Caferacer inspired build
Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:32 pm
Apart from presenting my current project, i'll take this chance and introduce myself inhere as well as this is my first post on this forum. I'm Costas and live in Cyprus. I bought my ZXR in 2005, its a 2001 built L9 (that's what it says on the title). The previous owner traded it in for a quad because his wife wouldn't get on a bike as i was told by the dealer and that's why it only had 700 or so miles on it when i got it. As my mechanic assured me, the miles were genuine but the paintjob wasn't.This and the cracked speedo cable housing (or-whatever-else-you-call-it) my mechanic replaced on the front wheel and it became clear real quick why the aforementioned missus got scared of it all of a sudden. Basically I learned to ride on it and had some near underwear soiling experiences on the dried out factory fitted Cyrox(2?) tires, drifting in a forward manner with blocked both front and rear wheel and the pavement coming at me on a T junction and another
time when a woman jumped in front of me trying to cross the road but at least that experience was a shared one. Then comes the spring of 2007 and as i ride home from college, i realize there is truth in statistics. Young, inexperienced rider under the age of 24 on a small capacity motorcycle as I was, is most likely to do what? Rear-end a car of course. The damage was all mine, the car had a cracked bumper and i was left with a warped rotor, cracked upper- and right side fairings.
I saw this however, as a chance to do the changes i always wanted to the bike but didn't do as I wanted to retain resale value. Resale value not being an issue anymore as i knew that after this incident i wouldn't sell it, i decided to implement the endurance-racer theme on the bike. I had already ordered original fairings that needed to be replaced along with some ZX9R disc brakes when it struck me. At that time I fell in love with cafe-racers and the whole less-is-more philosphy. I had to do it. I would try and turn my baby-Ninja into a Cafe inspired project. Several attempts have been made so far, but despite the steep learning curve concerning fibreglassing and everything surrounding it, progress made is not that much really, be it a lack of money, time, motivation or a combination thereof. Same old story, really. I start this thread with the objective to present at least one change a week that makes an obvious difference, hopefully leading to a
finish someday.
Here are some pictures of the sad state it is now. I reckon this won't be to everyone's liking but the 'retroing' of a modern bike is a project you don't really see done very often. I am open to both constructive and destructive criticism from the members of this board.
This is the basis (read. flower pot) for the seat cowl, the lower part that extends around/below the seat to the tank i still have to figure out how to make.
Cheers, Costas
time when a woman jumped in front of me trying to cross the road but at least that experience was a shared one. Then comes the spring of 2007 and as i ride home from college, i realize there is truth in statistics. Young, inexperienced rider under the age of 24 on a small capacity motorcycle as I was, is most likely to do what? Rear-end a car of course. The damage was all mine, the car had a cracked bumper and i was left with a warped rotor, cracked upper- and right side fairings.
I saw this however, as a chance to do the changes i always wanted to the bike but didn't do as I wanted to retain resale value. Resale value not being an issue anymore as i knew that after this incident i wouldn't sell it, i decided to implement the endurance-racer theme on the bike. I had already ordered original fairings that needed to be replaced along with some ZX9R disc brakes when it struck me. At that time I fell in love with cafe-racers and the whole less-is-more philosphy. I had to do it. I would try and turn my baby-Ninja into a Cafe inspired project. Several attempts have been made so far, but despite the steep learning curve concerning fibreglassing and everything surrounding it, progress made is not that much really, be it a lack of money, time, motivation or a combination thereof. Same old story, really. I start this thread with the objective to present at least one change a week that makes an obvious difference, hopefully leading to a
finish someday.
Here are some pictures of the sad state it is now. I reckon this won't be to everyone's liking but the 'retroing' of a modern bike is a project you don't really see done very often. I am open to both constructive and destructive criticism from the members of this board.
This is the basis (read. flower pot) for the seat cowl, the lower part that extends around/below the seat to the tank i still have to figure out how to make.
Cheers, Costas