Engine guards for the Shadow

The other week I managed to win an E-bay auction for a genuine Honda Shadow engine guard. It’s pretty rare that you see these things go up for auction. Even rarer that you can buy them for under 100 bucks. It was my lucky day.

Below are a few photos of the installation of the engine guard. When I went to install mine, I had a few troubles figuring out just how to mount the whole contraption. Hopefully these photos will be of use to someone else in the future.

Left side engine guard.
Left side engine guard.
Right side engine guard.
Right side engine guard.

Note that the flat metal bit that goes inside the frame tube does not actually connect to anything on my 1984 Honda Shadow. It is simply left dangling out in the air. Perhaps on other makes or models of Honda, it actually bolts to something. On mine it dangles awkwardly. This doesn’t seem to affect the strength or rigidity of the bars at all.

Left side exhaust system partially disassembled.  The exhaust system must be disassembled to attach the engine guards to the bike.
Left side exhaust system partially disassembled. The exhaust system must be disassembled to attach the engine guards to the bike.
Cross-bar in front of radiator.  The radiator shroud must be removed during installation.
Cross-bar in front of radiator. The radiator shroud must be removed during installation.
Finished product on the bike!
Finished product on the bike!

Later that day I went out and bought two cheap highway pegs to mount on the bars. It is much, much more comfortable to ride my bike now. In the future I plan to upgrade to forward pegs to let my feet and legs stretch out a bit more. The one nice thing with the way they are mounted now is that I can heel shift and heel brake from cruising position.

Ride past the airport

I took the bike out today first to school for lunch with Brent before going on a ride past the airport.

My gas tank was low so I stopped for a fill-up. The motorcycle took 2.397 gallons and the odometer recorded 117.1 miles. Fuel economy was 48.85 mpg. The 10% ethanol has a big effect on my mileage!

Route Map

Trying out the new crash guards and buying highway pegs

Today I went on a short ride to try out the new crash guards I bought on Ebay last week. Halfway through the ride I decided to stop at Fred’s Honda in Corvallis to pick up a pair of cheap highway pegs to mount on the guards. They aren’t perfect but they work pretty well. To make them better, I’ll need to pony up the money to get a pair of forward-hanging pegs.

More on the crash guard installation will be posted later.

Distance: 35-ish miles.

Route Map