Cost no option weight reduction

My fellow Airman, I fear you may have misunderstood me. The purpose of this thread wasn't to build a CBR out of a VFR. The purpose was to brainstorm and get ideas from those more familiar with this bike. I said "cost no option" because I didn't want anyone holding ideas back because they didn't think it would be cost effective. That is for my wallet to decide.

A CBR with helibars, sport touring windscreen and sergeant seat would look like a donkey's ass IMO. A stock looking VFR that was lighter, on the other hand, is an admittedly beautiful machine. Mass is the enemy of performance, the only exception being Paris Hilton. She could use a little more. If I learned about some lighter tires and waited until the stockers wore out before buying them, have I wasted money? No, I have merely replaced worn out tires and saved weight in the process. Again, if somebody told me that the 4th gen wheels were 8 pounds lighter for a pair and bolt right up I'd look on Ebay and get some for cheap. Matter of fact I'd polish them myself, save more money and have a functioning bike in the meantime. Then I'd polish the stockers and sell them on this forum for god knows how much. I'm just looking for ideas or any tricks that the more educated members of this forum may know.

I don't consider a dry cell battery, fender elim, lighter exhaust, no centerstand and no rear footpegs to be "ruining" a bike or F'ing with it for that matter. And for a 5% dry weight loss I'd say I did fairly well. If I start tearing up the linked brakes and ordering titanium bolt kits then I'll slap myself for you. If I start shaving down the frame and machining spokes off of my wheels I will again slap myself on your behalf. If I start having magnesium footpegs and brake levers fabricated.....well, you get the idea.

 

Fill the tires with helium! It'll leak like a sieve but make it 0.0002 pounds lighter!!!
You could drill a bunch of "speed holes" in the frame a'la Homer Simpson!!
on a more serious note...
Are there lighter brake calipers out there? i wonder? Maybe get carbon fiber brake and clutch levers? def. wipe out one side of the headlights or just take off the high beams and glass em over (should save some weight and one can live without high beams i guess, just dont tell the fuzz). Or work it so on one side you have low beam, and the other side you have high?

Do that battery thing, there are lots of light batteries out there, just ask NASA.
Some exhaust kits like TwoBros only use one side of the exhaust in the back, it would look like hell, but you could just not put on the "fake" left side.

Everything has already been mentioned really. If you do shave off 20lbs, then that is a HUGE deal. I'd say mission accomplished and have a beer. I race bikes (the pedal kind) and we are happy with saving 10 grams.

 

Newt---I love your last post infinitely more than the first! I was trying to make sense of what you were saying before frying on you myself, but in retrospect you are making sense, just got there in your own way. Easiest weight losers on this bike seem to be pipes and RIDER, and seeing as that's not much option super expensive WHEELS and unobtainium tank.

I agree with whomever said worry less about weight and more on suspension and skill. You know that part though:juggle:

Just be careful, we used to see some guys that overmodified their R1's, Ninja's etc and ultimately made too many, and screwed up the overall handling characteristics etc.. You did admit to being "rich and stupid" however:biggrin: Good luck any way you cut it sounds like you are going to have fun with this one!!!!! It'll be spending vicariously through Newt!!!

 

Well, hears the scoup, do what you want to the bike, because it's yours.
If you don't like it, it's your fault, & if you like it & everyone else say's your crazy, "F"em, it's "YOUR" Bike.

I will be one of the few & is questioned on here a lot, (not lately because I haven't been on here because of no time & racing) & I'm the one that totally understands what your doing.

You did get some good ideas, & some are quacks.

I can never let any bike be left alone with out keeping it close to origanal looks but with serious wt loss & increased power.

Hell I had 42g's tied into my 998 Duc, & 45g's in my '02 RC51.
Needless to say they were majorly lighter & pushed some serious ponies as well as handled like smooth butter on the tracks.

My current project '04 rolling chassis VFR that I put my old back up 86 HRC v-4, 1000 race motor in it with a boat load of HRC parts & mechanical mods to it while retaining reliability. finally got the bugs out of the wiring & tuning & got a respectable 143.2 hp @ 5200 ft elevation. next is the carbon fibre plastics, RC51 front end & carbon fibre wheels & Brembo brakes front & back, & masters cylinders.

Total cost will be around 20 g's (due to p/u rolling chassis @ auction cheap & already had motor & laber done by me & a friend) I e-bay'd a lot of parts off & got a lot of money to pay for things .

So do what you want & enjoy it, IT"S YOUR BIKE !

p.s. get rid of that POS linked brakes.

p.s. # 2 I fill my tyres with nitrogen, less fluctuating pressures that way. On all of my bikes !

 

Unobtainium?!?!

Varollon...you are such a nerd! All the way to The Core! LOL!


Newtilicious, If you want to go faster take a cornering school class.

My two cents

BZ

 

Damn this is a good thread. +1 to the brakes, it's not all that hard to figure out and think there's like 10+ pounds there to be thrown away. Yep CF wheels are the shits. Still, I like my idea of a titanium rear sub frame? whats ya think? I like that dry cell idea too, good job. most of the problem from what I can tell is where the weight is, not how much. probably why I can can get down and boogie with only a 1/4 tank of fuel.
Yo Taz, keep as updated on that project VFR, sounds like something I'd be doing if only the 1098 wasn't teasing me.

 

Really, Aluminum rear sub huh? Lighter than Ti? Hmm, wouldn't have thought it strong enough but I'm not a metallurgists or how ever you spell it. don'ts ya just love project thinking?

 

Nitrogen? Where the hell do you buy that... Sorry I'm a newb at this but I've worked on a lotta fast cars and this is the first I've ever heard of using nitrogen...?

 

I agree wholeheartedly with you guys about the cornering class. Definitely speed to be found in the rider skill area. The fastest bike in the world doesn't mean squat if nobody can ride it.

Just out of curiosity, are gen3-5 wheels lighter than Gen6? My "what if" in my last post got me wondering if there are interchangeable parts from other generations that could shed weight. I'm sure used parts wouldn't cost that much.

 

Nitorgen for tires has been around in the aircraft industry for years. Race car/bikes starting using it more often to help aid tires from blowing out from excessive heat build up coming from the brakes and braking. Now, some tire shops are providing nitorgen for tires. They may charge a little extra for it, but a nitrogen generator easily collects nitrogen from the air we breathe. After all, the air we breath is about 79% nitorgen. I think it should be free.

One place that helps my suspension is replacing my spockets with a lighter aluminum one and a countershaft sprocket from Renthal. It saves about 5 pounds, but feels lighter than that on how it affects the unsprung weight and rotating mass.
Galfer makes wave rotors that are to lower the weight of the stock rotors by 6 pounds. That will also affect the unsprung weight and rotating mass thus making the suspension more lively.

 

Thanks JRotten. That kind of info on the brake rotor weight savings is exactly what I needed. The sprockets are also a great idea. I thought about it but didn't realize there was that much weight to be found there. I will certainly look into this.

 

Yep Gen 4 are the lightest, but come at a small penalty as it's only a 5" rim width there fore sorta limiting it to the stock 170 size tire. But IMO it's okay as I'm not able to out ride the tire performance any way, and FWIW i'm running on Pirelli corsas.

 

Exactly :biggrin:

With the exception that I have & get nitrogen tanks from a welding supplier because I weld.

 

weight saving and POWER

If you really don't have a cost limit I have some good suggestions. Visit www.ram.mc . They manufacture magnesium single-sided swingarms that you can convert to a Ducati-style wheel. The front conversion is simple...do some research on front forks from good handling bikes. As long as the fork tube diameter is the same size OR LARGER you can convert. If you find some that are larger tube diameter, you can take your triple clamps to your trusted machine shop and have them bored to the larger size. Simple! Now for the good part. If you are looking to blow by those 600's with ease, I am engineering a turbo system for my 2002 Vfr. It will replace the catalytic converter under the bike, also eliminating the centerstand. The kit will be available in about 8 weeks, fully operational. it is designed to NOT require any bodywork mods or frame mods. The only permanent modification that there will be is work to the header, as the 'cat' is welded to the head pipe. My kit is going to maintain the stock exhaust pipes (from the cat back) and location, so there will be no modification there. The turbo is an IHI type and spools up very early giving you an extremely smooth powerband without the 'HIT' of a normal turbo. Looking at about 130 at the rear wheel, which should spank any 600 out there. Email me if you want to preorder.

 

by the way...with my turbo kit...you'll lose around 5 lbs with the centerstand and 7 lbs with the cat. my system weighs around 15 lbs, so if you can find weight savings elsewhere and add 50% more horsepower....you're in it.
Shaun

 

130 seems a bit low to me. maybe im thinking of the wrong year, but i thought they 6th gens put out about 100-110 at the wheel from the factory.

 

While I can respect your project and goals(which can also be very fun), I agree with some of those other fellas who are telling you to buy a Kawasaki Concourse based on the ZX14.

 

I dropped about 35lbs off my RCBVFR 4th gen and still retained the centerstand. I did it by going to cbr fairings/stay, new instruments, SS headers/CF mufflers, 520 chain kit, smaller battery, and F4i forks. Aluminum subframe and aftermarket wheels are on the dream list but that's probably another 12-15lbs right there.

It weighs a whopping 76 lbs less than my stock vtec with a corbin as measured on the same scales.