While the smaller "Sport" style tool boxes show up on eBay fairly regularly, they usually sell for more than I'm willing to spend. Instead I got fiberglass replicas from Phil at Road and Race in Australia. He also carries steel reproductions of the originals. The steel parts are functional, while the 'glass parts are simply for show. In order to mount the boxes I had to cut the stock mounts off the 160 frame and weld on some new tabs. Since the fiberglass boxes don't open, I installed some welnuts so I had a way to mount them. The knobs on the front are from Domiracer. I eyeballed the locations and drilled a hole all the way through the box, front to back. I needed to have a larger hole in the back to have access to the nut that holds the knob on. The smaller hole was used as a locater for a hole saw, insuring everything would line up. From the looks of things I'm guessing the fiberglass boxes were taken from molds made off an original steel box. That means they have the same flaws the original boxes did. I decided not to fix the flaws thinking they might look more "real" that way. I still think that's true, but I chose to paint them with a silver pearl paint, which seems to highlight every flaw much more than the stock paint would have. Oh well, I'm leaving them as is. My next choice was what decal to use. I first bought some Sport decals (similar to those on a 125 Sport), but then realized the bike was going to look more like a TS, not a Sport, so I ordered some "160" and "Monza Junior" decals. Once I got all my options laid out I decided to go with my original choice, the Sport decals. I like how they look, and very few people who see the bike will realize that A) the decals are for Sport, and B) this bike looks like a TS, not a Sport. I also considered making some custom 160 TS decals but that was getting too complicated for a bike that's intended to be a quick/fun/relatively inexpensive project. The large hole in back was filled with a plug from the local hardware store. I also bought some chrome plugs, but the grey plastic looked better to me. I'd like to say I planned it all out when I chose the hole saw, but it's just dumb luck they fit. My advice would be to buy the plugs first, and make the hole to fit! When I was choosing what color to pinstripe the tank (gold and red were the front runners), I decided to stripe the toolboxes too. I was going to do them in black, but the day I went to the striper's I changed my mind to red. There was just too much black in the back of the bike already. |
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