I received my Monster Craftsman Brat kit in the mail Yesterday (a couple days ahead of when it was supposed to arrive), so I tore into it..
I am very pleased with the quality of this thing. The tig welds are beautiful. The bends are nice. The coping where it fits to the back bone is perfect. It is very straight and square. And it is sanded clean and deburred. A lot of hand work goes into each one of these. In addition, the hardware supplied for mounting the shocks is top notch, although I think the Nylock nuts are a little wimpy and I will probably change them for some nice chrome acorns.
I immediately grabbed my Sawzall, Angle grinder and Band file and went to work on the frame, cutting and grinding as shown on the installation video on You-Tube.
It Doesn't Fit..
As shown in the photos, when the back curved tubes are seated into the tubes they slide into, the top tubes are still sitting about an inch above the back bone. I can push the top down to try to get it to meet, but it still ends up about 1/4" up, plus it changes the angle of the seat pan so it no longer flows in a straight line down the back bone to where it curves down to the shock mounts as I think it should. I am going to have to cut the frame down about another 1/4" and cut the MC lower tubes up about 1/4" (without cutting the bungs) as shown in the picture with the red lines in order to get it to lay where I want it.
Not complaining. Still love this kit. Just more work fitting it then I was expecting.
There must be enough difference between the frames between Standard, Special, and/or Xs2 to make this not a universal fit to all three frames. I have a Special.
Jim in Minnesota
I am very pleased with the quality of this thing. The tig welds are beautiful. The bends are nice. The coping where it fits to the back bone is perfect. It is very straight and square. And it is sanded clean and deburred. A lot of hand work goes into each one of these. In addition, the hardware supplied for mounting the shocks is top notch, although I think the Nylock nuts are a little wimpy and I will probably change them for some nice chrome acorns.
I immediately grabbed my Sawzall, Angle grinder and Band file and went to work on the frame, cutting and grinding as shown on the installation video on You-Tube.
It Doesn't Fit..
As shown in the photos, when the back curved tubes are seated into the tubes they slide into, the top tubes are still sitting about an inch above the back bone. I can push the top down to try to get it to meet, but it still ends up about 1/4" up, plus it changes the angle of the seat pan so it no longer flows in a straight line down the back bone to where it curves down to the shock mounts as I think it should. I am going to have to cut the frame down about another 1/4" and cut the MC lower tubes up about 1/4" (without cutting the bungs) as shown in the picture with the red lines in order to get it to lay where I want it.
Not complaining. Still love this kit. Just more work fitting it then I was expecting.
There must be enough difference between the frames between Standard, Special, and/or Xs2 to make this not a universal fit to all three frames. I have a Special.
Jim in Minnesota
My build thread. 
