If there's one part of the stock SV650S bodywork that sucks, it's the treatment of the tail section. The stock unit has a rear fender that while no doubt functional, is absolutely enormous and immediately trashes the lines of the bike. The 2003 model is even worse, but then I hate the new styling of this year's bike from one side to the other. I don't know where this new angular bodywork style came from. Anyway, let's face it, here in southern California I think it last rained last year, so the fender just isn't needed.

Anyway, I decided that fender had to go. There are a number of options out there. I looked at a number of "fender eliminator" solutions. These usually involve cutting off the rear fender and then bolting some sort of cover plate over the hole. The big bonus of these is that they retain the whole stock internal part of the fender, which includes the glove box, and that in turn means that the inner fender is well fitted, bolted, and secured. Here's a few of them:

• Homemade Solution 1
• Homemade Solution 2
• Homemade Solution 3
• Competition Werkes

However, I rejected these because I knew that the stock unit is made of high impact plastic. I have had negative experiences in cutting this and getting a clean edge. Some of the fender eliminators hide this under the cover plate. The other alternative is an undertray. These eliminate the entire stock fender completely, replacing it with a new unit. As a result, it cleans up the interior of the fender with something smoother and sleeker. There are a number of downsides, though. First, every one I know of requires cutting off the battery box from the stock fender. I have no idea why they are like this, it doesn't make any sense. They don't have all the little built-in bits the stock fender does, so there's nowhere to put the tool kit, the tank stay, and you'll have to do your own drilling to figure out where to put the electronic ignition box. Finally, being aftermarket the fit isn't as good as the stock unit. In spite of this, I knew that final fit and finish would be more to my taste than the fender eliminator. 2WheelJunkie offers a fiberglass undertray that is so cheap it is competitive with the commercial fender eliminators, and which has a reputation of being high quality.

The manufacturer's installation instructions are here. A fine review with pictures can be found here.

The stock fender. Butt-ugly. It's really more of a tacked-on platform for mounting the license plate, lights, and reflectors.

Stripping the bike down to the subframe.

This was pretty easy, with one exception. I have a CA model, and on the left there is a vapor recovery cannister. This cannister is mounted on the outside of the subframe and fills the left side of the tail section. It was really hard removing the tail from around this, and unclipping the seat latch was pain. I also needed an impact wrench to remove some of the phillips head screws that hold the bodywork on.

The fender removed from the bike. Why is this such a complicated casting? It seems as though there are built-in compartments designed to accomodate things that don't exist.

Preparing the turn signals. I decided to use the stock turn signals. There's a problem I have noticed on many mods with this - the place that the signals bolt to is slightly tilted inward. As a result, if you try and mount the signals on this, they will droop down. Doesn't this bother anyone?? The stock signals bolt to the fender using a plastic spacer, which is notched to prevent them from rotating. I filed the spacers down at an angle to straighten them out. On the right is a picture where the right signal has the tilted spacer, while the left doesn't.

In addition to drilling the holes for the turn signals, there are a few more holes you'll need. First, you'll need to remount the ignition unit. Using velcro or twist ties didn't appeal to me. The unit was originally held by two screws. I just picked up some bolts and and bolted it onto the back part of the undertray. You'll also want to drill holes for mounting the license plate. Finally, I put in an additional hole filled by a rubber grommet for running the plate lighting.

CA vehicle code requires plate lighting and rear-facing reflectors. For the plate I went with lite'n'boltz, which are commercially available through JC Whitney. They're basicly bolts that have been drilled out and small incandescent lamps inserted into them. They can be used in place of the regular license plate bolts. For reflectors I found some very small stick-on ones at Pep Boys.

The glove box. Note the location of the electronic ignition module. I ran a couple holes through the undertray and bolted it in. The tool kit is attached on the left side with a velcro strap. I also added a copper plate to act as a stop to prevent things in the trunk area from sliding all the way down to the battery box. One other difference is that with the stock unit things could not fall out since it was a continuous casting. With the undertray there are small gaps around the places where the frame penetrates the bodywork. Small objects could easily slip out.

Finished. Very Cool.