Rear Seat Cowl

I lost my 2005 Victory Red seat cowl to the autovia in Southern Spain yesterday. One of the clips had already broken in my move out here so I didn't see it lasting too long anyway. Where can I find a replacement seat cowl for my bike? Anyone found a carbon fibre variety?
Thanks!

You can get one from your dealer, or cheaper places like servicehonda.com, or you can buy one on ebay and have it repainted(or covered in carbon-style vinyl... comp13.gif ).

Hmm.... VFR seat cowls are still breaking their tabs??
You'd think that Honda would have fixed this problem by now. Why don't they just give us a 2 piece seat just like what my brother had on his Suzuki 750 SRAD years ago, where the seat cowl unit replaces the rear seat portion all together and the seat cowl unit has its own sturdy pan that latches on to the seat lock??!! ohmy.gif Enough of these cheap broken tabs and frankenbolt affairs Honda! pissed.gif
My original seatcowl also has two broken tabs already which I had to repair. It's only a matter of time when it decides to break it's tabs again and fly off my bike one day then I have to use one of the two spare cowls that I bought already.

Beck
95 VFR

Thanks for the info. Where did you pick your extra cowls up at?
Thanks,
flexofile

Beck, Nov 11 2007, 05:01 PMHmm.... VFR seat cowls are still breaking their tabs??
You'd think that Honda would have fixed this problem by now. Why don't they just give us a 2 piece seat just like what my brother had on his Suzuki 750 SRAD years ago, where the seat cowl unit replaces the rear seat portion all together and the seat cowl unit has its own sturdy pan that latches on to the seat lock??!! ohmy.gif Enough of these cheap broken tabs and frankenbolt affairs Honda! pissed.gif
My original seatcowl also has two broken tabs already which I had to repair. It's only a matter of time when it decides to break it's tabs again and fly off my bike one day then I have to use one of the two spare cowls that I bought already.

Beck
95 VFR

Beck, Nov 12 2007, 08:01 AMHmm.... VFR seat cowls are still breaking their tabs??

Not here - 5 years and going strong. However, I have only taken it off & on perhaps 30 times.

I figure that if I go on a group ride with it fitted, Murphy's law is that someone will bin it and need a lift home, holding my seat cowl in their hands. So I generally leave it off except for special occasions when I want to sex the VFR up a bit.

flexofile, Nov 12 2007, 08:49 AMThanks for the info. Where did you pick your extra cowls up at?
Thanks,
flexofile

Bought one from one of our co-VFRD members here. Got the other one from Ebay. It would have cost about double if I bought it off Honda's parts department. Cowls for 5th and 6th gens are pretty easy to come by but get harder to find out there as the years pile on, also making them more expensive, so if you're thinking of keeping your bike for a long time, it would be good to have a spare. Honda's supply of them are not infinite and do run out after some years. 3rd gen cowls are pretty much sold out and 4th gen units are not far behind by now.
The cowl tabs tend to crack and break off just from the everyday stress of riding vibration. The occasional impact from your foot sometimes hitting it even slightly when you swing your leg over to mount your bike also add to the cumulative damage. Anyway, Honda's cowl retention design is just not that good at all, IMO. dry.gif

Beck
95 VFR

Still available: I recently (earlier this year) bought a new R-157 Italian red '90 FL seat cowl from David Silver Spares in the UK. As I have a black Sargent seat. I got the black seat pad, rather than the OEM grey, though.

Ciao,