CMS42
Getting there...
- Location
- Cambridge, UK
I'd like to relate my experience of fitting a 'tail tidy kit' to my 350 Meteor - and subsequently removing it the following day - as it may save you some time/money/grief if you're thinking of buying one of these for your own bike. I should point out that I have no issues whatsoever with the supplier or with the quality of the parts that they supplied - it's a design issue that affects all of the kits currently on the market and I should have looked more carefully into this before opening my wallet.
I bought the kit from a well-known supplier of Enfield parts and accessories here in the UK. It arrived the following day and I proceeded to install it. By the time I'd got half-way through the job it had become apparent that there were three major flaws with the design, any one of which - by itself - would be a deal-breaker. Combining all three saw the swift removal of the kit and a revert to stock. Here's the deal:
Problem 1: The nicely made and finished steel plate has a drilled and shaped 'projection' that is sandwiched between the rear mudguard and tail-light unit, and three slightly longer stainless steel bolts and an additional rubber spacer are provided with which to secure the plate into position. The plate is flat steel however, and even with the extra spacer doesn't quite accommodate the radius of the mudguard and light unit. I tried tightening the bolts in various orders but just couldn't get it to sit right and look good. More worringly, the combined weight of the plate/licence plate/licence plate light/reflector and indicators is being carried by this ill-fitting arrangement. Every bump you ride over will cause this weight to pry apart the mudguard from the rear light unit, causing stress cracks in the plastic housing of the rear light and dislodging the three threaded inserts that hold it in place - I've seen this happen. The whole assembly needs to be firmly attached to the mudguard at its lowest point to alleviate stress and prevent this from occuring.
Problem 2: Once fitted, the licence plate and indicators are pointing at the sky! Not by much, perhaps - maybe 5-10 degrees - but enough to be very noticable and unacceptable, at least to me. You can put the steel plate in a vice and bend it to a more vertical position as suggested by one of the kit's sellers, but then its bottom edge fouls the mudguard and removes the paint, leading in no time at all to a rusty mudguard (seen this happen, too). The indicators can only be swivelled through a couple of degrees without some quite major modification, and I'm just not prepared to do that - I shouldn't have to.
Problem 3: Fitting the tail tidy requires the permanent removal of the plastic inner mudguard. Whilst this may be asthetically desirable it also has some undesirable consequences: the electrical wiring for the rear light, licence plate light and indicators - and more importantly the connectors - sit between this inner plastic guard and the outer steel mudguard where they are nicely protected from the elements. Removing the inner guard exposes this wiring to everything that the rear wheel cares to throw at it. Another no-go for me, I'm afraid.
All things considered, the tail tidy kits currently available for the Meteor 350 are in my opinion a bit of a dog's dinner - poorly thought-out and poorly implemented. I believe that any accessory that you fit to a bike should at the very least match the design and build quality of the machine that it's being fitted to, and Royal Enfield are a tough act to follow on that score.
I hope I haven't put anybody off with the above - the tail tidy concept is a good one. Just be aware that if you rush out and buy one of the currently-available kits you're going to have to do a fair bit of bespoke engineering to make it fit and perform in a way that complements your bike.
I bought the kit from a well-known supplier of Enfield parts and accessories here in the UK. It arrived the following day and I proceeded to install it. By the time I'd got half-way through the job it had become apparent that there were three major flaws with the design, any one of which - by itself - would be a deal-breaker. Combining all three saw the swift removal of the kit and a revert to stock. Here's the deal:
Problem 1: The nicely made and finished steel plate has a drilled and shaped 'projection' that is sandwiched between the rear mudguard and tail-light unit, and three slightly longer stainless steel bolts and an additional rubber spacer are provided with which to secure the plate into position. The plate is flat steel however, and even with the extra spacer doesn't quite accommodate the radius of the mudguard and light unit. I tried tightening the bolts in various orders but just couldn't get it to sit right and look good. More worringly, the combined weight of the plate/licence plate/licence plate light/reflector and indicators is being carried by this ill-fitting arrangement. Every bump you ride over will cause this weight to pry apart the mudguard from the rear light unit, causing stress cracks in the plastic housing of the rear light and dislodging the three threaded inserts that hold it in place - I've seen this happen. The whole assembly needs to be firmly attached to the mudguard at its lowest point to alleviate stress and prevent this from occuring.
Problem 2: Once fitted, the licence plate and indicators are pointing at the sky! Not by much, perhaps - maybe 5-10 degrees - but enough to be very noticable and unacceptable, at least to me. You can put the steel plate in a vice and bend it to a more vertical position as suggested by one of the kit's sellers, but then its bottom edge fouls the mudguard and removes the paint, leading in no time at all to a rusty mudguard (seen this happen, too). The indicators can only be swivelled through a couple of degrees without some quite major modification, and I'm just not prepared to do that - I shouldn't have to.
Problem 3: Fitting the tail tidy requires the permanent removal of the plastic inner mudguard. Whilst this may be asthetically desirable it also has some undesirable consequences: the electrical wiring for the rear light, licence plate light and indicators - and more importantly the connectors - sit between this inner plastic guard and the outer steel mudguard where they are nicely protected from the elements. Removing the inner guard exposes this wiring to everything that the rear wheel cares to throw at it. Another no-go for me, I'm afraid.
All things considered, the tail tidy kits currently available for the Meteor 350 are in my opinion a bit of a dog's dinner - poorly thought-out and poorly implemented. I believe that any accessory that you fit to a bike should at the very least match the design and build quality of the machine that it's being fitted to, and Royal Enfield are a tough act to follow on that score.
I hope I haven't put anybody off with the above - the tail tidy concept is a good one. Just be aware that if you rush out and buy one of the currently-available kits you're going to have to do a fair bit of bespoke engineering to make it fit and perform in a way that complements your bike.
The wiring is better routed and the tail light-to-mudguard fit is a lot better than I could achieve with mine. I'll have to modify the kit I have, I think 
