There was a 'sportsman's show' this weekend in a community 80 Km from my town. Big demo fest with dealers of all kinds displaying their wares. The local CF Moto dealer had a showcase of a few machines, a 1000 with of course the half doors and an 800 with the CF Moto steel doors. I had a fine opportunity to compare them side by side. (no pun intended)
The CF Moto full doors had a rather hokey looking slam latch setup with a pull pin that swiveled around freely and had to be pulled in a rather unnatural downward motion in order to disengage the door and open it. The spring loaded pin (looking a bit like fence gate hardware) had to align with a hole on the fixed bracket, of near the diameter of the pin and while the passenger side lined perfectly the driver side did not, needing the operator to fish around lifting and wiggling the door to find the right spot and get it to slide in. An installation adjustment I'm sure but it occurred to me that the pin location is so critical that I wonder if readjusting the door will be an ongoing duty.
The steel doors had a finger width gap in the front for clearance with the front fender plastic. While they swung straight and level, not opening downward like some I've seen, they had a tinny sound to them when operated.
I have to apologize, I had the notion and posted about it, that in order to retro fit the 1000 doors onto an 800 the rear plastics would have to be changed. I'm happy to note that this will not be necessary, only the doors themselves and the rear hinged portion will need to be mounted, and unlike the steel doors where a couple of hours labour is involved in removing the RPOS bars and replacing them with a new door subframe in their place, with the half doors the existing ROPS bar braces simply stay in place. Oh, and a metal loop to engage the latch is installed on the front fender ridge, needing two of the plastic rivet holes to be fitted with threaded inserts.
These doors feel much nicer in their action and they close with a solid click of the latch mechanism, needing much less force to engage their latch than the slam latch style used on the metal doors.
The 1000's half door latches are operated by pressing on a slightly recessed thumb operated plate located on the inside front of each door, somewhat more elegant than rotating the steel door's latch bolt's bent leg into the right position so that you can pull downward on it.
There is almost no gap at the closure of the half doors.
Now for the arm-rest test. The CF Moto full doors would have been too high for me to comfortably rest my arm except that unlike some of the aftermarket doors I've seen, they are not top-of-the-black back to top-of-the-black front but rather they are top-of-the-black back to bottom-of the-black front. This, on my 5'9" frame is fairly comfortable to lay an arm on top and the metal skin of the door stops short enough on the top margin that the arm is decently comfortable on the round bar.
Now the 1000's half door. As soon as I got in and closed the door and tried it as an arm rest, it felt exactly right. It's a bit lower in back than the metal door and the top margin is flatter and it just feels proper. No more need be said.
My knee rests against the inside panel nicely. Somebody knocked one out of the park with these.
Overall width: At the widest point just behind the upper shoulder bar, from side to side the half doors measure 55.5". The metal doors to my surprise measured at the widest part 54.75". Just 3/4" between the two. Blow me down, I'd have guessed the steel doors would be a lot narrower.
Now I know the half doors are just that, and I was warned about how they will allow mud to get in. I reason that the webbing being replaced was no mud guard of itself, and I haven't found that to be any sort of problem so far, why would it become one?
Not hard to tell which way I'm leaning on this one.
