Making A PowerBronze Hugger work

[enzed_viffer]

I decided to start a new thread topic for this, in case anyone who currently has a Powerbronze hugger, or who comes across one at a good price (like perhaps someone PAYS them to take it) might be helped to make the thing work.

Unlike most huggers, this hugger doesn’t replace the chainguard, but is designed to go over the top of it. Not a bad idea, but it means it’s rather bulky looking, something I have yet to address with the laminate trimmer (I don’t have a Dremel). I’ve decided to live with it for a while and then decide whether to trim it to make it a bit more svelte, or do radical surgery and cut the whole rear part off.

I may just take Miguel’s (HS) suggestion and slather it with decals. Trouble is, I have only very Large Elka ones or very small Shoei ones.

The PB hugger is made of ABS, and is rather thin (around 1.5mm). I toyed with the idea of fiberglassing the underside to stiffen it, but I have no experience with this, and didn’t want to throw more money at paying someone else to do it. However, this might be a good option for someone else.

Moulding: It’s not a good shape, not trimmed properly, and has a prominent lip. The second thing I did after test-fitting the thing to see if it would work was to get the heat gun out, soften the edges above the tire, flatten them out, and trim them with some shears.

Bracket: The bracket is stupid. In principle, it’s a good idea to make use of existing fastenings on the swingarm, but not under the chain slider! This pushes it out and contributes to rapid wear. Also, there are only two fasteners on the bracket for the main part of the hugger, and they’re too close together and do nothing to stop it wobbling around. Furthermore, the threads aren’t properly tapped, and one of the threaded bosses was free to rotate, so couldn’t be tightened! So the next thing I did was discard the bracket, and buy some 40x3mm aluminium bar, and bend it to the curve of the hugger. My initial idea was to bend it down and fasten it to the swingarm in front of the wheel, but I couldn’t get the bend and twist right, so I cut it shorter, and bent it to sit flat on the top of the swingarm.

I needed another fixing point (or three!) so bought some 5mm stainless mushroom head allen bolts (20mm, IIRC), some 9.5mm grommets to match the ‘Posiflex’ PB ones, and made some internal spacers. Another hole was drilled in the hugger and the grommet added. Three holes were drilled and tapped in the bracket, and the bolts loctited in, and the hugger was mounted with nyloc nuts and s/steel washers.

The lower bolt in the pic above is the new one. Normally with the PB bracket, the bolts go in from the top, but I wanted them the other way round, so had to add the nyloc nuts and washers.

The pic below shoes the underside, with the tapped and loctited bolts.

A test fit showed me two things: the hugger was still too wobbly, and accessing the swingarm to drill holes necessitated removing the rear subtray.

After several trials, I decided the best way to reduce lateral movement was to add two more mounting points on the chainguard side. Using some T-section aluminum, I made a bracket to span the two brakehose brackets on top of the chainguard. This was fastened with some VTR1000 TPS screws I had lying around, which were just the right thread size/length.

Two holes were made in the side of the hugger, and ‘posiflexed’. Holes were drilled though these and tapped into the new bracket. Two more were made and tapped in the top of the swingarm for the front bracket, and everything fitted, lined up nicely, and it looks like the thing will work!

As you can see, it's still kinda URGLEE, but some trimming may help.

This last shot shows the bolts in the bracket on top of the swingarm. (I should've photographed it before I put the Satantune back on, but I was very tired at 12 o'clock Wednesday night...)

To remove the hugger for servicing or whatever means undoing the three nuts on the top of the hugger, and the three bolts on the chainguard side. This leaves the two brackets in place.

(Alternatively, I could remove the bolts on top of the swingarm to remove the hugger+bracket, but I don't want those tapped threads to wear)

Not ideal, but the best I could do with trying to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse...

[Rivcyko]

Sweet fab work. "If it can be made, it can be un-made, or fabbed".-me

[enzed_viffer]

Sweet fab work. "If it can be made, it can be un-made, or fabbed".-me

Thank you, Sir.

I actualy thought my fabrication was a little messy, but I have only basic tools: a drill, cheap Indian bench vise, some files. I can be quite inventive at using makeshift work-arounds to get things done. For example, to tap the threads in the holes in the top of the swingarm, I used a t-handle and three socket extensions, a 1/4" adaptor, with the thread tap jammed into a 6mm socket on the bottom. It was bit wobbly, but the only way I could access it (through the space where the battery box normally is). Saved me having to remove and replace the rear wheel too.

Sometimes my ideas don't pan out though, like the time I decided to grind a pin off the chain of my VTR1000 by using a cheap low-speed grinder bit in my 28,500 rpm laminate trimmer. :fing02:

That was a few minutes of cheap excitement, as the bit went from having a very slight wobble, to being VERY wobbly as the shank bent, to being totally out of control as I held onto it with both hands and knees as it vibrated my fillings out. :fing02:

A crisis was narrowly averted by managing to flip the switch off with my knee...

[vfrcapn]

Good job, it actually looks just fine and should serve it's primary purpose of keeping the shock muck-free.

[enzed_viffer]

Good job, it actually looks just fine and should serve it's primary purpose of keeping the shock muck-free.

Thanx. If you need any details for help with yours, let me know.

There were actually two (2!) other reasons I fitted it. Firstly, I couldn't sell it, so had to fit it to justify buying it. Funnily enough, it had been on the shelf in the garage for months and months, and then just before I did the job, my WifeAccountantPorcupine finally went, "What's that?!?" Luckily She'd already approved the purchase in principle long ago, so I was able to remind her of that. She wasn't impressed by the price though... :fing02:

Secondly, I already had a rubber flap bolted to the plastic protrusion below the battery box. This cost next to nothing, and did a great job of keeping the muck off the shock, although it did put a wee bit of rubber dust on the swingarm whenever it flapped against the tire. However, I had a suspicion that it may have been helping to trap heat around the shock. It was also not kewl. :goofy:

[mello dude]

I went thru simular gyrations with the perimid plastic hugger I stuck on my 5th gen. Its kinda fugly, but it keeps the crap off the shock. -- It seems like no matter what with the SSSA, getting a decent design for a hugger is a challenge.

MD

[Veefer800Canuck]

Good job Ian in turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. :fing02:

To anyone else considering a Hugger, pony up and buy a Harris. First class is all I have to say. Expensive but worth every penny.

Best part is, it's a one-piece design that takes the place of the stock plastic chainguard.

http://www.harris-performance.com/website/acatalog/index.html?http%3A//www.harris-performance.com/website/acatalog/Online_Catalog_Honda_rear_huggers_126.html&CatalogBody

And if CF is too pricey for you, you can also get black fibreglass for less.

Mine is on the way from the UK after the original was destroyed in the wreck.

I will post pics of the install as part of the rebuild thread when I get to that point.

[enzed_viffer]

Good job Ian in turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. :fing02:

Ta!

To anyone else considering a Hugger, pony up and buy a Harris. First class is all I have to say. Expensive but worth every penny.

Best part is, it's a one-piece design that takes the place of the stock plastic chainguard.

Yup.

I really regret not buying the one that came up here - it could've been a real gift, as the guy auctioning it had a very low reserve, and the two other bidders obviously didn't know what it was. I stuck a pathetic $50 autobid on it, and it sold for $51. :huh: I'm sure I coulda had it for well under NZ$100 (that's about $3.67 in other currencies... :fing02:

Too late now...

I'll just make do with sticking an Elka sticker on my hybrid POS PB. If nothing else, it'll make it more strongerer. :laugh:

Oh - and BTW, Rob - see how handy your drilled footpeg brackets were? Just perfect for zip-tying a wayward shock reservoir hose! :fing02:

[VFR Capt.Bob]

I've got the exact hugger on a shelf. Already fabbed the alum. bracket similar to yours. I still hate the half chain gaurd cover. Like what you did with the stiffener peice. I may re install mine yet.

[enzed_viffer]

I've got the exact hugger on a shelf. Already fabbed the alum. bracket similar to yours. I still hate the half chain gaurd cover. Like what you did with the stiffener peice. I may re install mine yet.

Mine sat on the shelf for months and months after I first bought it and did a test fit (then got on the Interdweeb and found all the negative comments about it).

I did look at the idea of adding something underneath it to stiffen it (like aluminum plate or bars, or fiberglass, or whatever). However, at each step, I said to myself, "Keep it simple, Stupid! I think despite that it's a little more complex than I would've liked, especially with respect to the number of fasteners. But it works, I think.

As for the "half chain guard cover", I may yet cut that back. Ideas are either minimal cutting (just follow the line of the OEM guard) or radical (cut off the rear part as far forward as possible, and trim the bottom towards the front). Dunno yet.

If I was a manufacturer, I would either go the Harris way, or make a minimal one from the same material as the chainguard (polypropylene?) similar to the ones fitted to the more recent models of CBR1000RR. They may not look as swish as CF, but they're rugged and sufficiently flexible that anything that the tire picks up and tries to wedge in between itself and the guard shouldn't damage anything.

Oh - and if anyone wants details of the el cheapo but very effective rubber flap

that preceded this fitting, let me know.

[Rivcyko]

I've got the exact hugger on a shelf. Already fabbed the alum. bracket similar to yours. I still hate the half chain gaurd cover. Like what you did with the stiffener peice. I may re install mine yet.

Mine sat on the shelf for months and months after I first bought it and did a test fit (then got on the Interdweeb and found all the negative comments about it).

I did look at the idea of adding something underneath it to stiffen it (like aluminum plate or bars, or fiberglass, or whatever). However, at each step, I said to myself, "Keep it simple, Stupid! I think despite that it's a little more complex than I would've liked, especially with respect to the number of fasteners. But it works, I think.

As for the "half chain guard cover", I may yet cut that back. Ideas are either minimal cutting (just follow the line of the OEM guard) or radical (cut off the rear part as far forward as possible, and trim the bottom towards the front). Dunno yet.

If I was a manufacturer, I would either go the Harris way, or make a minimal one from the same material as the chainguard (polypropylene?) similar to the ones fitted to the more recent models of CBR1000RR. They may not look as swish as CF, but they're rugged and sufficiently flexible that anything that the tire picks up and tries to wedge in between itself and the guard shouldn't damage anything.

Oh - and if anyone wants details of the el cheapo but very effective rubber flap

that preceded this fitting, let me know.

Ar you kidding? Post it up. All mods are welcome LOL. Did the same to my front, after cutting it down, on the sides.

[Rivcyko]

Shameless, bastage, that I am,.... You do get what you pay for. LOL.

The 6th Gen.'s, "Long run", has been good to me. LOL.

[vfrcapn]

Oh - and if anyone wants details of the el cheapo but very effective rubber flap

that preceded this fitting, let me know.

Yeah, if you want to write up some quick details on what you did that would help, no hugger in my immediate future and I could use something...

[enzed_viffer]

I got bored, and got out the laminate trimmer:

Trimmed hugger

As for the rubber flap doofer, that's some 3mm x 150mm rubber strip (real cheap), with 2mm x 20mm aluminum strip riveted to one end. I cut out a small semi-circle on the side near the rear headers just to make sure it didn't go up in flames.

On the undertray, there's a piece of plastic that extends downwards. I drilled some holes through the aluminum strip and this plastic thingo, and stuck some thin bolts through, with nyloc nuts on the front side.

Sorry - I can no longer show you the strip attached, but if you cut the strip the right length, it will sit nicely between the swingarm and tire, and keep all the crud off the shock. Yes, the flap will sometimes rub on the tire, but not badly, and a very small amount of wear (and rubber dust) will occur.

I used this for... hmmm.... a couple of years. It worked well, but wasn't very handsome.

Rubber flap This has aluminum strips (2 x 20 x 150mm) on each side, to stop the small bolts tearing through. The strips are riveted on by 1/8" aluminum rivets.