Hotbodies Undertail Question

[AlanS]

I bought one of these for my Busa. The question I have is for anyone who's installed one on their Gen I or II. The stock setup is the black 'inner' fender, with the painted cowling outside that. The plastic rivets hold them together. My question is, where is the Hotbodies undertail supposed to sit, outside the cowling, or, between the inner fender and the cowling? Another way of asking this is: Should the painted cowling remain the outermost layer with the undertail in place?

I have the undertail on the outside (exterior of the cowling) right now. It looks funky that way and I suspect I've got it wrong. Should it instead be sandwiched between the inner fender, and the cowling? I plan to try this tomorrow, but thought I'd ask about it and try to gain some confidence in the way it's supposed to fit before I start bending stuff...

There are directions, but they are not detailed. It appears to be a 2nd or 3rd generation photocopy with murky pictures, lacking detail.

Thanks... Alan

 

[AlanS]

Answered my own question. It does in fact fit 'inside' the painted cowl, sandwiched between it and the inner fender. Jesus Christo...

I have purchased two Hotbodies products in my life. One was a windscreen for the Busa. The holes didn't line up. Not even close. I took it back. The other was this undertail.

The paint on the undertail wasn't a perfect match. Close, but not perfect. The part of the undertail you don't see was unpainted, and had fingerprints, paint drips and runs, generally looked like hell. Some paint was scraped off on the painted surface. (Looks like it was scraped against something while still wet.) Since that area is only viewable if I'm running over you, or you're underneath the bike for some other reason, it wasn't a show-stopper. As previously mentioned, the instructions were an 'n' generation photocopy, murky and indistinct. There were no specific instructions, more like: 1. Put the undertail on; 2. Put the rivets back in; 3. Send us some more $ if you wish, it's nearly our birthday...

Hardbodies gets a "D" on their report card, from me. I will not purchase anything from them again. Their designs are good, but everything that comes after that is pretty amateurish.

Alan

 

[fiend]

Glad you got it figured out! Could you post some pics up of the undertail?

 

[B@DA$$08BUS@]

I didnt get any directions at all with mine, had to go to hotbodies website and look directions up. I just got my plain and had it painted by my painter, didnt trust them with that part.

 

[AlanS]

Here's a couple of pics. Sorry, they're dark. But you can get the general idea. I recommend installing this with a plastic screwdriver--or similar. Lay the undertail up along the fender bottom, and use the screwdriver (plastic) to seat it...kind of like seating the bead of a tire on a rim as you go around the perimeter, if you can envision what I mean. The holes line up well enough. For the record, I did a web search on this. It sounds to me as if some people install their hotbodies on the 'exterior'--like I did at first, and as if some do the same model on the 'interior' like I finally wound up doing. But it goes 'inside'. Vast difference in the look.

The paint. Bad08Busa has it right, if you want a good match. The part is white ABS. They (Hotbodies) then shoot a coat of blue (in my case) paint over it. It's a thin coat. The white underneath lightens the blue up to the point it's a shade lighter than the surrounding bike. I've no doubt the paint color is correct for an 08 Hayabusa. It's the prep and execution that suck. You get what you pay for. It cost an extra 40 bucks for Hotbodies to paint it. If I have the local guy do it, it's $300.

Edited to add: Almost forgot, another nice touch is they add an LED to illuminate the embossed Busa kanji in the undertail. Only problem is, true to Hardbodies' form, the light isn't focused on the kanji, but on the place where the fender meets the rest of the bike--on my bike, probably the dirtiest place there is (never gets washed. Evidently). I dunno, maybe the guys at Hardbodies have stock in an automotive washing-detergent company, too...

 

[Wayneovich]

Nice I had a hotbodies hugger on My 600 Ordered it unpainted and had a buddy shoot it,pays to have friends who paint.

 

[AlanS]

Yep, they did a good job on the design of this part. Everything else kind of sucks. But the design is good, it fits well enough, and looks good enough. A custom-treatment for the rest of us. Good enough for me. The weakness of the Hardbodies' 08 Hayabusa undertail would have to be the paint--and lack of instructions as to how to install it. The latter is fixed with a little effort. The former takes dinero. BTW, I bought this from Xtreme Discount Cycle. They were back-ordered, so I waited most of a month. But the price was really cheap...around $130 bucks (it would have been $94 or so, for unpainted) as I remember (for those of you who I haven't convinced not to buy anything made by Hardbodies ) ...

 

[fallenarch]

I don't get what looks different? I took the crazy stock plate holder off (man, what country has plates that big? you could sell ad space on the thing) and it looks no different than the Hardbody thing. I'll see if I can add an LED and aim it away from the Kanji, oops, I don't have a Knanji under the tail.

That's what I'm missing!

 

[AlanS]

I started out wanting to rid myself of the 'shovel' thing holding the plate. Truth is, I'd have been as happy with another type of fender-eliminator. This one's a little more 'slick' than the stock undertail. About the only difference. And yeah, add that LED--and aim it at the filth your tire has dredged up off the pavement and deposited on the front-end of the swingarm--and you got what I got. But no, there's no thunderous difference between this, and stock. It's more of a subtle difference that most people probably won't even notice...

Alan