moto-fun
So this weekend, with the help of some friends (ross and chris), I managed to paint my new front wheel, and put in on the gs along with the new forks, triple tree, brakes, etc. The end result:
The end result is nothing short of amazing. I have, effectively, a new motorcycle. Aesthetically, the front end looks a lot better. I like how the brake rotors fit with the wheel, and the acerbis headlight looks more appropriate.
The difference in performance is dramatic. I now have 4X the stopping power in the front (4 pot vs 1 pot calipers and floating rotors). A cool side effect is the awesome sound that the brakes make when being used. It sort of sounds like a supercharged mechanical bee doing a low altitude fly by. The sopping power is matched with an appropriately grippy metzler sporttech (modern steel belted radial). MMMmm grip. I'm suprised I'm not pulling up pavement with this thing. The forks are confidence inspiring. They just ask to be used, diving into turns like a hawk. I have to remind myself to put the balls of my feet on the pegs, or I end up rubbing toe on the ground without effort. Hoorah for cartridge forks.
In the process of the swap, I replaced the clutch and throttle cables with parts I had left over from a ebay spares run. The two time sinks turned out to be painting the wheel, and swapping some gs ignition switch parts into the gsxr ignition, and making a key. The wheel had to be sanded, primed, painted, and clear coated. This took most of saturday to do, so it was lucky that cycle gear was open on sunday to get my new tire mounted. As for the ignition switch, I'm glad that I live next door to a locksmith. Ross totally disassembled the lock, and mixed and matched parts until I had one that fit the new triple tree, yet plugged into the gs wiring harness. I could have soldered in the gsxr one, but swapping parts was cleaner.
The front end is from an '89 GSXR 750. I have a rear wheel to go with it, but it has to be painted, tire mounted, and then fitted to the swing arm which may include machining spacers and getting an offset front sprocket. Also to go on are a set of GSXR flatslide carbs. I'm also trying to find a yoshimura header to which I will fit a custom muffler.
So, any motorcycle riding friends (tugrik, I'm eying you) who want to go for a ride, email or call me, if you can keep up that is ;)
The end result is nothing short of amazing. I have, effectively, a new motorcycle. Aesthetically, the front end looks a lot better. I like how the brake rotors fit with the wheel, and the acerbis headlight looks more appropriate.
The difference in performance is dramatic. I now have 4X the stopping power in the front (4 pot vs 1 pot calipers and floating rotors). A cool side effect is the awesome sound that the brakes make when being used. It sort of sounds like a supercharged mechanical bee doing a low altitude fly by. The sopping power is matched with an appropriately grippy metzler sporttech (modern steel belted radial). MMMmm grip. I'm suprised I'm not pulling up pavement with this thing. The forks are confidence inspiring. They just ask to be used, diving into turns like a hawk. I have to remind myself to put the balls of my feet on the pegs, or I end up rubbing toe on the ground without effort. Hoorah for cartridge forks.
In the process of the swap, I replaced the clutch and throttle cables with parts I had left over from a ebay spares run. The two time sinks turned out to be painting the wheel, and swapping some gs ignition switch parts into the gsxr ignition, and making a key. The wheel had to be sanded, primed, painted, and clear coated. This took most of saturday to do, so it was lucky that cycle gear was open on sunday to get my new tire mounted. As for the ignition switch, I'm glad that I live next door to a locksmith. Ross totally disassembled the lock, and mixed and matched parts until I had one that fit the new triple tree, yet plugged into the gs wiring harness. I could have soldered in the gsxr one, but swapping parts was cleaner.
The front end is from an '89 GSXR 750. I have a rear wheel to go with it, but it has to be painted, tire mounted, and then fitted to the swing arm which may include machining spacers and getting an offset front sprocket. Also to go on are a set of GSXR flatslide carbs. I'm also trying to find a yoshimura header to which I will fit a custom muffler.
So, any motorcycle riding friends (tugrik, I'm eying you) who want to go for a ride, email or call me, if you can keep up that is ;)