I wanted a set of lowers for winter riding, not to mention keeping the dead bugs off my pants on the commute to work each day, but just couldn’t lay out $90 for two sheets of steel. Maybe I watched too many episodes of American Chopper… ‘ya know, I can fabricate my own! I picked up a small sheet of aluminum diamond plate from my local spend half your income…I mean my local home center. I then made poster board templates of the design I wanted. I actually mounted up the mock-ups so I would be sure there was no interference with anything critical. Then, covered the plate with masking tape to prevent scratches, and traced out the templates...

After tracing the templates on to the diamond plate, I used an old stationary scroll saw to make the cuts. You can also use a common hand held jig saw which I did while making another set for a friend out of much thicker stock. Photos are for the Virago, not the V-Star.

After cutting out the blanks, I filed the edges smooth, then sanded them with emory cloth. After that I put a polishing wheel on my grinder with some good polishing compound and polished all surfaces including the edges. The aluminum really polishes up nicely, and the edges get a nice rounded, finished look. I then drilled the mounting holes a bit larger than needed to facilitate adjustments. At this point it would be really cool to have access to a metal break to make the bends, but I didn’t. I clamped the plate between two 2x4s onto the edge of a solid wooden bench, then used a mallet to gradually form the bend. Head out to the garage, mount ‘em up and ride! The best tip I can give is to make your templates VERY carefully, exactly how you want the final product to look, then mount ‘em up and look it over. Turn the handlebars full lock in both directions and compress the forks and check for any rubs or binding. Here is a picture of the finished product on both my V Star and my wife’s Virago. I have since made a set of these for both my Vulcan and Nomad, and have had requests to make some for other friends. The last set I just finished for my Nomad, I went down to the auto skills center on base (where I work) and used their metal brake to make the bends. The aluminum bends very easily and can bend quite tight corners before any surface degradation occurs. And the bends were very nice and crisp!

Good luck with yours, Rick.