Low Budget Purple Project

[hondaror]

Nice pick Steve. I've yet to see that one. Did you buy it from Don at work? ...and as I said, another livelier one for the other bikes! I guess it's my turn, now...and I don't even ride, yet.

[mikee]

Been lurking on here for a while
Keep forgetting my login stuff

But been watching your build

I love it , there's some bits I'd change if it were mine , but that's me
Fuck the doubters , it's your and you love it


That is all

Mike

[Off Road]

Ten months ago, (Sept. 2013), my project bike died on the side of the road. No spark.
The problem was traced to a faulty stator.

Four months ago, (Mar. 2014), I replaced the stator, kicked the bike over, and had spark.

Three months ago, I got myself another job. Unfortunately, I also still have my original job.
So, now I have 2 jobs. They both Suck.

I have not ridden the project bike so far this year, because I was waiting on a couple of parts.
Got the parts at 10 pm, last Friday. Looked at them and went Ohhh. Awww.

Worked all day Saturday.
On Sunday, I cut the lawn, and did chores around the homestead, to make the Queen happy, so that there is peace in the Kingdom.

Monday night after work, I evaluated the new parts to make sure they were correct, and got them installed.
Checked the fluids, put air in the tires, and made sure all the bolts were tight.
The battery was dead, so I put it on the charger, but the charger is pooched, and doesn't work well on the small RZ battery,
I got a bit of a charge into it, enough to turn over the PV's when the key's turned on, and power the Zeel.
Washed the bike to remove 10 months of dust, and it was pretty much ready to go. All it needed was gas.

Tuesday, I showed up at the shop with a couple of gallons of fresh fuel. Ended up working till Midnight, trying to fix somebody else's emergency.

Wednesday, worked till 10 pm, sorting out anther problem.

Thursday it rained.

Tonight, I put the gas in the RZ, turned on the key, kicked it 3 times, and it fired right up.
I let it warm up for 10 or 15 minutes, while I suited up.
Then I jumped on the bike, dropped it into gear, and it stalled and died.
At that time, I discovered that the battery was also dead.

Tomorrow, I'm working all day.
On Sunday, I'm supposed to cut the lawn, and do chores around the homestead, to make the Queen happy, so that there is peace in the Kingdom.

However, if it's a nice sunny day on Sunday, then the queen will just have to be unhappy.




On a different subject, I need to make a Note to Self.

When working on the RZ, and you think its important to dig out some tools , in order measure some components, then Write The Numbers Down.
Do Not store them in memory, to be recalled several months later.
Doing this will result in dis-assembling the bike in order to measure it again.

For the record, the measurement is 42 mm.

[JonW]

42 is always the number you need to know, its the meaning of life... apparently...

[Off Road]

Yesterday, Hooligan, Vonzipper, and myself, were talking about going for a ride today.

Unfortunately..........Hooligan couldn't go because he had to work on his bike.

So........................Vonzipper decided to stay home and work his bike.

And......................I didn't. Ooops, my bad.




Hey Jeff.
I realize that my new, custom parts are clearly visible in the picture, however I would appreciate it if you didn't mention them.
Thanks mate.

[hondaror]

Steve, I knew that your black RZ moves, but towing a semi-trailer? Wow!

[Off Road]

Rory saw the new parts. Several times. Didn't recognize them for what they were.
Hooligan saw the new parts today. Had his hand within 2" of it.
I swear, he started to comment on it, and then without me saying a word, he talked himself out of it.
It was priceless.
The problem is that everyone is thinking inside the box, looking for a custom RZ part, and it's not an RZ part.


Anyway, on a completely different subject, that's in no way connected to the previous subject,
I have a minor problem with the front forks.

With the stock FZR springs, and the stock 160 mm spacers, I only get 21 mm of rider sag.
I installed a set of 150 mm spacers, and got a rider sag of 26 mm. Better, but not ideal.
However, with the short spacers, I am getting very close to using maximum fork travel, under hard braking.
And I still haven't come close to using maximum brakes.

So, if I further shorten the spacers, in order to increase rider sag, I will probably end up bottoming out the forks.

Hopefully these will help.




Stock FZR400 Springs
Length = 412 mm
Rate 1 = 0.5 kg/mm (from 0 to 90 mm)
Rate 2 = 0.7 kg/mm (from 90 to 130 mm)

Preload = 42 mm (The Magic Number when using the 150 mm spacers)



Progressive Springs (not really important info, just FYI)
Length = 470 mm
Rate 1 = 0.63 kg/mm (from ? to ? mm)
Rate 2 = 0.89 kg/mm (from ? to ? mm)



Race Tech Springs (the ones I bought)
Length = 340 mm
Rate 1 = 0.8 kg/mm

Preload = ???

Knowing the stock spring rate, the preload, and the sag, I should be able to get a good idea of the load on the front suspension.

With this load, and the new spring rate, and length, I'm hoping I should be able to get a good idea on what length the new spacer needs to be.

Fortunately, Race Tech supplied some high-tech spacer material.

[JonW]

Ahh I see it.... The new part is a tiny model F250 tray situated under the headlight, Im guessing it was added so that you can go to the shops and pick stuff up... nice idea! not sure if it will catch on, especially here as I dont we have a 1/12th scale F250 model trucks here...

[Off Road]

Hi Jon. You're close, but that's not it.

Still, the Judges decided to give you 1/2 a point, for your creative thinking and exceptional attention to detail.

[hondaror]

I didn't even know I was supposed to look for new parts. I've never seen the bike before these last two weeks, so how would I know I was looking for anything different.

[intrudin]

Hi Jon. You're close, but that's not it.

Still, the Judges decided to give you 1/2 a point, for your creative thinking and exceptional attention to detail.

fuel cap??

[JonW]

haha, no worries Steve, half a point is still 100% more than anyone else at this juncture! :D

I probably should be looking at the pic on a bigger screen to have any hope of seeing something new, hmm...

I keep meaning to ask you, the turn signals on this bike... are they from HighTechSpeed?

[Chris_S]

Are the front shock preload adjusters new?

[Off Road]

Last January, I made a post after consuming too much, and having a conversation with Herb,
one of the voices that rattle around inside my head,
At that time, Herb was talking about a New part that I was getting for the bike

Herb: The other part for the bike is a totally unique, custom item, that's been expertly machined out of billet aluminum, and then polished to a mirror finish.

Off Road: Wow. That's awesome. But it sounds like it could be a bit expense.
How much do you think it's going to cost for a part like that, on a day like this, for a guy like me?

Herb: I don't know the final price.
What I do know, is that Every person reading this thread, would Immediately stop what they were doing and order one,
if they could get it for a price that's 10x more than you're going to pay.

Off Road: Really? You think so?

Herb: Guarantied. Every one of them. In a heartbeat.

Well, it seems that Herb may have exaggerated a wee bit.

The part is definitely custom, and was built to my requirements and specifications.
And it has been machined out of billet aluminum.

Unfortunately, it has not been polished to a mirror finish. Not yet anyways.

And I don't think it's totally unique.
If it was Unique, it would be one of a kind. Nothing else like it.
Which brings up the debate on whether something can even be "Totally" unique. Or Very unique. Or Somewhat unique.
Some would say that there are no degree's of unique. It's either a one of a kind thing, or it's not.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure that my new parts are not a one of a kind thing.
I'm guessing that the machinist made up a bunch of them, while he had the tooling all set up.

However, at the moment, I'm pretty sure that I have the only motorcycle in the world, with these Pre-load Adjustable Fork Caps, for conventional FZR400 forks.


So it looks like the winner of the big cash prize is Chris_S, for pointing out the new parts. Good eye Chris.
(The consolation prize for everyone else, is having to look at the original picture and go: "Damn, how did I miss that")









As for Herb's prediction that all you guys would pay 10x more than I did for the parts, you'll have to decide that for yourselves.
The supplier paid for the shipping, and then sent me the following Invoice.






A huge Thanks to John at Economy Cycle for having these made.

[JonW]

Great! Thats a good story. Love it.