Installing leg shields on a Hunter Cub!

DAYTONA has released Leg Shields for the Hunter Cub. When I'm riding my Cub I have quite a few "I wish I had leg shields" moments. The most common is in the winter. The wind blocking performance is so great that it makes riding in winter very comfortable. Also, having leg shields will give you more places to put stickers. This is an important point for me personally.

There are several leg shield-like products available for the Hunter Cub, but I chose the DAYTONA Leg Shields. They were originally only available for the JA65, but they later came out for the JA55, so I tried them out right away.

DAYTONA Hunter Cub Leg Shield

The DAYTONA Leg Shields for the Hunter Cub that I've installed in this article are for the JA55. They are also available for the JA65, so please be careful to get the right one when making your purchase.

Two colors are available, matte black and smoke. The matte black is made of ABS resin, and the smoke version is made of impact-resistant acrylic. Both are 2mm thick. The matte black one is pretty nice, but the smoke version is see-through so it feels like it will have more of a three-dimensional effect.

Installing the DAYTONA Leg Shields for the Hunter Cub!

Required Tools

Let's get started installing the leg shields on my Hunter Cub JA55. The tools needed are as follows.

3mm Allen wrench
4mm Allen wrench
5mm Allen wrench
7mm wrench
10mm wrench
#2 Phillips screwdriver

There aren't really any special tools necessary, but the 7mm wrench is a size that's a bit rare. I had to search through my toolbox quite a bit to find it.

Let's get started!

First we have some initial preparation. You'll need to affix the supplied rubber pads on the inside of the one-side saddle bands that are used to attach the leg shields to the pipes on the bike. For the JA55, there are 4, and for JA65, there are 5.

Once you've finished these preparations, the next step is to attach the bracket for the upper center portion of the leg shields to the bike. You'll be attaching the stepped collar to the L-shaped bracket with a button bolt. It looks like this when done.

Remove the bolt from the top of the Hunter Cub's center cover with a 5mm Allen wrench. Insert the collar and then fasten the bracket to it with the supplied button bolt. The button bolt is tightened with a 3mm Allen wrench. Don't tighten all the way just yet, so that you can make sure the leg shields fit together properly.

Next, remove the left and right bolts on the front of the center cover with a 5mm Allen wrench. Then, set the upper portion of the leg shields, insert the smaller of the supplied collars and temporarily tighten them with the included button bolts. It may be better not to remove the protective film on the upper portion of the leg shields at this stage, since we want to carefully position them later. The saddle bands we put together earlier will be attached to the pipes on the left and right sides, two on each side for the JA55. For the JA65 you have these plus one for the center. They should be mounted so that the bolt holes are on the outside. It's a bit hard to get them on, so be careful not to push too hard and brake them.

Now it's time to attach the lower portion of the leg shields. While aligning the saddle bands with the holes on the leg shields, fasten with the supplied small truss screws and countersunk spring nuts. Don't forget to insert the larger of the supplied collars when attaching the upper saddle bands. Now that the upper and lower leg shields have been attached and bolts are temporarily tightened, check each part to see if anything is not fitting properly or if it interferes with anything. There was no problem when I turned the handlebars, and the area for the reflectors is designed with terrific precision.

Similarly, check that there is no interference with the stem while turning the handlebars left and right. The precision of the stem area is also amazingly high. It looks like it's right up against it, but there is surprisingly enough room. I also checked for interference with wires and hoses.

Thanks to the design precision being higher than I imagined, positioning was not a problem at all. Next, we want to remove the upper portion of the leg shields since the attachment of the L-shaped bracket to the bike has not been fully tightened yet. Just in case, I removed both the upper and lower portions here, but I think you only really need to remove the upper part.

Now it's time to fully install the leg shields. First, tighten the bolt that attaches the upper bracket to the bike.

Since we're ready to complete the installation, let's remove the protective film.

The upper portion has strong double-sided tape attached. This is used to affix the lower leg shields to the upper portion.

If the adhesive side of the double-sided tape is fully exposed, it may get stuck somewhere you don't want it to during the installation process, so just peel up the edge at first. After attaching the upper portion and aligning it with the lower leg shields, pull the edge of the tape and you should be able to attach the shields without any misalignment.

I struggled a little with the double-sided tape, but was able to attach both the upper and lower portions in the correct position. All that's left now is to tighten each bolt and then we're done.

Let's take a look at the finished product!

I was able to install the leg shields without any interference with the bike, so let's check out how it looks. First, from the front.

This is what it looks like from the side. Surprisingly, it doesn't stand out so much at all.

When viewed from behind at an angle, it looks very cool with a three-dimensional effect.

Checking the clearance

Let's take a look at the clearance for various parts of the bike. The fit of each part is very good, providing wind protection for the rider while not obstructing the cooling of the engine.

The portion that frames the head flips inward for a three-dimensional structure.

Conclusion

As I thought, installing leg shields makes your ride much more comfortable. I also have more surface space available to put stickers now. I'm looking forward to participating in a bunch of events and collecting stickers to add!