painted that also. I'm using the threads that used to hold the mirror on the stock clutch lever bracket, to screw the new reservoir bracket into.

You can also see that I've upgraded my throttle controls. This comes off a 2006? GSXR.

The new front brake setup is off a 2008 Yamaha YZF-R6, purchased from a salvage shop. It's a 5/8's radial cylinder with separate reservoir. I couldn't make the VX stock master cylinder fit. It kept bumping into the clipon where it mounts to the forks. I went from a 1/2 master cylinder to a 5/8s. That's going to soften up my front braking a little. Hopefully not too much...

I've now got a completely refurbished stock VX front brake master cylinder and lever for sale!

Ok. That's all for now. This took SO much time to accomplish. I was running this work in parallel with my engine rebuild and many other current projects for the VX though, and lately I've only been able to work on this on weekends...

All said and done, I'm happy with the look. It's extreme, but I feel it will fit in with the new look of the bike as a whole once it's complete. One thing I hate is aftermarket headlight jobs that look pasted to the front of the bike, with no harmony with the lines and feel of the bike. I searched long and hard for a light that would be eye catching, but not cheesy. Something as far from stock as I could get, which limited me to non-round lights.
Cheers,