Another Nomad Light Bar Solution


Originally Posted August 1999 on the VROC list
By Al Nestor (RIP)

spotlight_brackets_ds280134.jpg (18079 bytes)

Drag Specialties DS-280134

You may have seen Kirks No Light bar Solution which has been adopted by many Nomad owners who weren't afraid to drill a couple of holes in their existing turn signal hardware. The mod works well as long as you get the hole in the right place. <grins>

Here's another option to spending $200 or more on a light bar. All the parts (excluding lights) cost about $40, slightly higher if you use chrome bolts. Ok, it's a little more costly than Kirk's but without the risk and still a lot less expensive than a commercial bar. It only involves a bracket from Drag Specialties, a couple of bolts and spacers and....well, there is no and. That's it! One small caveat. This will only work for those who ride with the Nomad windshield all the way up. Any lower than top of the adjustment and you'll have a collision between the light mounting tabs and the bottom of your shield.

What You'll Need

(parts shown in picture at right are for one side, spotlights not included)

an_lightbar_parts.jpg (81348 bytes)

  • (1) Drag Specialties part number DS-280134. Cost, depends where you get it but an Internet search will probably turn up pricing between $30 and $40. (Wholesale to your dealer at this writing is about $26 so you'd be playing fair offering them a 15% profit)
  • (1) Set of spotlights. Typical Harley style come from Drag Specialties, Cobra or other 5" spotlights (preferably with H3 bulbs for easy replacement) cost, somewhere around $65 for a pair but can go higher if you want fancy lenses. If you enjoy scrounging around motorcycle salvage yards you can probably pick up a nice set of spots for $10 or so.
  • (4) 8 mm bolts, 35mm long 1.25 pitch& Stainless steel bolts at my local hardware store were 86 cents each, the same bolt in chrome was 3.22 each (ouch).
  • (2) Flat Washers (stainless 17 cents, chrome 86 cents)
  • (2) 8 mm lock nuts (to fit the above bolts)
  • (2) 3/4 inch stainless steel spacers ($1.76 each locally)
  • (2) 7/8 inch stainless steel spacers. You'll probably have to buy 1" spacers and use a bench grinder to get rid of the extra 1/8" if you aren't making your own from a piece of tubing ($1.76 each locally)

 

How To Do It

  1. There are four 8mm Allen-head bolts used to adjust the height of the Nomad windshield. Loosen them and make sure your windshield is all the way up.& Tighten the top bolts and remove the bottom bolt on each side.
  2. cg_bracket_rear.jpg (96858 bytes)
    At this point, you'll need two 3/4" spacers that will be thru-bolted between the spot brackets and the windshield mounts. Al cut his from a piece of 7/8" OD stainless boat railing, but similar OD heavy aluminum tubing (especially anodized) should work equally well. Your hardware store might have stainless spacers as shown in these photos or you could also use a 3/4" stack of SS washers, if the looks suit you.
  3. cg_bracket_front_close.jpg (398745 bytes)
    During this step, make sure that the drilled tab,where the spotlight will be mounted, is turned in toward your headlight....Not out). On one side of your windshield, run one of your 35 mm (1-3/8&quotWink bolts thru the bottom hole in the spotlight bracket arm, then thru a spacer(s) and into the hole where the OEM Allen-head bolt was. Center the spacer, so it looks good, then tighten the bolt just enough to hold everything in place. Do the same thing on the other side.
  4. Now, use two more spacers (7/8&quotWink as above. On one side, run a 35 mm (1-3/8&quotWink bolt thru the top hole of the spot bracket, thru the spacer and thru the adjustment slot in the windshield bracket. Now add a flat washer and a nut and tighten finger tight. Do the same on the other side. If necessary, move both brackets a little until everything on both sides looks good and uniform. Now tighten all four bolts. (The spotlight tabs should be as parallel with the ground as possible).
  5. cg_bracket_side.jpg (495788 bytes)
    Install the spotlights and tighten just enough so they can be adjusted up, down, and from side-to-side. Note the spotlight isn't even 'close' to being aimed in the picture. It's just there as a temporary prop so you can get some idea where a light would mount.
  6. cg_bracket_front.jpg (141966 bytes)
    Connect your new spotlights using a relay as shown on this Gadget Page. The spotlights shown were just hanging around the garage and used as an example.
  7. cg_bracket_2liteson.jpg (77292 bytes)
    Start the bike, have someone hold it straight, and adjust your spots on some vertical surface 15-20 feet away. They should line up with your low beam, not the high one. Make sure everything is tight. If you look really closely you'll discover the lazy bugger who took the pictures just did a cut/paste from the right side so he wouldn't actually have to spend the time installing the left light. <grins>
  8. If you weren't lucky enough to find chrome or stainless bolts/nuts and want to dress up the bolt heads just visit any auto supply store and purchase a package of chrome license plate bolt covers. Glue the covers onto your bolt heads and you have instant chrome.

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