How to: Tail Chop (Lots of Photo's)

[corey]

There are no "Existing" tabs for the turnsignals. Currently, they are mounted on the "beer tray," which would come off when you do the chop. The competition werkes chop kit comes with two turn signal tabs that you can either choose to mount, or choose to leave off... it's your call.

same with the cookie1 kit i believe?
either way, nah they won't stand out.
you might want to paint them black if it bothers ya.

[COP TZR]

Do all seat posts need to be chopped??  I just installed the same kit on my bike and everything fits pretty good and I didnt need to chop the seat posts.  However I do find that the tail light does touch the seat when its locked into place.  Maybe thats the reason for chopping the seat posts?

[ducamonsta]

Hi guys I have a 05 s2r800 My Competition werkes kit should be arriving today! 
I will be installing soon, now I bought a tube cutter from home depot but it says it will cut aluminum and copper, but I think the frame is made of steel? Can someone Confirm that i dont have cutting tools!!

[Spck31]

awesome and very useful write-up!
Very well documented with pics and instructions.

Thank you CairnsDuc taking time to doing this.

Tailchop is my second project on my 620 and your advice will certainly help me 

[hunduc]

Hi guys I have a 05 s2r800 My Competition werkes kit should be arriving today! 
I will be installing soon, now I bought a tube cutter from home depot but it says it will cut aluminum and copper, but I think the frame is made of steel? Can someone Confirm that i dont have cutting tools!!

not sure what you bought exactly - i had a small tube cutting wheel from lowes, it worked fine. you just have to apply some force to it... it is also a good idea to tape the place where you will cut - i did not do it, so i managed to remove some paint as well (hidden now by furniture leg rubber caps).

[CairnsDuc]

I'm glad to see that people are getting some use from this Topic! 

A few other people have used pipe cutters as mentioned, so far that is the only issue I have heard of is damaging the paint
but as HunDuc has mentioned (And a few others have confirmed) if you protect the paint you should not have any paint
chipping issues.

[JimmyTheDriver]

Just did mine using these instructions and it went great!  Used hacksaw.

Thanks!
Jimmy

[cakeman]

what sort of time frame should i allow for this install? Im going to try and squeeze it in some time this week.

[ducamonsta]

what sort of time frame should i allow for this install? Im going to try and squeeze it in some time this week.

My first time took me about 45-1hr taking few breaks!
it takes some time to read instructions and follow! BTW I used a pipe cutter ! and it works although messed the frame paint just a bit , who cares, you cant tell! just paint over!

[cakeman]

BTW I used a pipe cutter ! and it works although messed the frame paint just a bit , who cares, you cant tell! just paint over!

I was going to use a pipe cutter as well. Did you wrap the part of the frame you were cutting with a bit of sticky tape first and cut through that to stop the paint chipping?

[ducamonsta]

I was going to use a pipe cutter as well. Did you wrap the part of the frame you were cutting with a bit of sticky tape first and cut through that to stop the paint chipping?

I used it on the second cut but, I guess you have to have precise control and going around the frame , and still was able to chip some tiny bit off paint,, Like I said if you mess up I didnt care!!
But if you want to re-spray you can!

[cakeman]

Thanks for your help.

I completed my tail chop today, and am very happy. Was reasonably straight forward.

Very Happy with my Chop!

[CairnsDuc]

Looks Good, Glad it all worked out well!  [moto]

[Hank025]

Went ahead and chopped the tray off and it looks perfect once i figure out how to post pics I'll show you guys.

Here are a couple things that i wanted to share because i was not expecting to have to do them:
1) I had to cut the seat posts (should have read this thread first) to get the fit i wanted where the end of the tail light lined up exactly with the end of the seat. if you don't mind the brake light sticking out a little bit you can move your tail kit back and everthing might fit.

2) After I had everything installed i still had some trouble getting the seat to lock.Its almost impossible to tell what was getting in the way of the seat, so i raised the locking latch about 2mm ( or whatever the width of one washer is) by putting a washer underneath the latch. Now she locks right up.

[DaveO]

Hi,

Do you have the contact details from where you bought your tail chop kit, i cant find a number or web address..
I'm keen to get started on my 2007 S4R and your 'how to' info is a GREAT help .. cheers ..

I love the look of a clean back end (bike i'm talking about here  ) and have ordered my QD Exbox so hopefully will arrive in next week or so so will put some pics up when i've finished the converstion.. just trying to find the best looking integrated tail lights at the moment ..

Cheers