A couple of pics of my 95

just wanted to post a couple of pics, went for a ride today and thought it looked kinda cool sitting in the driveway when I got home. the bikes a 20 footer, its primered on the top and has cracks here and there, but elbow grease, my new plastic welder, and paint will make all the difference in the next few weeks. The important things are it runs awesome, and its comfortable. when its painted it will look very similar to this but more of an influence from the 2009 LE. thanks for lookin!


Jay

 

And now for something completely different

I'm liking it. Nice to see a 4th gen dressed in something other than stock red. Some strategically placed red pin stripes might look cool, and match the seat. Almost inspires me to paint mine.

Please continue to post pics as you progress.

 

thanks! I was just out fixing some cracks in the plastic, hopefully priming and painting in the next month. I would like to go with the 09 b+w LE pretty close but was thinking of splitting the black and the white with red instead of silver like you mentioned.. kind of spicy, lol. I had been seriously considering doing a tail swap for a 5th or 6th gen's, and still may if pieces come available for a decent price between now and then, but odds are ill end up keeping it stock bodywise.

Im having trouble with the upper left fairing ( clutch side), its got serious crackage around the turn signal and seems to have warped a bit or something as I cant get the cracks to line back up to weld without major tension on it, not sure whats going on there. might end up with an airtech or thurn upper in which case all funds for a tailsawp would be out the door.. but the bike would look great

thanks again

Jay

 

Spare Upper

Is the plastic out of whack? Or something wack underneath the plastic that is keeping it from lining up properly? Just a though.

My bike was knocked over in a parking lot the year before I bought it. Insurance replaced the plastic. When I bought it, the owner gave me the old wrecked plastic also (left side, 3 pieces.) I've seen lots worse. The scratches that look white in the close up are actually black.

I'm in Michigan. I'll meet you in Colorado if you want to buy the upper. Kidding. It is for sale though.

 

PM sent, i could definitly use it, its way better off than mine. I took a closer look at mine this morning and i believe the plastic has been cracked so long that it has just "changed" its shape due to temperature fluctuation and stress, theres no other reason for it to not line up... regardless of why.. it just IS and I accept that, lol.

 

That looks awesome. BigJay! In fact, I was talking to my friend the other day (who is BIG into Star Wars and has a full authentic replica Stormtrooper suit) why hasn't anyone painted up a sport bike in black and white, and dressed it up a little to look like something an Imperial Storm Trooper would ride?

I even found him a helmet to wear when riding in custom......

Zamp Racing - Moto Street - FL-22

Check out the WHITE one, and tell me that doesn't look like something a ST would wear when riding.
:biggrin:

 

OMG I am gonna cry, My baby... Well at least it is in good hands.

Jay you had mentioned the crack on the left hand side. I think the owner before me tried to weld it up from the inside with a huge patch of something. If you get that patch off I am sure it will line up again. I faced the exact same issue you had and I said screw it.

Hope the bike is running well for you!

I am about to paint my 97' VFR. I will post up some pics. Glad you like my ghetto paint job! Everyone always said it looks much better than the standard red everyone else has!

OH BTW you forgot to mention to everyone the yosh system, fox shocks and sound system the viffer has!

 

Whats up man! ya its doing great for me, Ive put about 1,000 miles on it to date and no complaints. The sound is addicting and ive yet to hear anyones that sounded like mine with that carbon yosh can. the stereo is definitly a perk, makes the harley guys wish they had an amp when I roll past them and they cant hear theyre stock HD stuff . ive adjusted the suspension a little and it seems to suit all 345lbs of me just fine for my current riding ability. Im sure as I progress in aptitude I will need to have them rebuilt for my "largeness", lol. I am needing to drop the pegs a bit but i think some buell ulyssys pegs grinded down to fit will do the trick.

I will look at trying to take that patch off, theres definitly some goofy goober stuff going on behind the scenes there. I have the tail all welded up and fixed, ready to spray almost ( just need to sand), as soon as the front is done ill be painting. seriously thought about doing the cbr front end swap but I think ill leave it stock and just ride it What color are you painting your 97? good to hear from ya, take care

Jay

 

hey sorry for the late reply here, didnt even see the post. Ya that helmet is very ST! I saw a little scooter in SF that was done in a real ST theme, it had a little mural on the sides depicting a battle from one of the original starwars movies, pretty trick little unit!

 

Glad to hear everything is working out for you. Would you mind posting pics of the plastic welding your buddy did?

I just got all the plastic welded on my 97' and I am going to take it apart this week for painting. The color of choice is Metallica Electric Blue. I can't wait to get the frame poweder coated white and all the little bits powder coated as well. It will make this bike look so nice.

I need new tires as well but I am not taking this thing into the twisties until then!

 

I actually ended up welding it myself, didnt turn out too bad at all once I practiced on some other ABS pieces. Seems to hold as well as the epoxy patch too. That piece that the previous owner ( before you) patched was a pain, the epoxy wouldnt come off without melting the plastic too so I did a surface weld on it last night to level and smooth the crack, still need to sand it down later today, itll never be perfect but close enough for rock and roll.

After some practice I started using the Honda ABS thats used on older dirtbikes as a filler, its more flexable than the stock plastics on our bikes and mixes well with the existing ABS once both are heated up. This resulted in a less brittle weld ( ABS gets more brittle after it heated up) but the weld does look like its more "brazed" than welded because the colors are off and alot more motion is needed to mix the two types and get good penetrations and hold, but hey.. im looking for function not form, lol. ill post pics later.

Blue will look killer man! I had considered going General motors medium adriatic blue, but decided awhile back to keep it black and white, ill spray the whole bike white and then go over and sort of duplicate the black and white scheme from the 2009 LE vfr.

 

That is great that you did the welding yourself! I don't know much about it and did not really want to invest in the time and effort so I paid someone to do it. I have attached a picture of the color I am going to have on the bike.

Do you think I should make the V's in the fairings white? The reason I ask is because of the white powder coating I am doing as well. It would be nice to mix up the color a bit. I was thining of making the vents white as well.

 

Ya it was kind of guess work at first.. I went to school for welding... but on metal, lol. I got a few pieces of other fairings to practice on before I did my bike. Oddly enough the little thermal plastic welder I got is easier to use without the tip that comes on it and just a flat head screwdriver bit in its place, so essentially its just a soldering iron! its not as pretty but its a better weld. The main point is to be sure the plastic is melted as deep as possible without blowing out of the front and the filler plastic is mixed in well with the base plastic for the best hold, same principals as metal welding only different instruments.

That blue is great, thats the new underpowered honda chopper lol. My friends dad bought one of those and its weak sauce, ide be surprised if it had 50 HP, its soooo slow. That color will have a better home on your bike :biggrin:. I think white naca ducts and vents would look great, especially in conjunction with the powdercoated white frame!. Those parts seem to beg to be accent colors. Are you powdercoating the wheels? if so let me know what it costs, I want to do mine white and the local company seems to have raised their rates dramatically since the last time i used them :crazy:.

 

whoa scratch that, just realized your wheels are already white.. DOH!

 

Jay,

Sorry I had to get off the phone with you. Work is crazy right now with end of the quarter stuff.

Thank you for the info regarding that fender eliminator. I will be puchasing that soon enough!

I have attached some pics of the welding that was done on my bike. Tell me what you think. They are crappy iphone pics but you get the idea!

 

no problemo amigo, Busy is better than not busy eh?. those welds are interesting, they look very well done but im trying to figure out what they used as a filler, almost looks like it was done with chemicals and thats some sort of epoxy. unless they used clear ABS. im not familiar with the chemical welding process but i know its stronger than the base material is when its done right. do you know how they did it?

 

I have no idea how they did it but this guy has been doing welds for 15+ years and said this is the strongest weld you can do.

 

I bet its chemical.. good stuff! is it smooth on the surface?

 

AH HA! found it, Repair Plastic Parts and Create Plastic Parts with PlastiFix Im going to order some and work on the remaining cracks i have with it. It looks to be superior to thermally welding.

 

The welds are bumpy and hard to the touch. They are very VERY strong but tomorrow the painter is going to work his magic and bondo/sand like the good man he is!