So I was up at my local shop the other day and they now have silver 11 on the floor, first off I will admit that the new 11 silver color does look alot better than the 08 silverdammit IMO... Still slower than black though. 
 
Here's my question:
When Kawi deleted the center storage compartment why did they leave that black plastic piece there, seems really odd and looks kinda bad IMO. Does it serve a purpose or was somebody really just that lazy at Kawi to not redesign that section on the top of the tank?? I don't get it...
 
Any thoughts or opinions on this?

I am not an expert...but I was lead to believe the plastic pad (with hooks up front) is for a tank bag that Kawasaki was supposed to add to their accessory list for Concours (but never did)

I loved the center storage box. I do miss it.

I thought they relocated some relays to that area when they added the locking glove box on the left side of the fairing. I thought this was discussed in the old forum. I have no problem using a tank bag on top of the glove box. Someone has installed one of the older glove boxes on the newer model. We lost a lot of knowledge from the old forum.

Yeah I would imagine it wouldn't be difficult to add the earlier storage compartment from the earlier model to the new one.

I think in a past life someone did that but it's been lost in the bit bucket I fear.  Also, that 'glove box' was somewhat sneered at in the early days.  Brian's blew off his bike on his trip across country in a crosswind.  It's all his fault, he should have had a tank bag on top of it. 

Yeah I would imagine it wouldn't be difficult to add the earlier storage compartment from the earlier model to the new one.

My question isn't how to retro fit an 08/09 to it... It's if they deleted the compartment why did Kawi still leave that black plastic piece there in the design and not just get rid of it entirely??

If I'm not mistaken, the air filter is located under the plastic cover. It also has latch points for a tank bag.

If I'm not mistaken, the air filter is located under the plastic cover. It also has latch points for a tank bag.

Interesting....they changed the location of the air filter for the 10/11 models?

My question isn't how to retro fit an 08/09 to it... It's if they deleted the compartment why did Kawi still leave that black plastic piece there in the design and not just get rid of it entirely??

there was a write up on this before the crash, i was going to do this but.........crash........

The old writeup was pretty good... Essentially, he found a complete assembly from a wrecked bike (because ordering all the pieces separately from Kawi was a PITA)... then he had to do some relay relocating, as there are extras under the plastic in the '10/'11... then there was another mod for some sort of wire or hose that also is there on the '10/'11... But, he got it on there. If you're mechanically inclined, have the time, and can locate a complete assembly (including the metal bracket), go for it. I plan on trying that one during the off season (but I do use the hooks on my '11 for a tank bag).

Air filter is still accessed under the left plastics.

Kawi probably didn't change the tank geometry because it was cheaper to keep the same stamps for the steel, and just tool for a new plastic bit. My opinion, but I think it's plausible.

this conversation is all to do about nothing. take one of these every night before bed and you will forget about the black box.

Here's the deal.  Kawasaki did a survey before the 2010 model was introduced.  Among the suggestions by owners, including some on the old forum was that they didn't want a glove box on the tank.  They expressed desire to make it easier to mount a tank bag and so this is the solution that Kawasaki came up with.  A pad to mount the tank bag and they relocated the glove box to the side.  I have an 08 and prefer the glove box on the tank.

this conversation is all to do about nothing. take one of these every night before bed and you will forget about the black box.

im sorry but that is ugly........

Nothing is ever really lost::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GH_2YjfgreYJ:forum.concours.org/index.php%3Ftopic%3D66845.0+09+tank+storage+on+10+site:forum.concours.org&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

Nothing is ever really lost::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GH_2YjfgreYJ:forum.concours.org/index.php%3Ftopic%3D66845.0+09+tank+storage+on+10+site:forum.concours.org&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com

Google to the rescue!

awesome!  thanks alpha!!

I don't think that's gonna help in the long run as it will go poof one day.  I've saved the cache onto my PC but I wonder if anyone knows how to recreate it here with pictures and all?  I'm going to put it in the Wiki somehow.

I don't think that's gonna help in the long run as it will go poof one day.  I've saved the cache onto my PC but I wonder if anyone knows how to recreate it here with pictures and all?  I'm going to put it in the Wiki somehow.

what happens if i do this.....:





   
How to: I added 08-09 top glove box to my '10
« on: March 04, 2010, 04:39:30 pm »
Before I even got my 2010, I wanted to know if I could add the earlier tank top glove box to my new bike.  I ride without my saddlebags and I wanted all the storage I could get.

Forum member "CarlDeBar" was at my house one day on his 09, and we did some experimenting.  While we didn't try to really mount his, we did pull his off and looked at the brackets enough to see that it looked pretty doable.

I was in the process of checking to see what the parts would cost from the mother ship (Kawasaki dealer) when "Krautburner" decided to buy his wrecked bike and part it out.  We came to a quick agreement on a deal and it showed up last week.

When I pulled off the stock plastic cover and the bracket that had to be changed out, I quickly discovered some things I did not anticipate.  Unfazed, I proceeded with the install.  First up I had to pull off the bracket on my '10 and bolt on the bracket from the donor bike.  This has to be done because the spacing to bolt down the plastic bin are different than the plastic cover on the '10.  If you look at the picture below you can see the differences.  Where the blue tabs bolt down to the bracket the threaded insert is in the wrong place....



At first I just assumed I'd drill some holes and thread them or use some sort of self tapping screw.  But if you look, the bracket has a nasty bend right about where it needed to be drilled.  So I decided to proceed and worry about bolting it down later.  You'll see in a later picture what I wound up doing. 

The second problem was that the plastic tray actually hit the blue tabs and pushed down the blue body work too far.  I had to either grind the blue tabs off, or grind away the tray.  I decided I didn't want to grind on the tabs as it could cause me to not have a way to keep that part of the body work solid - so I ground away the plastic until the tray actually held down the blue tabs just enough.  Then, I put some foam under the blue tabs and just used the tray to hold that piece down.  The first picture below shows where I ground away plastic on the underside of the tray, and the next picture shows how it holds the tabs down without them being screwed down any more....





Next up on the list of problems....If you look at the picture below, you'll see that under the tray there are three brake lines heading toward the steering stem.  Apparently the two on the right side were on the earlier models, but the one on the left was not.  The plastic tray has an indentation to clear the ones on the right, but not the one on the left. As a result, the tray does not sit down all the way.



The fix for this was to put a 1/2" spacer under the front mounting point up by the steering stem.  See this picture - there is a white nylon spacer installed to hold the front of the box a little higher...



Because it was being raised, and there is only one bolt in the middle of the front, I was concerned that the front of the box may wiggle around a little with the spacer installed. So I put some foam under the tray to firm it up.  In the following picture you can see where I put the foam.  BTW, there is a cable in a "loom" going across - that cable is for the radar detector that I installed.  I could have rerouted those wires, but with the foam in place it was not a problem to leave them there.



The final result works great.  If you really look you can see a bit of a gap between it and the tank.  But you really don't notice it. If anything, the flash from the camera and the angle makes the gap look worse in the picture than it really is....



While it sounds like some work - the truth is that even though I had to figure it all out as I went, it only took me maybe an hour and a half to do all the work and have it ready to ride.

Hope this helps. 

No pictures...