OTHER GOODIES

One huge complaint I had with the Shadow is that it doesn't have a clock. Yeah, it's an inexpensive bike, and to make an affordable cycle you need to cut corners, but come on, a clock? How really hard and expensive is it to put a clock into the LCD mileage display?

Stupid product designs aside, that's where third-party accessories can really shine, as is the case with the Bike Watch. Made in Germany, in essence, the Bike Watch is a nugget of billet aluminum that is chromed beautifully and fitted with a small, waterproof, quartz analog clock. Fitting the unit on the handlebars was easy and if one didn't know better, it looks as if it came stock with the bike - a very clean install indeed. You can put the watch anywhere on the bars really. I chose to put it just to the left of the risers so that it wouldn't obscure the readout lights on the triple-tree. The white face and black hands are quite visible, but less so at night, because there is no illumination function.

They also make bike watches for different size handlebars as well (the A.C.E. is a 1" bar). If you want to pick one up, you can go to this company
. I really like this thing, but be aware, it ain't cheap. Expect to pay around $60. One other thing to remember, it holds itself on with a friction screw. While this doesn't damage or weaken the handlebars, if you ever choose to remove the watch, it will leave a permanent mark behind.



And below you can see another small farkle, the brake reservoir cover. It's a chromed piece of billet aluminum made by Cobra and is a much-needed improvement over the ugly stock cover. It also has the cool scalloped design that matches the paint job. Other designs, including plain are available too.

One small issue though, while I'm a huge fan of shiny chrome, the way this piece comes is heavily polished all over, including the top. When the sun hits it just right you get a blast in your eyes that's just like you looked directly at it. That's not cool, and so I decided to buff it down with some 220 grit sandpaper. It ended up looking great and even flows better with the reservoir itself, because that is of a dull, buffed steel.