mounting Nomad sissy bar on a 1600 classic??

[bstephens8]

I've got a 2003 Vulcan 1600 Classic and I want to put a sissy bar with the grab handles off of a 2008 1600 Nomad on it. The chrome fender rails on the 03 Classic are narrower than the fender rails on the Nomads, and the bolt patterns aren't the same either. Does anyone know if the fender rails, and especially the brackets underneath the rails, from a Nomad would bolt onto the 03 Classic? If anyone has any other suggestions as to how I can make this work....other than just buying a Nomad....I'm all ears!

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Sorry, guess I would just get a Nomad. Sounds like you have a real problem if things don't match up.

[mcdaddy]

Perhaps if you indicated what area you are in you might get one of the members here to allow you to take some measurements from their Nomads. May be worth a try.

[bstephens8]

Well, after checking with a fellow Kansas KawaNOW member, I have discovered what I feared was going to be the case. The rear fender on the 03 Classic is narrower than the 05 & newer Nomads. Therefore the chrome fender rails, and the overall width of the backrest w/grab handles, is wider than on the Classic. The mounting holes for the grab handles and the fender rails on the 05 & newer Nomads is also different than those on the 03 Classic. In other words......if I want to have the 08 backrest and grab handles I'm gonna have to fabricate some sort of bracket or just go spend a lot more money and buy a Nomad!! I do have a few friends that have been known to do a little fabricating from time to time so I'm gonna check to see if I can't get one of them to take on another project in the near future.

[macmac]

If the bolt holes line up at all, maybe simple spacers can work. When adapting things it is better if the parts you want are built over size, rather than under size.

If one pair of holes line up then there can be brackets and spacers to ling up the rest if you look close enough.

So far I made a bracket to hold my rear shocks air gauge and the filler shrader valve, and a tach bracket.

Next when I get some time, I plan to test fit the rear boards to lower and angle them forward.

The way that works, is to drop the stock brackets to be the top hole on the brakect to the bottom hole on the frame. get my wife perched, and see what angles work best, perhaps match the drivers board angle.

Someone else makes a bracket with the same idea, other than I hope what I come up with, has some angle adjustment built in.

A mini braket I made of simple metal plumbers tape got rid of the big honkin ugly Vista Cruise bracket. I just clipped off 2 holes, and rounded the edges, and used a oem screw on the right grip switch box. I had to alter some Vista cruise hardware, and flip the toggle over, but that was easy.

So you can look and think, and get what you want probably.