Winter Mods on a winter day...LOOONNNG post

One of the problems I knew I was going to have when I bought the 600RR in December was that it had a plastic tank cover, therefore, my magnetic tankbag was not going to work. I always ride with a tankbag, unless I'm doing a trackday, a guy needs some place to put layers of clothing, the cell, the iPod, yer wallet and stuff while riding. The 600RR is so densely packed that not having a tankbag of some sort was NOT going to be a viable option for owning this bike unless it was going to be strictly a track bike, and I can't afford a bike just for that. Undaunted, on my very first ride the day I bought the bike I rode up to California Sport Touring in Hercules (tomorrow, today!), CA. Tried a number of the tankbags that they had there, including the type that mounts to the filler ring via a filler ring bracket, and they were all too big or too tall, or something was not quite right. Turns out the tank on the RR is quite high, and most tank bags sit too high for comfort when you are as hunkered over the bike as you are on a 600RR. Yeesh. :wacko:

I finally found an RKA that was the right size, low enough profile, but would still accomodate a removed layer of clothing and the other smaller bits. The only one they had in stock was magnetic, so I had to order a strap model. Also unfortunately, RKA was on the Int'l Motorcycle Show circuit at the time, and it turns out, RKA really doesn't do any business with respect to making product or fulfilling orders for the better part of two months of the year, while they are on the road for the show. So, I finally was able to pick up my tankbag yesterday, almost two months later, after placing the order for it on Dec. 1. Not my idea of how to run a business, but I digress.

The challenge to mounting this bag was going to be the frame on the 600RR. The frames on race reps nowadays are so massive in the steering head area that I had real doubts that I was going to be able to get the front two loop-style straps around the frame that would secure the bag at the front. I quickly realized I would have to remove the side fairings and tank cover to get in to see if there was any possibility of getting a strap down inside the frame so I could get the free end through the loop to secure it to the frame.

I'd never taken the body work off an RR before....a quick review of the owners manual showed the specific bolts and clips that had to come out. After removing these, I now needed to remove the plastic from the upper cowl....yowch! This is always a dangerous situation when tackling a new Honda for the first time because you simply don't know how the tabs, panels, openings, etc. are laid out, and the risk of breaking a mounting tab on the body work is very high. I was able to get the bodywork away from the tank cover, but getting the tab that inserts under the nose/ram air was really tricky. I also noticed some very delicate tabs that slit into small slots on the side of the fairing near the clip-ons. Gee, those look like they are just waiting to break! After much gnashing of teeth, wincing, and praying, I was able to get the side panels off, but not without all the gut-wrenching snapping and cracking sounds that Honda bodywork always makes. Urg! I haven't heard these sounds since my '89 CBR600F! :scared:
I could now see the fasteners that hold on the tank cover, and the tank cover came off easily enough, exposing the klappenstutzen and the fuel tank.

Well now that the bodywork is off, I have fully realized what Honda meant by "mass-centralization". There are cables, wires, electrical connectors, the R/R, and other components that have unknown function literally sprinkled all around the engine, frame, tank and airbox. Stuff is just PACKED everywhere on this motorcycle. I took one look at the clearance of the frame and all the crap that is packed inside and outside of the frame, and thought, "No way am I going to be able to fit a strap in there, let alone get it out of the underside of the frame". There was a small gap between the air box/throttle body that I might be able to slide the strap in between and down.

Lo and behold, the strap went down and I could feel the underside and backside of the frame and grab the strap and pull it out. Unbelievable. I quickly surveyed the situation on the right side of the frame and found a spot where I could slip the strap down, and if I could reach it from the bottom of the frame, I could slip the strap between yet more bundles of wires and electrical thingamabobs. Sure enough, by wriggling my hand up above the way cool curved and enormous-for-a-600 radiator, I could feel and grab the end of the strap. I quickly looped it around the frame so it would not fall or slip out. This might work out after all!:biggrin:

I put the tank cover back on, and of course, had a hell of time getting the bolt that slides through a hole in the tab on the tank cover to line up with the boss on the frame. Damn Hondas are so precisely made that if the cover is not absolutely perfectly aligned in all possible dimensions of a space-time continuum, no way is a bolt going to go through the tab and in the threaded portion of the boss. The big danger here, other than losing one's patience with space-time continuua and multivariate dimensions, is cross-threading the bolt and buggering the threads in the boss. I removed the tank cover once again to see the problem. I tried just threading the bolt on the right side into to the boss itself...nope, it wasn't going in. Tried the other two bolts, nope, nope...blast! it looks like I have indeed buggered the threads at the entrance if the bolt was going in at a slight angle when the tank cover was on. Great, now I am going to have get tap and re-tap the threads at the entrance. Lovely. :brick:

Well, I thought, I will put the tank cover on for now and button everything up, leaving the bolt out of the tank cover tab/boss on the right side until I get a tap. Fortunately, the bolt on the left side of the tank cover went right in smoothly. No problems there! I reconnected the little clips that hold an air deflector to the tank cover. Maybe I will see if the bolt on the right side will go in one more time....I pressed firmly on the tank cover to align the hole in the tab with the boss, and inserted the bolt. To my amazement, the bolt engaged the threads and started moving in. I was able to use an allen socket and thread it all the way in! To guote Count Vizzini in the The Princess Bride: Inconceivable! :shocked: I quickly buttoned up the rest of the fasteners holding tank cover on. I was able to pull the straps up on the cut-outs near the front of the cover and install the plastic quick release clips. Hmmm....looks like an ideal mounting situation.

Now I had to get the rest of the plastic on. Getting the left side fairing on was relatively straightforward, except for the tabs that insert into slots in the tank cover....snap, crackle, pop! Rice rockets! Honda always seems to come up with mouting tabs that if you orient them right for part of the bodywork, another set of tabs is in conflict with inserting in their respective slots properly, necessitating bending and flexing of panels and tabs. :juggle: Talk about a test of nerves...

Now that I had the left side on, getting the right side on was more straightforward. I discovered the trick of hooking the tabs from the fairing into the slots on the tank cover first, and then inserting the tabs for the rest of the bodywork, moving along the side to the front, finally inserting the tab that mounted the plastic under the nose. That seemed to work better! :smile:

I quickly mounted the screws that went into the well nuts on the fairing lower, but had a b*tch of a time getting the one screw that went in at the very front at the bottom near the headers....that puppy just did not want to line up with the threads in the well nut. Finally got it in...jeez, what a hassle. I finished up by insering the clips that hold the plastic air dam under the ram air to the side fairing. Honda has done something unusual in that the front underside of the nose of the bike is completely closed off with a very flush fitting panel, no doubt to improve aerodymanics, and direct air in a more controlled way to the radiator.

I snapped the tank bag on to the clips from the front of the tank cover and from the front of the seat and et voila! She is on ze bike....

Have a look:


Strap mounting from the frame


The rear strap from the seat/tank area:


Left side of the frame:


Another shot of the bag on the tank. This mounting is very secure.


Looks pretty good...I really didn't think I was going to get this puppy mounted up. :biggrin:


The bottom of the tank bag has a plastic, textured surface to keep it from slipping, but I am concerned the texture will rub on the surface and ultimately will scratch the finish, so I am going to get that kit that NorCalBoy posted information about in another thread:

http://tinyurl.com/2ggth3

Well, I got my tank bag on the bike, and true to form, any time I spend working on bodywork, laying on the cement floor, trying to get a bolt into a well nut, my back hurts me later. But....it's on there! :whoo:

Next up, a set of Heli bars to raise the clip-ons 1 3/4" and bring them closer in 5/8"....who knows, I may be able to get this bike so it is actually rideable on the street! :biggrin:

 

+1 Tankslapper. In the meantime, just take the bag off and wipe the tank down with Honda Polish after you ride. Even if it looks clean, I guarantee there's a layer of grit in there.


Also with plastic tanks, you can JB Weld some neonadium magnets on the underside where your tank bag magnets would normally attach.

 

All that for a tank bag install? Wow, I thought I was thorough.

Thanks for the technical read!

 

Wasn't that airfield in one of the more recent Bond movies???

 

Newbie question, Puma...What is that on the panel that looks like a beer coozie with a wristband around it? I've seen those before, but still don't know.

 

I can't help it, I'm a scientist, it's in my nature!

You can take Stephen out of the lab, but you can't take the lab out of Stephen! :biggrin:

 

Oh, that is a wrist sweatband on the brake fluid reservoir. It's one I got when I bought a recent issue of Fast Bikes, the British sportbike mag. The reservoir has a screw cap, not the screwed and secured one that comes on VFRs and older CBRs. The sweatband absorbs any brake fluid that may leak out or get pulled by the airstream out of the threads of the cap. Race team mechanics put them on because they are always taking the cap off to fill the reservoir when servicing the brakes.

You can see one here on Eboz's bike, near his right hand in this shot I took at the AMA final at Laguna:



At some point I will get a blue one, I put the red one on 'cause it was free.

 

"The Princess Bride" is one of my faves, too. I love the Iocaine Powder logic duel! :biggrin:

I ordered the color and piping specifically to match the bike. The blue is called California Blue.

I can't wait to get out and ride the little thing again....it's got the nicest, smoothest inline four motor and transmission I've ever ridden. I am confident it will out-pull a 781 cc VFR exiting out of a corner (it has to, it makes more horsepower and is about 100 lbs lighter) and best it for top speed. The thing is just stupid fast....my nickname for it is the "Millenium Falcon".

 

PC thats a bad azz picture...not to mention I would have loved to be there, but thats a nice action jackson shot +1 for you and your wristband, and photo skills...nice bike btw lovin it. Tank bag looks good too....I am not a big fan of them, but thats a nice low profile one...way to go...

 

At what RPM would that corner exit be taken from? :biggrin:

 

Hee hee! Good point, NCB! Coming out of 11 at Laguna might be a whole different ball of wax, huh? :biggrin:

 

I'm just jerkin' your chain buddy :wink: It is a gorgeous machine and I'm sure it just flat out rips! I really like the color, I don't really care for red :yield: I saw an '08 600rr in the pits at the SF Supercross with the Hannspree livery, looked pretty cool.........Ten Kate has these things wired.

 

Ha! No worries, mate! :wink: S'all roight!

Ten Kate does stuff that even has HRC mystified at toimes!

(PC doing his best Ozzie accent)

 

I thought it looked like a wristband. I also thought that was too simple, and there had to be some high tech equip under there that needed protection from wind or sunlight or something. Told ya it was a newbie question.

 

Sometimes the most elegant solutions are the simplest.