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F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

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  #51  
Old 10-09-2007, 09:59 AM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS) (updated pics - NOT DIALUP FRIENDLY)

more pics....

stator insides closeup
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another
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a third (man my buddy liked the stator)
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me taking a quick run inside the garage after everything was assembled to make sure it ran okay...didn't have fairings on it at this point was just naked with everything on it...(sort of a cool picture in my opinion)
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like i said...NO finished pictures...i am going to take some tonight with my crappy camera and then take some nice cleaned up ones later with his Nikon DSLR....so stay tuned...
 
  #52  
Old 10-09-2007, 03:09 PM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

Ooohhh, parking garages are so fun to play in with loud exhaust lol.
 
  #53  
Old 10-09-2007, 03:11 PM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

yeah i have to admit after i put on the exhaust, i had some fun making it echo....and my lot is LONG...so i got it up pretty good...my friend heard me crystal clear about 100 yrds away
 
  #54  
Old 12-05-2007, 09:41 AM
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Alright so i feel like an a$$ for not updating this thread for so long, but things have been REALLY busy the last couple of months or so...so here's a basic update on how things are going along and I will continue with my writeups accordingly....also sorry about the lack of pics, my camera went missing for awhile so i couldn't take any pics....plus the lighting in my garage blows so it's hard to get decent pics, but i will do what i can...

I put on all the stuff I had powdercoated...pretty much went off without a hitch other than a lot of sanding where powder built up and made fitment an issue, but it was easily resolved with some elbow grease....

the bike looked sick IMO after putting everything on and sounded even better...i will write up my impressions of the Bootleg pipe in another post with more pics of it on the bike...i will also take some closeups of the powdercoated stuff on the bike to see how it blends...it's amazing how nice things look....

i also bought a set of ProGrip grips for the bike, i wanted something that had a hint of red in them as well as something a little softer than the OEM grips....they went on super easy...way easier than i thought and is a pretty cool mod to do for comfort and appearance and is easy on the wallet.....

I also bought a set of Spiegler SS brake lines in, you guessed it, red and black coating and banjos....put those on and that was not necessarily hard as it was slightly confusing....more to be detailed in the walkthrough.....

since i had my brake lines off, i sent my calipers out to be powdercoated honda red and gloss black...they came back looking awesome and really add a little punch to the wheels....there is nothing much to say about this as i pretty much just took them off and shipped them out, but i will talk a little about the calipers for those a little more ambitious...i was initially then got lazy...

finally, while doing the brake system....i have everything black on the right side of the bike...EXCEPT the damn rear master cylinder...so considering i had everything else off, i bought a spare for $25....and painted it by hand with exterior black gloss enamel and shot it with some clear....came out AWESOME....i also wanted to see if i could tint the reservoir...yeah that didn't work out great, so rather i just painted it and left a viewing window...i will talk about that too....that little mod did wonders for the look of the bike....pics will explain it better....

i still haven't finished the LED install only because i can't do it in my garage....it's always lit...so i have to go to my buddy's garage and unfortunately he's not very reliable....so the times when i could, he couldn't....and when he could, the bike was torn down on stands for other reasons....so some work has been done including mounting the remote controller in the bike and prepping all the wiring....all that is left is the actual light placement....i might write about the prep if i get a chance....

i broke down and bought some sliders....with all the coating and work i had done...it would be poetic if i dropped it...so i got those...they are ready to go on, but i wanted to do the laser method and didn't have a pointer...i finally found one for $3 and am ready to do it...will let you know how that turns out...(i am scared to death to cut my fairings though...[])

i also hopped on the special for the 520 chain and sprocket setup...except i went custom and got a black rear Cat5 Vortex sprocket and dropped a tooth (-1) in the front for a little more pickup...(i don't need a ton since i do a lot of stop and go in the city)....i also wanted a red chain so i ended up getting the a red EK MVXz chain....i also got the speedohealer that needs to be put on...the speedohealer will get put on soon and i will write that up...but the chain and sprocket will be later because i am going to have the rims powdered gloss black to match the rest of the bike and there is no sense in
 
  #55  
Old 12-05-2007, 11:22 AM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

The bike looks great, everything works together.

the neighboring spot is pretty cool and has never complained about me having things apart
Get them a bottle of wine for Xmas, cheap insurance.
 
  #56  
Old 12-05-2007, 11:35 AM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

lol...that's not a bad idea....

as for the bike, i appreciate it...it's got a lot to go though...and the pictures up here right now don't do it justice because i don't have a good pic with all the painted and powdercoated stuff on it...plus with the red brake lines...it looks awesome to have a completely black back half with just a single red brake line going to black and red calipers....

i can't wait to get the wheels glossed up...the sort of matte stock finish is really annoying....and just doesn't work well...once i get the wheels glossed black, i will put on the red rim stripes to pull it all together....

just a little teaser as to stuff to come....

HIDs...mesh in the fairing openings in black...rim stripes...vinyl tape to make the headlights looked blacked out...same for the tailights....vortex anno red/black gas cap....red gauge cluster with indigo....black rotor carriers with red buttons (maybe full-floating, dunno yet)....MAYBE some halos to match the bodylighting....red/black pazzos....PCIII....red anno bolt replacement....vortex triple replacement (then powdered gloss black)....

and even further down the line....painting the forks black and anno the tubes red....and eventually a custom paintjob....

the funny thing...it sounds like a ton of stuff, but because it's all black and red....it's subtle....i love it....
 
  #57  
Old 12-05-2007, 12:47 PM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

very nice work, i'll be coming back pretty soon to do some things you've done. Nice!
 
  #58  
Old 12-05-2007, 12:51 PM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

love the color scheme(same as mine), looks good with what you have done so far, good write up
 
  #59  
Old 12-10-2007, 12:40 PM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

New ProGrip Grips

Ranking of project 1-10 (10 being worst):
Cost: 2 - very cheap(about $10 +shipping)
Difficulty: 1 -
this is crazy easy
Functionality: ??? -
verdicts still out on this (i'll talk about it below)
Visuals: 5 -
looks nice...adds a nice little touch...
Time: 1 - i think it took longer to walk into my garage than to do the mod
Overall: 3 - cheap + looks nice + super easy + likely very functional = great mod


Alright, considering i have slacked for so long...here's a real brief write up on the grips....some things i noticed when i did it....tips, etc....

i don't have pics, i keep meaning to snap some but timing just sucks right now, during the holidays and all...but either way...here are the grips i got



They are ProGrips 724 Dual Density Road Grips $10.10 from Oncycles.com

They are nice grips..very squishy...they are gelish in texture and I imagine will feel real nice when riding...

when i got them, these are NOT open ended grips...there are two types of grips...open ended for bar ends and close ended for bikes without (i think MX don't have ends)...

#1 now no need to worry...if you have ends, all you need to do is grab a box cutter or xacto knife and go to town...the ends have a sort of ring so you can see where to cut....the rubber is so pliable that it only took me about 2 minutes to do both....now don't worry about how they look...because the bar ends will over hang the cut part so no one will ever see it...just make sure that your hole you cut is somewhat close to the opening of the grip....in other words...look through the end you didn't cut and you should be able to see all the way through...if there are little overhangs in the opening, try to trim them a little...remember it DOESN'T have to be perfect....

#2 go to your bike....there are a lot of ways to remove your OEM grips...the most effective from what i have read is the compressed air method where you shoot air under the grip using a compresser...this allows the grip to glide off the bar....however, unless you have access to a compressor, you're SOL....so i did it another way (although i have a compressor)...

if you bought grips you are likely REPLACING your old grips...i personally had NO need to keep my old ones...so i removed the bar ends (which you have to do for either method)....i tried to roll the grips off from the inside out...believe it or not, with a little muscle they'll roll down about half way...if they are glued really good, they may not...but here's the slick part...grab your knife you used to cut the ends and slit the grip....then pull and slit, pull and slit....essentially, you just cut the damn things off....LOL...really easy....now if you need your grips, this is not the method for you, but if you don't, this process takes about 15 seconds for each grip....

#3 now that your grips are off, you have probably read stuff about grip glue...i did research and found that you don't REALLY need it unless you are really raking on your throttle a ton...and i mean beating on it...perhaps heavy track use....a nice option rather than trying to glue is the method i used...now you can use the reverse of the air compressor method to get them on...using air to sort of create a cushion to slide them on...or you can grab a can of hair spray....spray the inside of the grips until
 
  #60  
Old 12-10-2007, 01:35 PM
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Default RE: F4i cosmetic/performance bike makeover (a diary)...(PICS)

everything looks great! keep us up to speed.
i had those grips before and they kinda starting ripping apart after a while. im not sure what company those grips were from since they came with the bike but after a year that were all torn up.

 


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