Okay guys Ive been fart arsing about with the bike for the last two weeks and decided to drop the engine to get some work done and then have it painted and blacked out. As you may have already read in my previous thread I wanted to do a lot more work when I fitted my BST Wheels but ran out of time and had to get it back together because I had a 2500 km ride over to the Great Ocean Road to get too. Well once i had the engine out I decided F**K it Im going to do what I should have done in the first place and completely strip the bike down to a bare frame modify what i want, customise this baby and build it how it should have been built in the first place.
So I have a gazillion pieces at the moment and a mega build under way. After getting the frame off the engine I decided that I really would like to have this bike looking better than when it came out of the showroom. Hence I sent the frame off to the painters and had her covered in jet ice black which is a deeper and glossier colour than the factory but IMHO looks a hell of a lot better. So now the re-asembly begins. Here's some pics of the frame of the bench and this thread will chronicle my changes along the way as I put it back together.
Obviously the couple of coats of clear make a big difference but the black is deeper and darker which I like.
Whilst I picked up my frame today I dropped off my triple trees and forks to have them blacked out and matched to the frame colour as will the swing arm later. I'm only painting the fork bottom so I still have a bit of contrast but the rest of the bike will be blacked out.
You will notice that the lower frame rails are missing but there is a story to that they are being modified. Im going an OEM and Performance Machine hybrid mid control set up which Ill explain as I go. What I have done is chopped off the frame boss mounts for the forward controls and the POS OEM stand. Im fitting a custom low profile stand more towards the centre of the bike which is slim line with a hidden internal spring arrangement which will hold the bike better and look a hell of a lot cleaner. This was about 2 kilos of stand and control mounts taken off the lower rails. This deletes the issues that people have with the bushing in the OEM stand needing attention and upon inspection and dissasembly of mine I identified it was already developing slop in it.
Without going into full details now Im intending on going to custom bars, risers and a Vance and Hines race dash as well as a number of other things including custom paint, bitchin seat and lyndall rotors.....
More pictures to follow......:dance:
Funny you should say that I got a puncture in my rear tyre and are seriously thinking about putting a 280 metz on..Considering I have a 8.5 inch rim on it probably wont make too much difference and sit on the rim better.
awesome, would love to do something similar myself one day, as I always like some aspects of the NRS but more of the Muscle which swung the decision for me
Frame looks good mate!
You know what will happen to us guys going all night rod on our f's?
They will end up with a all black muscle by the time we finish ours.. hahah
Okay a bit of an update… Things have been a bit slow but I guess it’s to be a bit expected with such a big project. Anyways I have received back my triple trees and forks from the painters. As you can see the triples are gloss black and the fork bottoms are as well to match. All the paint ties into the frame that is its all the same colour. The swing arm will be re done with other bits and pieces in due course so it all matches.
The triple trees came up a treat. The only issue I had was removing the lower bearing which broke in a million pieces so I bought a new lower bearing and seal from HD. Fitting it was pretty easy with a slim piece of pipe over the steering stem and tapping it down. Here are the pics of the triples….
The forks were a bit of a saga. I was going to go with Ohlin’s but at the last minute changed my mind after I discussed it at length with my painter who has fitted them to his bike. Effectively I require a fair bit of after work with new CNC triples, axles and hubs that allow the rotors to line up with the radial callipers. If I was building a bike from the ground up I would have done it but its just not cost effective for the bike at the moment and the changes I have made should be a massive difference over stock anyway.
So with the forks I have had them rebuilt by race bike services in Adelaide. The guys fitted my .95 Race Tech springs and Race Tech gold emulator vale kit. They have also shimmed a little under the top caps to give a little bit more preload. The Race Tech springs are linear as opposed to progressive which is what the OEM springs are. If you don’t understand the difference here is a pic of the OEM springs you will see the top of them the spring coils get smaller which is the progressive part of the spring. The linear springs are the same all the way from top to bottom. The progressive part accounts for that initial soft part of the spring movement. These springs are about 30% stiffer. Factory springs are .65 kg and as I said I have fitted .95 kg.
These combined with an increased air gap inside the fork tubes should transform the front significantly. The OEM air gap setting was 40mm they have increased it to 140mm and filled the forks with 7-weight oil on the cartridge side and 15 weight on the spring only side. Needless to say I am really impressed with their work and looking forward to riding the bike with this set up. When they are refitted I will be dropping the triples ½ an inch to lower the front a little. Mostly for looks but it should help front end turn in a little as well. Here’s a picture of the forks with Biceps badges fitted…
I’ve ordered new drag bars made by Alloy Art 1 1/8 inch diameter, which I’m waiting for in the post. I have also purchased Rizoma bar clamps. These sit perfectly on the triples and are about 42mm or close enough to 1 ½ inches tall. They are a fraction offset as well which will allow me to play with the bar length a little. The stuff is packages really nicely…………
My new Dash has also arrived. I’m replacing the OEM cluster and fitting the Translogic Micro Dash. This is the same company that made them for Vance and Hines but this is there 3rd edition and it is significantly smaller. The picture below will give you an idea of size compared to the OEM Cluster. It is a trick cluster and has a stack of info including water temp, voltage, shift lights and gear indicator plus all the normal stuff. It also has a user definable low fuel warning light…My intention is to fit this atop the top triple behind the bars and in front of my R&R head light fairing. I’m hoping there will be enough room so when the bars arrive Ill play with the location and make a bracket. Failing all this I will have to fit it to the top of the tank, which I don’t really want to do but we will wait and see what happens.
The dash also comes with a push button menu selector, which I will fit to my switchgear or the top of the tank somewhere…
I’m still waiting for my kickstand although the frame rails have been painted and had all the OEM controls and stand removed. This will require repainting after the stand is welded on. My painters mistake not mine so no cost involved…
The engine is being broken down and will be sent off to the painters at the end of this week. Night Rod Muscle style satin black block with gloss back covers and polished stainless bolts as highlights………
Another project I’ve had going on the side is fitting my G2 Ergo quick turn throttle. This required me to machine the inside of my performance machine elite grip to make way for the throttle slide and also machine off the throttle cam on the front of the grip. The G2 ergo now slides straight in and I will glue it in place. This significantly reduces the amount of throttle turn required to get power, which should make it more user friendly as well as bring on power quicker. The throttle ramp and re significantly bigger on the G2 than the OEM grips somewhere in the order of 20%.
Just got to get my frame bolts and associated hard ware together. I have found a company that chemically cleans them all and the black oxides them and clears them so they don’t rust or chip. The only pisser is a couple of weeks down time whilst they are being done…
Been a busy boy then haven't ya !! Can't wait to see the finished product especially your bars and dash !!! Hope it all goes smoothly for ya and look forward to more pics !!
yeh the bars and dash which is substantially thinner than the oem its only 20mm thick should flatten the profile of the bike dramatically. I did some measuring today the stock muscle bars have about 6 inches of rise my set up should drop then 3 plus inches depending on how much tilt I have on the bars. Im hoping I can keep the R&R fairing but it sits pretty close to the back of the cluster so will have to wait and see may even consider swapping to a NRS fairing and light. I wont know until I can mock everything up.....
mikelr the bars are 1 1/8 tapering down to 1 inch at the grips and controls. Ill post a pic when they arrive...
My intention is to use ISR controls at this stage with all wiring and brake lines hidden inside the bars so it will have a totally clean look. I'm also going to use braided throttle cables and kuraykn adjusters which are a lot shorter from the control to the radius so the cables run close to the bars. This cleans up the look again even more.....Ive sold off my mirrors so running low profile with those as well and will consider flipping them so it will give the bike a nice low tough stance......
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