Bike cosmetic mods

[Dealer]

Hi All. Thought i would do some mods to my busa over winter.
Have been meaning to do them for a while but needed to sort out transport while i did them. On the list was powdercoating the rims, tail tuck, and a general clean up.
If you are the slightest bit mechanically minded, you can save money by doing most of the work yourself.
Dont be afraid to have a go at working on your own bike, it is very satisfying to finish these projects.
I have attached 4 photo's, the first is from when i bought the bike, as comparison. I will upload more photo's and information for those of you who might want to do some mods yourselves.

[jtzzr]

looks good mate, can I ask what it cost to have the wheels powdercoated?
I was contemplating getting my painted wheels bead blasted then polished.

[Dealer]

The original rims were black, and i wanted silver rims. Painting them myself was a cheaper option, but i wanted to make sure they would last, so i opted for powdercoating.
I removed the wheels, and pulled the discs and bearings out.
Took the wheels down to Botany Honda, and got them to pull the tyres off.
If you are powdercoating, it is necessary to remove the bearings, as the heat may distort them and will certainly cook the grease lubricating them.
I had to get the rims chemically cleaned first, so took them to Powerstrip Industries in Mt Wellington. This cost $70.00, and took 3 days as they had to dip them twice to remove the old paint.
Once they were back to bare aluminium, i took them to East Tamaki Powder Coaters. They put a coat of silver on, and finished it with a clear coat. Cost was $80.00 and took another 3 days.
Once i got them back, i could start reassembly.
Make sure to order new bearings when you start, as they may take some time. Bearings can be sourced through a Transmission specialist rather than genuine, i used Pacific Bearings in Otahuhu. They are the same bearings without the genuine pricetag, all up $100.00. Note: If the rear bearings say C3, make sure you put C3 bearings back in. This is a clearance issue, and while standard bearings may do the job, as most people recommended, i insisted on getting the C3 bearing. These took 1 week to come from Aus but gave me peace of mind.
When putting new bearings in, you can GENTLY tap them in but make sure to tap on the outer ring only. If you hit the inner ring, you might as well pull them back out again. Use a special tool if you have it, or take them along to a bike shop. Botany Honda did mine, $20.00.
Once the bearings and seals are in place i mounted the discs, which i had painted with Hammerite Dark Blue paint, $20.00.
Search the net for torque settings for the disc bolts, and use loctite 243.
New rubber put on by Mike at Drury Performance Centre, and then mounted the wheels back on. Pilot Road 2 $590.00 set, 120 front 190 rear.

[AllanB]

Excellent. Mods are good - get into it.

Regarding putting in the new bearings you can use the old one as a 'tool' between the new bearing and your BF hammer.


How do the PR2's cope with the weight and power of the Bussa - they are excellent on my Hornet but that's, well, just a bit less powerful

[Dealer]

Saw this on a Hayabusa website, www.pashnit.com.
They have a carbon fibre undertail for US$200-300, but being cheap i decided to make my own.
Got a piece of galvanised sheet and cut to shape and bent to suit. Not having any fancy benders, rollers or formers, i used a hammer and a sawhorse, and bent, tapped and flexed it into shape.
I then cut off the plastic mudguard, cut the undertail to suit, and used a fibreglass repair kit to join the undertail to the modified mudguard.
The whole process took me the better part of a saturday, but cost me $40 for the fibreglass repair kit, and $15 each for CRC Bright Zinc and Black Zinc.
Once i had my undertail, i had to sort out the numberplate mount and indicators. I used a piece of ali angle iron for this. Indicators are Oxford Micros, $65.00 from Botany Honda. I cut my old tailight down, and reused the numberplate light, remounting it underneath. After wiring up my new indicators, i discovered that they blink faster than standard, due to lower current draw.
There is a part you can buy to remedy this, but i decided to go with a different option and remounted my old indicators behind the mesh grills i installed on the tail. This slowed them down to the original rate and added a new feature all at the same time.
Total cost for this mod was $135.00

[jtzzr]

some good tips mate , cheers

[Dealer]

Excellent. Mods are good - get into it.

Regarding putting in the new bearings you can use the old one as a 'tool' between the new bearing and your BF hammer.


How do the PR2's cope with the weight and power of the Bussa - they are excellent on my Hornet but that's, well, just a bit less powerful

This is my 4th set of PR2's. 1st set got <8000k due to 2 track days, 2nd set got 11000k, and 3rd set seams to have got around 14000k. I found that on the last set the front was wearing out in the soft compound, leaving an edge where the 2 compounds joined, but the back was wearing through the middle from highway usage (and the burnout i did before pulling the wheels off).
Nothing but praise for these tyres, good all rounders.

[Dealer]

This was the cheapest and easiest of the mods.
I bought a sheet of grill mesh from SuperCheap Autos, $40.00.
Took the panels off and cut the sheet to size, allowing 20-30mm extra around the edge to fix the mesh to the panel.
Bent it to shape using my fingers and pliers. Then used 5 minute araldite to glue in place. Had to hold it while it set, but it only takes 5 minutes.
Used 3 tubes of araldite at $10.00 a tube.
Total cost for this mod was $70.00, and took about 2 hours.

[Dealer]

Excellent. Mods are good - get into it.

Regarding putting in the new bearings you can use the old one as a 'tool' between the new bearing and your BF hammer.


How do the PR2's cope with the weight and power of the Bussa - they are excellent on my Hornet but that's, well, just a bit less powerful

BF hammer, that stands for "Bearing Finishing" hammer doesn't it.
Yeah, we used one of those.
ALso, word of advice, dont forget to put the spacers in before the 2nd bearing goes in. Hard to do it after.