Enginerd's Stuff

As with most projects attention to detail can make or break the outcome. A vehicle is no different. When I decided to change the fairings on the my 1000RR I knew there were a few other things that went with it. Luckily for me the previous owner had intended to do the same thing and already took care of the hardest details for me.

The bike originally had a silver swing arm and silver rider and passenger pegs. These had already been powder coated before I got it. The exhaust was also switched out for a carbon fiber can instead of the stainless it once had. The easy details I was left with were the rim tape which I just installed today and HID’s that are in the mail as I’m posting this.

Since the weather cooperated and I just got my front stand back from a friend that was borrowing I decided now was as good a time as any to clean it real well and put the rim tape on. With a little patience the tape went no relatively easy and I will leave it up to you to decide if you like the outcome or not…I love it!

More pictures after the break!
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I posted up last fall some time about a set of HANNspree fairings I ordered for my 1000RR. Well now that the weather was finally starting to act like spring I planned a trip home to pick the bike up and while I was there swap the old fairings for the new. We had beautiful weather all last week and I was really itching to get the bike together and ride. The weekend finally came and the night before I left they got 2 inches of snow where I was planning on working on the bike. I suggested bringing the bike in the house to work on it (thinking that would not go over well with mom). Turns out inside and close to the fire place was the preferred place to work.

I did a lot of reading before starting this project to find out what I was in for and while I had a good idea I still wasn’t expecting quite what we experienced. I was thinking it would be a 4-5 hour job…in reality it was more like a 8-9 hour job with 3 helpers…

I don’t have before pics right now since dad took those on his camera, but it was an all black bike with a good bit of road rash on the left side. I’ll just start right in with the pictures:

Here is the disassembled bike in the dinning room.

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A little over a month ago I stripped the threads on the rear wheel of my fixed gear. I decided that instead of paying a shop to rebuild the wheel with a new hub I would take on the challenge myself. I ordered a set of IRO high flange hubs with the rear fixed/fixed. I then had to figure out what length spokes I needed to mate my old rim and new hub. This was why it has been over a month, I wasn’t sure how to measure what I needed. I finally got a number I was reasonably confident in and ordered spokes.

At first I had only planned on building a rear wheel since that was the hub that was damaged, but I found a deal on a set of new hubs and a box of spokes was 72 count so I figured I may as well build both and keep my old parts as emergency back ups. (continue reading…)

I haven’t been posting up here as often as I would like to for a number of reasons, this is just one of them. I have been practicing some low speed bike handling skills for the last couple weeks.

I finally got my girlfriend to take some video of me last night so I could post it up. The music is just some stuff I had on my computer.

This is just a little bit of my work on no-handed track stands.

This is a look at my progression backwards.

I will post more as I get better but for now I am off to a good start. If anyone has tips on how to speed up the learning curve please share, I am all ears.

Well just last week I finally made the jump from a “little” sport bike to the top dog. I had the opportunity to sell my GSX-R 600 and pick up a CBR 1000RR. While it is only a few years newer as a 2004 it was the technology and size that were the big step. My initial thoughts were to finish school then buy a new bike, but there are some deals you just can’t pass up and as you can tell from the pictures I didn’t let this one go by.

It is a 2004 CBR 1000RR “Fireblade” and let me tell you this, I had no problem stepping off my Suzuki and onto this Honda. I have never let who made a vehicle decide whether I would own it or not and for that I am glad. I have ridden friends liter bikes before and as cool as that is there is a feeling that comes with owning one that is even better. It lies it the fact that you know every time you go out to ride you get to ride a liter, not just if someone lets you take theirs for a spin.

It feels good to be on something different and the power is definitely a nice upgrade. One of my engineering friends put it best when i told him “Welcome to the big leagues.” I found that rather fitting. I have always thought that a 1000 was something you worked towards and that it was almost an elitist group that rode them.

I do have some plans for it in the way of mods but those will come with time, and of course I will post them up here as the happen. For now it has a Carbon Fiber Yosh exhaust, the “Nicky Mod”, the “Flapper Mod”, a -1 front and +1 rear sprocket with a 520 chain, and a whole bunch of black powder coated bits.