ok so i was wondering if anybody had a powerbronze rear seat cowl on their f4i and if so if you could post some pics. i have an 02 f4i and i was really wanting a targa but they same a little too pricey and hard to find. also are there any other companies that make seat cowls for our bikes? thanks in advance.

 

I've recently purchased a powerbronze seat cowl for my Fs1 (split seat) and while the shape of the cowl is spot on perfect the fitting kit provided and method of fitting is absolutely terrible! The kit relies on 3 m6 bolts spaced out to ridiculous lengths with countless washers leaving the cowl fixed to the bike in a VERY flimsy manner , putting any kind of weight against the cowl when pushing the bike out of your garage or whatever is completely out of the question.

Also , the pictures shown to illustrate the powerbronze cowl on their site show a perfectly smooth cowl with no exposed fixings , when in reality the cowl has a big ugly bolt going right through the top.

I've resorted to buying a second hand stock rear seat and utilising the base from that to make a decent home brew cowl from a mixture of the powerbronze kit and the stock cbr rear seat. Full write up to follow when finished.

 

i appreciate the reply and the heads up. now i know not to get a powerbronze. i have a powerbronze rear hugger on my bike and the quality was great so i was actually surprised to hear that about the cowl. maybe the targa is worth the extra cash. problem is getting one, a few sites i have found are out of stock. i am anxious to know how your write up turns out. good luck!

 

I too was surprised at the poor quality of the cowl as I purchased a hugger from them at the same time and the quality of that was awesome as you say , the hugger fitted with zero trimming or fettling required. Wish the same could be said for the cowl though.

 

not sure what brand I have, but I lucked out one day while I was looking on craigslist. It was my color too and he only wanted $40 for it! The cowl stays on very securely and will not pop open if you apply pressure on it. I'm very happy that I found one because they are hard to come by.

 

Some examples of powerbronze kit quality....

Outer fit of actual cowl (shape) is really good , but note the absolutely horrible bolt right through the top (ugh!)....





And these pics will illustrate just how poor the fixings are , they've went to the bother of fabricating a striker to fit in the standard latch.... but it's over an inch too short and needs spacing right out.
Also the other end utilises the hooks from the standard seat but the instructions actually tell you to space them out with 7 washers on each one , the hooks end up bolted to the underside of the cowl at completely the wrong angle as you can see in comparison pic to stadard seat....








Like I say , I'm taking step by step instructional pics of the hybrid cowl I'm making from a standard seat base so watch this space for update.

 

doog- i see what you mean about the bolt going through the top of it. i cant imagine why powerbronze would design their cowl like that. i do like the way the pad looks on it tho.

sjsharks33- by the looks of it yours almost looks like a targa. i believe devil made a cowl at one point and theirs too looked like a targa so im not sure what brand yours is. i believe that devil discontinued theirs but i could be wrong. most targas i have seen say targa in small letters down the side unless theyve been painted a different color.

thanks for the pics!

 

Sjsharks33, as stated, that does like like a Targa. I also have the split-seat Targa & it looks just like that. $40 is a steal! If it looks like this on the underside, its a Targa...


Top view...

 

The quality of that targa item looks amazing! Far superior product.

 

gotcbr it looks exaclty like that! dead on! but the only thing missing on mine is the engraved targa and numbers. I wonder if they added that in later production? Anyways, very happy with the cover cant complain.