Tail Cover Assembly

Field of the Invention:

The present invention relates to a "Tail Cover Assembly". In particular this invention relates to tail cover assembly which is disposed at the rear sides of the motorcycle.

Background of the Invention:

In accordance with conventional motorcycle structures, the frame assembly has carried on it a number of body covers. For example, in conventional practice there is cover on the front side of the motorcycle where the fuel tank is disposed, in addition to that there is as side cover disposed below the fuel tank and driver's seat and covering the battery and air cleaner. Similarly, a seat underside cover is disposed below seat in longitudinal direction.

The seat underside cover is typically referred to as tail cover assembly. The tail cover assembly is made up of three pieces, tail cover right, tail cover left and tail cover centre piece. The tail cover assembly is disposed on both the sides of the motorcycles and tail cover centre piece covers the tail lamp partially. The tail cover assembly is mounted to the frame of the vehicle. As a styling requirement, to provide a sleek look the extreme rear edge of the tail cover centre piece is left open and is not mounted to any other parts of the vehicle. Below the rear end of the tail cover centre piece, the tail lamp is disposed.

In this kind of arrangement, the tail cover centre piece gets distorted in long run because of insufficient mounting with the tail lamp details. Other problems associated with this are light leakage from tail lamp area and noise and vibration of the parts.

Therefore, it could be preferable to provide a improved mounting arrangement for the tail cover assembly and more particularly for the tail cover centre piece.

Summary of the Invention:

The present invention has been achieved in an effort to bring out a solution, which overcomes the above mentioned problems.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a tail cover assembly for use on a motorcycle which is sufficiently capable of protecting the tail lamp.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a tail cover assembly for use on a motorcycle which eliminates the distortion of the tail cover centre piece and provided more firmness to the tail cover assembly parts.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a tail cover assembly which is mounted in association with the tail lamp and thereby prevents any kind of light leakage from the tail lamp.

Further object of the present invention is to provide a tail cover assembly for use on a motorcycle with improved exterior covering that is capable of increasing the degree of freedom in designing the motorcycle and particularly the tail lamp.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Brief description of the Drawings:

The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein

FIG. 1 is a conventional motorcycle.

FIG. 2 shows the cover mounted to the frame according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 shows tail cover assembly according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows the exploded view of the tail cover assembly according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows the mounting of the tail cover on the frame according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows bottom view of the tail cover center piece according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows top view of the tail cover center piece according to the present invention.

Detail Description of the Drawings:

The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with different embodiments. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather those embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

The subject matter of present invention relates to tail cover assembly for a motorcycle.
With reference to figure 1 a motorcycle comprises of a frame (101), front fork (102) attached to a pivot tube (201) of the vehicle frame, a front wheel (103) attached to these front forks (102), a handle bar (104) connected to the front forks (102), a fuel tank (105) attached so as to straddle an upper part of the vehicle frame, a seat (106) attached to the upper rear portion of the vehicle frame, an engine unit (107) attached to the lower front section of the vehicle frame, a swing arm (108) attached to a lower rear section of the vehicle frame, suspended by a rear shock absorber (not shown) from the vehicle frame and a rear wheel attached to a rear end of swing arm (108). The intake system of the engine comprises of a fuel air metering device such as a carburettor (109), intake duct and an air cleaner. The exhaust system of the engine comprises of exhaust pipe and a muffler.

The motorcycle is provided with a front fender (110) for covering an upper part of the front wheel (103), and a rear fender (111) for covering an upper part of the rear wheel (112). The drive from the engine (107) is transmitted from the engine to the driven wheel sprocket mounted on the rear wheel hub mounted on the rear wheel assembly.

According to one of the embodiments and referring to figure 2, the body frame of the motorcycle includes a head pipe/ steering pivot/pivot tube (201) at the front end of the body frame. From the top portion of the head pipe (201) at least one main tube extends backwards and obliquely downwards. Both sides of the lower portion of the main tube is provided with a bracket for rear engine mounting (202). A tube centre stand is disposed horizontally at the lower portion of the main tube, extending outward through an opening on the two sides of the bracket.

From the lower portion of the head pipe (201) a pair of left and right down tubes (203) extends obliquely downward and backward, while extending parallel in the direction towards the rear engine mounting bracket (202). The end portion of the said down tubes (203) is welded to the said tube centre stand.

From the portion where the main tube starts descending, a pair of upper tubes (204) extends backward and slightly upward towards the rear side of the upper tubes (204) with respect to the horizontal direction.

A pair of side tubes (205) extending from a middle portion of the rear engine bracket and extending backward-and upward, while extending parallel in a direction so as to get welded with the end rear portion of the upper tubes (204). All the frame tubes are firmly interconnected with plurality of bridges.

According to the present invention and referring to figure 3, a tail cover assembly is disposed on the upper tubes (204). The said tail cover assembly is composed of three pieces, they are tail cover right (301 a), tail cover left 301 b) and tail cover centre piece (301 c).

As shown in figure 4, the said tail cover left and right are provide with provisions like relief (401) through which the pillion handle or grab bar (206) passes and gets fixed to the upper tubes (204) of the motorcycle.

As shown in figure 5, each of the said tail cover left and right (301 b, 301 a), is provided with two provisions (501, 502) of screwing it to the upper tubes (204) of the motorcycle with the help of brackets. Two rear end of the tail cover right (301 a) and tail cover left (301 b) is fixed to a bracket which is further screwed to the rear centre plate bridge of the upper tubes. Towards the rear end of the both tail cover left and right (301 b, 301 a), a tail cover centre piece (301 c) is disposed. The said tail cover centre piece (301 c) on its both left and right side is fixed to the tail cover left (301 b) and right side (301 a) respectively at three respective places. The said tail cover centre piece (301 c) is fixed at those three places preferably by sliding fit arrangement (601), slot-opening arrangement (602) and mounting boss - screw arrangement (603).

The rear edge of the tail cover centre piece (301 c) is provided with at least one slot (604) to accommodate respective projection(s) (604 a) from the tail lamp, thereby securing the firmly the tail cover centre piece (301 c) to the tail lamp and eliminating distortion of the said centre piece (301c).

In order to avoid light leakage from the tail lamp an extension plate (605) from the lens is provided on the top rear edge of the tail lamp and the said extension plate (605) is accommodated in a respective relief provided in the reflector.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the claims.

We Claim:

1. A tail cover assembly for use in a two wheeler comprising:

a tail cover right piece;

a tail cover left piece;

a tail cover centre piece disposed between the tail cover right and tail cover left;

at least one slot on the rear side of the tail cover centre piece;

wherein the slot on the rear side of the tail cover centre piece accommodates a respective projection from the tail lamp; and

wherein the tail cover right piece and tail cover left piece is mounted to the upper tubes of the vehicle body frame;

2. The tail cover assembly as claimed in claim 1, wherein the said tail cover left and right piece is preferably screwed to the upper tubes of the vehicle body frame.