Evening, anybody bought one of those cheapo Chinese / Hong Kong seat cowls off of Flebay ? Do they actually fit ? Colour match anywhere near ? Did it get stopped by those customs jobsworths ? Ta in advance !
I've no experience I'm sorry. But IMO you pay £20 odd quid for something cheap, or an extra £80 odd for a top quality secondhand genuine item. If it was my bike i'd pay the £80..,, afterall what's that, around the cost of half a rear tyre or so. Treat yourself!
True enough, just curious ! Won't have a lotta dosh left after buying my new stead and the Racefit to go with it ! Beans on toast for a while...
Got both , a black one from China for my 09 and the colour was a good match. Think I paid about £20 and no probs with customs or tax. I've got a genuine one on my 20 anniversary which I got 2nd hand for about £90. Honestly not a lot of difference between them. They both fit well. It's your money and your choice. Go with what you can afford.
What colour do you need? Stick a wtb on here you never know someone may have one knocking about from a recent sale. Good choice on the racefit. And don't overdo the beans!
Not a lot of exhaust choices for 2014 blades out there at the moment and the Racefit looks the best. I have a Leo Vince on my 09 blade and it's been great, I'd willingly put that on the new bike but the headers are different on 2014 models. I could probably fab and adapter of sorts but the exhaust isn't really designed for that model so who knows what it'll run like ? The cheap seat cowl would just be a stop gap until funds allow so to speak. Looking to buy a new graphite black bike in the next few weeks, got a couple of beamers to test this week and I've just ridden the Superduke R but in all honesty I think it'll be another blade, got a good offer from my local dealer. My 09 has been fantastic but the mileage is getting high-ish so time to swap while it still looks good !
I just bought a cheap red eBay cowl from Hong Kong for my 2014 blade. Colour is a little off but fine for me. Fit seems ok. Took two weeks to arrive but no extra charges on top. Steve
Graphite black you say, is that metallic? If so, I wonder if that's harder to match than solid black with these Chinese copies? What you been offered for the 09 if you don't mind me asking. Pm if you prefer.
Whichever you 'go' for, don't forget to put (with an indelible pen?) a contact number on the underside in case it flies off the back of the bike without you noticing. There's always a chance someone may pick it up before it gets crushed by following traffic.
If there is a chance these el cheapo cowls have a habit of removing themselves, I reckon I will glue a bit of cord to it and tie off to the bike!!
Any cowl will 'disappear' if you haven't made sure it's 'clicked' home mate. Always a good idea to label or tag stuff ( e.g. keys) that you might lose/misplace.
An Electrical tie would retain it still giving access to the area . This is what I used after losing a very expensive factory cover off an R1 .
Thanks for your input guys, it doesn't have to be an exact colour match, I'll just put a load of stickers on it ! Regarding the deal I've been offered (bearing in mind that I know my dealer quite well), well the book says the trade in value for an '09 in good condition with around 12k miles is £5650 which means you'd need to stump up £6350 for a new non ABS bike. My guy will do it for err... less, a chunk less and throw in a tail tidy. Not bad really, as my bike has slightly more than 12k on the clock, "cough !". It's a good time to buy, season coming to an end and people saving for Xmas or just returned from their hols, go chance your arm... Did like the Superduke R but it's not a sportsbike despite the BHP, it's also pricey to buy and knowing KTM pricey to run / maintain / upgrade, fun though !
