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Mark "Haz" Hazdovac's Intruder 98
When I originally purchased her in
May of 98, she was yellow and cream.
Although I liked the retro color scheme, I knew one day that
would all change. The first thing to go was the original
exhaust system. I replaced that with the Bubs you see in
the picture. I really like the bubs. The cone design
really helps the horses and the removable/interchangeable baffles
(Bub makes two sets) allow you to tailor the sound from mildly
aggressive to flat out embarrassing.
Next step was the pair valve. I originally
just plugged the hoses (which worked fine) but then purchased one
of Mocc's $15 removal kits (thanks Mocc!)
and got rid of the worthless thing altogether. I replaced
the tri-angular cover with a round one that I picked up from HD.
With the pair valve gone there was lots of room to install an air-compressor
for an air horn that I purchased on the web from Howard's Horns.
This horn is very VERY LOUD and I highly recommend it.
The original handlebars always
kinda bothered me as they seamed too low and a little too far
away. I replaced them with some 12" Ape Hangers.
The extra length was a bit of a stretch for the Clutch hose and
the Throttle cables so I had to temporarily reroute them through
the small openings just in front of the fake tank. Later I
had some custom braided steel lines made that were a little
longer.
Finally it came time to repaint. I decided on
black with blue flames. The flames are actually pretty dark but
they come to life when the light hits them just right.
My last major customization was to get rid of all
the clutter from the rear fender. I got rid of the license
plate frame, the rack, the jumbo tail light, side reflectors and
the turn signal bar. I replaced them all with a sweet
little unit I got from PlanetCruiser.com which incorporates brake
light, turn signals, and license plate frame all in one.
This did require some metal work (to plug the remaining holes)
but my painter had this done for me for a few extra bucks.
Also while the parts were getting painted, I
installed the Thunder Air filter/Jet kit. What an
improvement in performance. Not to mention the exhaust note
sounds much cooler (deeper/beefier).
I purchased a new seat from Corbin but haven't installed it yet
due to wanting the new paint to become good and hard first.
Besides, that seat will cover my pretty blue flames. Plus,
it's winter now and my wife won't care to ride on the back until
it warms up a bit anyway.
Note on Rust:
I live close to the ocean so I knew rust would be a bit of a
problem even before I purchased the LC. The only things
that really began to rust though were the foot controls (thin
chrome) and the floorboard mounts (thin paint). While the bike
was being painted, I pulled those items and had them chromed.
Another area where rust was beginning to occur was on the
underside of the fenders. Suzuki did a rather poor job of
undercoating the fenders and I highly recommend that everyone who
owns one of these bikes pull the fenders and spray some
undercoating on them. See my forum entry on 12/22/00 titled
Fenders And Rust for complete instructions.
Haz - eMail
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