Hotbodies Undertail 02 R1 review - very detailed

all right fellow R1 brothas. There's been a lot of talk about Hotbodies undertails. Frankly I didn't know who to believe or what so I ordered it myself and will put it through my own detailed review. I have no bias whatsoever. I have never dealt with Hotbodies and have nothing to gain from putting them down or giving them undue praise. Therefore, this will be based entirely on my experience with the product they shipped me -- the 02 silver R1 undertail. I plan on backing up all my words with pics. Since I don't have a dremmel tool, I will have to do this review in installments as the tool becomes available and I make progress, so stay tuned.

these are the contents of the kit right after I opened the box

it IS a very close (if not exact) match. Here's some pics...

another pic of the good color match

small plastic that plugs up the holes where the turn lights will be flashing is not an exact match with the holes, there's a little bit of a gap at the top in the pic. So I'm a bit worried that they may fall off eventually or some light may leak out unfiltered... anyway, NOT a major deal, but a small flaw to note.

Cool, keep us posted with pics as you progress!

I jut checked out the website and it looks realy cool on the bike, but I'm wondering where the license plate will go-and how it'll look. Please post pics after you've installed it! :thumbup

I'm getting my dremmel tool today from my homie and like I said I will post all da pixx.... stay tuned this weekend. Can't wait to check it out.

Anyone supply the website address for them?

There's a link on the main Index page.

http://www.hotbodiesracing.com/html/R1(02)_superbike.php4 here is the link

OK, fellas. Got the dremmel tool. Here come the pics.... This is a pic of the bike with the passenger seat off, before the cutting with the dremmel tool. I did one quick little cut (the circle) for practice, as you can see but other than that it's unmodified.

My first pass at cutting, I cut too little. I thought all I had to do was cut around the flat part around the stickers and I'd be OK. Then I cut again (pics later). Here is a pic of my first pass...

here is my first pass cut finished... (remember this is not enough, need to cut more, I'll explain in next few pics)

here is a pic of what the back of the undertail looks like

here is the back of the undertail not fitting because I didn't cut enough (note the red circles where the undertail cannot go up anymore because the bottom of the black plastic is stopping it)...

so then like I said before, my second pass I cut too much. I cut off that entire black column on the left side thinking I needed to cut off the whole thing... See the left red circle? It's missing that black column that's still there on the right red circle. What I SHOULD'VE DONE was to cut that column's base a bit but not the whole thing off. Oh well. Not that huge a deal because the bike still looks fine from the outside but I'm annoyed that I did that. Instructions were not that clear like I said - pics too dark, couldn't make em out...

here is another pic from the bottom of the bike. The top red circle should have the black plastic part that the bottom red circle still has. Doh! On that bottom circle, you can see that I cut the column's plastic so that the little bumps where the lights go on the undertail could fit (the green circle). THAT's all the cutting that was needed. Not the whole damn column.

OK, next up, you need to cut a bunch of little plastic pieces on the tail (not the undertail, the stock tail itself). Otherwise the undertail will not fit. The stock undertail has little holes on it that allow for those little plastic things to fit, but the Hotbodies undertail does not. So you gotta cut em. Pic of what I cut.

pic of stock versus Hotbodies undertail tops - shows the little holes I talked about on the stock piece where the little plastic pieces fit. Hotbodies doesn't have em so you gotta cut.

Also, remember when I said the paint was a very close match? Well, I found out it really wan't. It's not too off but it is definitely not an exact match. When it gets cloudy (like today) it is a noticeable difference. Here is a pic of the color not matching well. Also, the big hole on the stock piece was something I did because I chewed the grooves on the nut as I was trying to take it off (it was screwed on so damn tight) so I had to drill a hole to get rid of the nut and take the stock undertail off. This color not matching was my first big disappointment. I am going to get Colorrite to match it correctly and repaint it.

here is a pic of the undertail installed. Sorry Hotbodies, gotta be honest and fair to my forum bros... NOT a great match in color. At least the silver (I can't speak for the blue or the red...). In the sunlight it's not as noticeable I guess.

My second big disappointment was that the tail actually stuck in a bit towards the end and stuck out a bit on the sides. This is not due to any miscutting on my part because I cut very cleanly on the stock fairing and sanded it down even and it was totally clean along the edges. Pretty good fit though, but the imperfections below still annoyed me. This is a pic of the tail end of the undertail/tail not quite fitting perfectly. The undertail is a bit too far in and not totally flush against the surface of the tail.

a pic of the imperfections (this time it's protruding out, not going in like the tail end) on the side...

mine hung down on the side like yours also, i fixed that by grinding the flat part by the push pin holes on the new undertail thinner, now it fits flush on mine, a bit time consuming, but it all depends how perfect you want the fit. the gap on the left side and the color match still bothers me, but the color i can fix myself, and the gap isnt that big a deal, i just hate the idea of water gettin in there with my pc3 mounted inside, ill prolly just weld up an aluminum box and mount my pc3 inside it, and seal it up that way

OK, a few comments. First of all, big thanks to tangun for such a detailed and UNBIASED review. Second, that color "match" is pretty bad. I know the Liquid Silver is a bitch to get right, but Hotbodies should have held off production on that color until the right paint is available. Last, after reading this thread (and the others), I have a newfound love for my LP Short Stalk blinkers. I can't even imagine doing that much cutting on my baby :eek: :eek:

From my experience (not all that extensive, but enough), never order any aftermarket fairing piece already painted. First you have to fit it. That means lots of sanding, drilling and quite a bit of frustration if you don't have body work skills. Overall I think it looks very good and the fit is not all that bad. I've seen stock fairings that fit worse!

What a nightmare :no.

What is the reason for getting this wrong color, not well fitted, with no place to put your plate piece of expensive plastic???? The 02 R1 comes with a undertail that has a nice fit and finish, right color, and you dont have to cut up your beloved baby into pieces?? I would rather cut myself!!!!! This intrigues me...........:iamwithst S.

dont take that as a bitch from me to anyone that bought the new enclosure please, I just do not understand.......... S.

There are several reasons: 1. The new tail has integral turn signals which look very nice. 2. There are no holes left when you remove the stock license plate frame and turn signals. 3. You can now mount you license plate near the swing arm pivot (not exactly sure on 2002 Yam, did it with my old 916). Or you can just leave the plate off and tell the officer that you forgot to re-install it after modifying your bike. Hell, I drove around three states for almost a year in my 2001 yellow corvette with no plates. I was never pulled over. I rode my Ducati for awhile without plates when it rattled off one day. Or you can just paint your license number on your jacket:rock

no room for plate anywhere else, and still looks shitty on the inside, im not a fun personally....... S

Sorry you had such a bad experience with this. Thanks for documenting everything. I have seen one other hot body mod(rear seat cowl for a 1999 R1 I think) and it was terrible. It rubbed the paint off the rear cowl and was very thin/flimsy and hard to put in place. The paint match is not even close for this. Yah, it's never really seen up close by most people, but for the price, it should be much better. It should also not be a freaking 20+ hour project to install and look decent.

Surely it would be cheaper/easier/neater to modify the standard undertail. Bit of filler on holes where number plate bracket went and a good bodyshop and presto, one smooth undertail that fits first time and doesn't require any cutting. In UK, not having number plate gets you in serious trouble with Police so can't make this mod myself. :fact Looks good on Hotbodies website though. Probably as scantily clad women draped all over the bike!

I have the Hotbodies undertail kit for the 02 R1 (red). Got it a while ago and installed it a while ago. I believe that i have the first red undertail kit that they sent out. The fit is nearly perfect, so thumbs up for that. Overall i love the undertail, but the color on mine wasnt close enough for my taste either. Q-