Shane - Superlite (#43)

Well, I've got it in the shed now so it's 100% mine and I can tell everyone about it

Some people may recognize this bike as it was always at the track a few years back. It's owner is also well known cos he's a good bugger, but unfortunately, is better known for an accident at Pukekohe that left him in a wheel chair.

I've bought Paul Garrett's #94, a 2005 CBR600RR. It's got a full Arata Titanium exhaust system, PC3, Ohlins all around and a bunch of other stuff. The exhaust system alone is worth more than half of what I paid for the bike.

It's been sitting for a fair while, having not been out for a gallop since I borrowed it for a track day about 3 years ago when I was in-between bikes. So it looks pretty rough in the photos but it's just covered in dust etc and just needs some luving.

Click images for a large view
  

I've had a brief look and the things you'd expect are seized up; the brakes drag, the head bearings have a huge groove in them, the wheel bearings are full of crap etc, but that's all stuff that I knew would be in need of attention/replacing anyway so that's fine. There really aren't any surprises with it.

Because I've ridden this bike a couple of times in the past, know a bit about it's history and always thought it'd be a fabulous F3 bike I'm really stoked to be able to own it. Just pushing it around it's so much smaller and lighter than the Triumph, even though the wheel bearings are full of crap and brakes are dragging. I'm really looking forward to riding this bike, especially as I've got a budget for the build this time. With the Triumph I just happened upon it and did what I could with what I had. But this time I know that I'll be racing long term so I'm not shy about putting money into it. I've got a budget and using my knowledge of this bike and what I learnt from the Trumpy I've got a list of what I'm going to do with it:

1. pull a piston, conrod and valve gear from a cylinder and put a balance weight in it's place
2. general freshen up of the engine (new cam chain and tensioner, set valve clearances towards the looser end of their tolerances blah blah) to make sure it's reliable
3. Sigma Slipper Clutch cos the engine braking on this bike is unbelievable
4. suspension checked out and upgraded where necessary
5. radial master cylinder with variable fulcrum (I've found I never have enough brakes at Paeroa but at the tracks it's more about feel)
6. get spacers made up for the Triumph wheels so I can use them as spares/wets
7. Translogic Quickshifter to avoid those engine breaking overrevs
8. different rearsets so I can use race shift pattern
9. fully enclose the belly pan
10. put a brake lever guard on
11. either GB Racing or Woodcraft engine crash covers
12. a sharks tooth type chain guard
13. better get a steering damper before the next Paeroa too

I'd love to use a push button gear shifter, mainly for down shifting for certain corners so I can get off the side of the bike instead of pissing about changing gears but cost is a big issue with this item. Something else I'd like to use but probably never will is a Starlane Davinci R dash. Maybe sometime in the future.

For the last couple of weeks I've been messing around with photoshop to see what I like the look of. The Triumph looked stunning in all white but that doesn't really suit #94 (I've always known it as #94 so it's still going to be called that even though it'll be wearing #43). I like simple paint jobs cos they tend to stand out the most at the track and after Kiwifruit pointed out one particular bike I came up with this:

Click image for a large view


My uncle is all lined up with his spray gun at the ready so I need to tidy up any cracks etc and get them sanded ready for painting. I'll need to line up someone to do the engine work (I know who to talk to about the engineering side) but I've got a good lead on someone for that. A Sigma slipper clutch takes about 5 days to my door. Not sure about delivery times for the Quick Shifter but it's not something that will hold up the build.

Looks like MSTRS will have somemore vinyl graphics to cut!!

Oh, and I need to make up some brackets for the cameras as well cos I've got a couple of gyro servos so I can do this sort of stuff



Just in case you missed it .... http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/en...ed-incorrectly