Hello all! I've not been on very much lately...been busy riding and with school. So I decided to post up what I'll be doing with my 600, and a little life update for those who care

As some members may know I bought this bike back in the fall of 2011. When I bought it...it was in rough shape to say the least. So I worked on it in metalshop at my High School. But that was my senior year and by the time I finished I had it looking pretty good in my mind, or at least a lot better than it did when I started.

This is what I started with...




She was not looking good when I got her

So I worked over the winter and spring, and here is how she sits now, alone in my garage back in Maine.









She obviously still needs work, and some parts.

But I did what I could with my limited budget and time I decided that instead of jumping on an older 600 with some..."questionable" pieces attached to it I just went to my local Honda Dealer and bought a 2012 CBR250R. I've been riding that this summer and had a lot of fun on it!



Now I'm at college at WNEU for Mechanical Engineering...I wonder where this thread is going!

While here I haven't had my bike. I am a week soul and the first weekend I took the bus back up to Maine and had spent some time with my girlfriend...and rode my bike as much as I could! I took a trip over to Mt. Washington and went up the auto road (BAD idea, it was 40 degrees with a pretty nice breeze up there, BRRRR).

Anyways, I had to take my car back down to school, so I haven't ridden in a few weeks and really miss it, I have to wait 2 more weeks until I can jump back on my bike and hopefully get a few hundred miles on my bike over Columbus day weekend.

Now that the life update part is out of the way...

I am here studying ME and part of the classes I'm taking involves solidworks. I've been learning the program and am able to make pretty complicated parts now So I decided I may as well start working on my 600 again and try to make it into something fun. I decided a stunt/street bike would be good. I will not be done with it until probably late next summer because of money...however I'm okay with that. I've loved riding my 250 and don't really feel the need for more power. I just ride it in the twisties all day because that's all we've got here

I've been working on some parts for the 600 and when I get the measurements when I go home for Columbus day I can finish the parts up and get them made on the CNC machines here...but here are my rough drafts so far.

Since this is a stunt bike I have debated flipping my clip ons, or going with MX bars. I have decided to go with MX bars just because I can :P

I had two options though, I could either buy an adapter if I could find one for my bike (stunt parts are hard to find!), or I could make my own, and make it how I want it! That's what I chose to do. The part is of course not done since I need final measurements but this is a rough draft so far.



This of course is not the final design because if I were to make this part it would just slide up and off the clip ons and that would be bad!

The final version (once I get the proper measurements) will be made so that the holes for the forks are actually cut similar to the bar holder section of the part. Then I will make holes for bolts so that I can tighten the end parts around the forks to keep it on. This is just rough like I said

So, I wasn't really sure what to do about gauges. I want to keep the original style fairings that are on the bike now...but that'll be tricky. I don't want to use the old analog gauges either. So I think my plan is to purchase a Vapor digital set, then after getting measurements for that I will make a mount for those gauges that fits onto this triple tree adapter. That way the gauges are on the bars and don't need to be adapted to the fairing stay, plus it'll probably look cooler!

So now that that's all taken care of I still need to fix a few parts of the fairings, so that's the next step. Hopefully soon I can bring my bike down here to work on it...just need to find a place in Springfield.

List of things to do :

Measure, re-measure, re-measure and cut MX bar adapter.
Install Vapor gauges
Repair fairings, shave off the ugly front blinkers, add body filler and install flush mounts.
Cut un-needed gauges supports from the fairing stay. Put solid cross bar through and mount a sheet in the open space to clean it up.
Re-paint/vinyl wrap gas tank
Replace fuel lines, brake lines(?), radiator hoses
Replace sprockets and chain
Replace rear tire
Replace brake pads and fluid
Oil/Filter change
Coolant flush and fill
Vinyl wrap fairings
Build fender eliminator with license plate holder/light
Replace fork seals and sand down/paint fork bottoms (they are covered in gunk).
Replace bar ends
Install woodcraft spool/sliders for front and rear
Install Racing905 stunt cage/cut holes in side fairings to fit around cage around them
Replace clutch cable
Replace levers
Install rear hand brake(?)
Undertail exhaust(?)

(?) = Things I might do.

More updates as I work on this list!

 

Good news everybody!

I have found a set of Smokin' Joes fairings! They are supposed to only have a crack in one of the side vents and a scuff on the side fairing panel.

I will be going to look at/pick them up in a little over a week!

If anybody wants to buy a GoPro HD I could use the cash so make an offer

 

UPDATE (10/13/12) : So I'm sitting here at school and finishing the design on the triple tree adapter to hold MX bars.

I've decided I will probably not be using plastics on this bike...they don't really look that great since they're from the early 90s!! I might do a swap when I get the money, but for now I am going to try to find a 600rr tail and fabricate that onto the bike this winter.

Since I'm not doing plastics I need to make the bike look good, so I think I'm going with a white and orange paint scheme.

Probably going to tear the bike down to the frame, clean it and get it powdercoated white along with the wheels and a few other bits. Then get orange grips, lines, etc...

I have to find a nice looking front fairing, does anybody have any suggestions?

 

leave the stock paint on the bike..looks great

 

Well, that's why I'm Vinyl wrapping, I can always just peel it off afterwards and it'll be just fine!

I'll probably fix the stock bodywork up a bit then clear coat it so that when I put the Vinyl on it doesn't stick to the stickers on top of the plastics.

Anyways, update!

So I got a bit more done tonight, I went home over Columbus Day weekend and measured the distance from fork to fork and I could accurately make a model for my MX Bar Adapter. The next step will be to take the center piece without the bar holders (so just the flat piece between the two forks in the picture below) and get that made on the 3D printer here since that will only cost about $2 or so. Then I can bring it home and test fit it, if it fits everything else will/should.

Red are the forks and Blue is the MX bar.



A few things left to tweak, one fork has a larger gap between the pieces than the other but that could be because I didn't assemble everything quite right on SolidWorks.

But it's late and I'll fix it tomorrow

And yes I know I haven't made any holes, but there will be some for some bolts to go into so that the ends and caps stay on of course

And if anybody has suggestions feel free to make them! Thanks!

 

$2 to 3D print an entire upper triple? or are you making a plate/clamp assembly that will sit on top of the triple?

Either way - that sounds silly cheap. I understand how 3D printing metals works (kinda/sorta), is it truly stronger than machining down a block of something like 6061?

 

also - once you get this sorted, I bet you could make a couple handfuls more and sell them to the stunter/fighter/long distance rider crowd.

I even have a project bike in the works that is getting an F2 front end, that I might want to run dirt-bars on - I'd be interested.