At first glance one would think that the Big Dog Mastiff-or any of the bikes in the Big Dog Motorcycles (BDM) lineup, for that matter-are only good for one thing: turning heads at the local bike night or popular lunch spot. When it comes to heading out on a weekend trip with your favorite female companion, touring on a Big Dog isn't the first thing that comes mind. However, the R&D department over at the BDM kennels has been running ragged developing a P&A line to make all of the Big Dog models more than just one-trick pups. We've been cruising our '06 Big Dog Mastiff for the past year in its stock solo configuration and were ready to let the dog loose on a weekend trip. After checking out the BDM website, we found a plethora of products to help turn our test bike into a short-term touring bike. 1. When it came to choosing accessories, we decided one of everything would do the trick. We picked up Big Dog's luggage rack ($197.75), T-bag mini tour bag with BDM logo ($130.95), 14-inch Sport windscreen ($330), passenger pegs ($197.75), backrest pad and backing plate ($203), and 12-inch sissy-bar and strut package ($600). While 600 bucks is a lot to drop just to add a sissy bar to your bike, word from BDM is that over the course of the next few months all the new '07 BDM models will come with receiver struts ready for the sissy bar to simply bolt in place. This will save you a lot of installation time and, more importantly, money.1. When it came to choosing accessories, we decided one of everything would do the trick. 2. The sissy-bar package comes with new polished-billet receiver struts that are designed specifically for the BDM sissy bar. We started by swapping out the stock struts for the new pair. In order to remove the struts, we unbolted the fender from the frame and unplugged the brake/turn-signal wiring.2. The sissy-bar package comes with new polished-billet receiver struts that are designed 3. The brake/turn signals are mounted on the struts with the wiring hidden between the struts and fender. Before removing the struts, we had to disconnect the plug from the LED board, then push the three individual wires out of the plug so the wiring could be pulled out of the small hole in the strut.3. The brake/turn signals are mounted on the struts with the wiring hidden between the str 4. Once the wiring was taken care of, we were able to unbolt the struts from the fender. 5. Then we slipped the wiring into the new struts. Here you can see the groove that Big Dog machines into the inside of the strut to run the brake/turn-signal wires. The wires are run through the small hole, and the larger hole is for mounting the brake/turn-signal housing.5. Then we slipped the wiring into the new struts. Here you can see the groove that Big Do 6. After the new struts were installed on the fender, we bolted the fender to the frame and slipped the sissy bar into the struts.6. After the new struts were installed on the fender, we bolted the fender to the frame an 1 | 2 | » | View Full Article By Eric Ellis Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
