Starting the Color Change

First job is to remove all the red bits from the new bike and start swapping over parts from my old bike. Removing the fairings has to be done carefully because of the hidden tabs that I don't want to break.  It takes some effort to separate some of the body panels, but its a fine line between enough effort and too much.

The seats are easy to remove and then comes the side panels:

Off

Then the middle cowl.  This picture shows some of the hidden tabs that I have to be careful not to break:

Middle cowl off:

Next the instrument surround and the headlight and windshield cowling:

The lower cowl and the rear cowl:

And finally, the gas tank.  I had to have Carolyn help me with this.  It took more than two hands to hold the gas tank up while at the same time disconnecting the fuel line from the fuel pump, which is inside the gas tank.

At least the front fender on my bike is the same color and doesn't have to be switched.  The chance to get a look at what's under the fairings on this bike makes me realize this is one very compact, complicated piece of machinery.  What a change from the Triumph.

I ended up with this pile of parts:

I also drilled and tapped new holes for the Ram mount for my Garmin Zumo GPS to be moved over to the new bike:

Since I left the heated grips on Jenny's bike, I bought new ones and installed them on my new bike:

With the lower cowl gone, it was easier to install the centerstand from my old bike:

Next week I'll start taking all the color parts off my old bike and then swap them over to my new bike, but for the rest of this week I'm going to do some riding as the weather is looking good.  I may even get the Triumph out for a spin.