Just noticed I've been a part of this forum for exactly a year today. So I decided to reminisce the past year with my F4i and all the time I put into it to make it my own.

The day I brought it home. 3/7/2011




Wasn't in the best condition, but it was far from bad also. Had an ATV pipe for exhaust no front signals, minor left side damage.

I immediately started looking for parts for her. Starting with flush mounts integrated rear tail and exhaust actually meant for the bike. Also hacked off the rear fender.




As with some others I've seen I felt like the windscreen looked funny rising 3+ inches above the end of the fairing. So I chopped off the stock screen and spray painted the inside of it black. It turned out alright, but the amount of wind it failed to block was just too much. Then it cracked so I went ahead and bought a Puig racing screen, which I love both looks and function. Mirror block offs and bar end mirrorr gives it a much cleaner look IMO also.



More to come, but I'm off to ride her to work for now.
Alright back to my reminiscing...

Thanks to these forums I was able to get a good deal on stainless steel brake lines by getting in on the group buy last May. At that same time I also switched out my calipers to gold 954rr calipers. No performance benefits from the caliper switch I just like the look of the gold rather than the stock black.




Then came the gold shorty levers.



Then came the highlight of the summer, a road trip to the Black Hills in South Dakota. Was a little more the 1900 miles round trip.










Had a mishap on the way out there though. While cruising down the highway my exhaust separated below the bike where the mid pipe connects to the header. While I limped it off the highway to see what had happened the pipe hit the ground bent the mid pipe and had spun the exhaust 180 degrees from the exhaust hanger. Yikes! Managed to get it reconnected and headed back down the road with a pinched mid pipe.


When we stopped for the night I was on my phone checking out local craigslist ads for cheap replacements and was also on here looking too. I ended up buying a scorpion pipe from __Z__ that he was going to use on his 929rr street fighter build but had decided to go another direction. He was a great guy to deal with.



During my search for F4i parts I had stumbled across this pic of carbon fiber ram air covers that I instantly fell in love with and wanted real bad, but I couldn't find for sale any where.

I posted wanted ads both on here and on fireblades.org and a fellow over there happens to have a custom carbon fiber work business. Carbon Fiber Creations
He contacted me and I ended up doing business with him with a great end result.



Look great with the carbon fiber heel plates I already had.

Continuing to make my F4i my own I installed a yellow tint to my headlight which turned out as good as I imagined it would.



To feed my carbon fiber addiction even more; over the winter I purchased a front fender and a stator cover.



That brings it to its present state. There is still a few things I'd like to get yet, because I just can't seem to just leave things alone, lol. Still searching for a carbon fiber rear tire hugger.

Debating over getting my rims powder coated either gold or high gloss black like the RR's have.

Also a gold sprocket and chain when it comes time to replace my chain and powder coated rear sets and passenger pegs like the bike above.

 

nice bike man, congrats on your first year here, btw whats the bike in the background there? and you can keep all that snow - its 78 degrees here and feels great.

 

Very nice bike..... I need another windshield, mine is the Hotbodies windshield with spary paint. I'm just having problems finding anything in the aftermarket that is red. I tried to put my black painted oem screen on and it made the whole bike look funny.

 

Haha, no snow here either, the pics with snow were from last year this time of year. The bike in the background is a 1986 Suzuki GSX-R750, it's seen better days, but its what i learned to ride on and is a piece of motorcycle history in my eyes.

 

Is that one of the pit-eck carbon fiber fenders? Or is it one you had custom made?


If it's the pit-eck one how is the fit?

 

YEah its a pit-eck and the fit is nearly perfect. Only minor problem was that the the back side mount holes did not have the built in slot for the nuts that are on the stock fender. I just used a couple lock nuts instead.

 

nice bike man. you bought yours 2 days after I bought mine .

how are those bar ends? im thinkin of taking the mirrors off my bike but i use em too much to justify it.

 

That's a nice bike. The carbon fiber really adds a nice touch to it.

 

Absolutely gorgeous bike! Love the CF pieces! Wish they werent so pricey but that's the nature of uniqueness =)

I wish I thought about swapping to the 954 calipers, I like the gold much better, and I could have bought a rear one since I bought an f4i one anyways! Were they easy to swap? Just swap the calipers and bleed the brakes or is there more to it? If I can find them cheap enough I might do it one day.

Again, great lookin bike!

 

I like it better, couldn't see a whole lot with the stock mirrors without trying to duck my shoulder and arm out of the way. The reflection you see makes everything seem quite small and father back than it actually is tho.

Yeah the 954/929 front calipers are identical other than color. the rear is a bit different tho. the brake line connection and bleeder valve are flip flopped there.