If I had the shop setup when I had my VT700, I would have done that, too. I recall seeing online somewhere some photos of a setup someone did that sounds very similar to yours. Maybe if I see another ’84 VT700 on CraigsList I’ll buy it and put some forward controls on it. My current bike is great but it doesn’t have that badass feel like the Shadow did.

Thanks!

Douglas

Thanks for the note! On my ’84 Shadow VT700, the way I put it on was the only way I could figure out how to fit it to the bike. I suspect that there were small frame and exhaust modifications made between the model years. I know that there were other mods made elsewhere on the bike so it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that it changed a bit. That’s good to know that on an ’85 you don’t have to take off the exhaust like I did.

Do you have any pictures of your setup? I’d be happy to post them on this post as an addendum for people who might be in a similar situation as you.

Did you buy your Hondaline engine guard from a Honda dealer? I got mine via Ebay. It didn’t come with a u-bolt and the seller indicated that all of the parts that it came with when he bought it were shipped in the package. Do you have a photo of the way that u-bolt is supposed to go on? I would be more than happy to post some photos of that for others in the future.

I sold the ’84 Shadow about a year and a half ago so I can’t fix the setup now. While I had it, I didn’t have any troubles with the way it was setup but this is all good info for the next bloke who tries to put an engine guard on his Shadow.

Thanks!

Douglas

I tried mounting mine with the front panel option but I couldn’t get it to work quite right. It didn’t seem like it would fit when I was testing it. But if it does fit that way, that’s a great option for other PCers!

Cheers!

Douglas

Thanks for the compliment The best source, in my opinion, is the PC800 mailing list. I just am trying to organize a few things so it’s easier for people to find some of the key resources.

My LED conversion is still in the works. I’m not satisfied with any of the bulbs on the market at the moment and haven’t figured out how to work around the self-canceling turn signal unit yet. My current idea is to build my own LED “bulbs” and use something like an Arduino or similar inexpensive microprocessor in place of the self-canceling turn signal unit. The reason to work around the unit is because it requires a specific range of wattage being pulled through the light system (or so reports seem to indicate). LEDs make that wattage too low and end up burning out the unit. Some people have put resistors into the lighting circuits but that defeats one of the two purposes of converting for me (to reduce total bike wattage load so I can run more heated gear, radio equipment, etc). Hopefully this fall/winter I’ll have some time to work on that project again.

Let me know if there is anything you’d like me to do some research on, take pictures of, etc… I’m happy to post anything that would be useful for you and your PC.

Cheers!

Douglas

PS: I’ve been away from the internet for about six weeks and am VERY behind on the PC800 listserv. In the next few weeks I’ll be catching up on what’s happened recently and adding new info from the wisdom of the list to this page.

Thanks for correcting my mistake! I updated the page. Hopefully this fall I’ll find the time to dig into my bike and do the modification you pioneered. It is going on a long to-do list of mods.

Thanks again!

Douglas

The Givi case and rack are on Art’s bike. I haven’t found any for mine yet. They stopped making them for the PC800 a year or so ago and now they’re extremely rare. You, me, and every other PCer out there want them. Let me know if you find a source!

The “flat metal bit” that you left dangling does attach to something – it attaches to the frame with a U-bolt. You did not set this guard up exactly right.