February 01, 2010
I know that my luggage rack is not the OEM version that most riders have. However, to get the quarter panels off of my bike, the process is nearly the same as for “stock riders”. The luggage rack has to be removed, to remove the quarter panels from the DL-650.
I have modified both of my quarter panels. By doing this modification, the normal chore of removing the panels, has become pretty darn easy now.
Here is the right quarter panel, removed and “as is” from the factory, (Okay, the factory does not supply a finish of West System epoxy with black, graphite powder mixed in, and sanded up to a “brushed look” appearance like I have here. That was my doing!).
Using my Dremel tool, and a cut-off wheel, I cut a section of the quarter panel out.
Then, I filed a “pocket” with a coarse rasp file.
Now, when I need to remove my quarter panels, I “un-pop” all of the plastic fittings and remove the screw at the front of each panel, then loosen the luggage rack bolt, lift up, and slide the quarter panel free of the bike.
This is what my modified quarter panels look like installed.
And, this is what it looks like with the seat “down”.
Here are two more photos of me working on the left quarter panel.
Barry B.
“Black Lab”
Black Lab Adventures 
thats a great idea! i was recently cursing my side panels for being a pain to remove with my luggage rack! i will be doing this mod for sure!
Great idea, will be doing to my 650 and 1000 soon.
Recently went through the pain removal to do a TPS replacement and adjustment.
I would love to see the photos for this! They seem to just be teeny little black squares! 🙂
It’s been years since I’ve been thinking about this tweak to the DL650. Now that I’m back to fiddling with Strom’s again after many years away, I went looking for this post. Thank you for keeping this site up all these years. It is still useful, and still well written.
Thank you! I haven’t posted anything on this site for years. But, it is comments like yours that yields me to decide, “Well, I guess I will keep the website up one more year.” Good luck with your projects!