[leo_black_label]

so . i have wanted to make a thread for my cbr fighter build thats been ongoing since i joined CF. i didn't think that my build was a big deal enough that anybody would care to see it, but after spending a lot of time here i can appreciate that everybody has something to contribute, and i want to show you all what I've been up to. so over the next bit, i will be trying to catch up to where the bike is at now. i know a retroactive build thread isn't the norm, but i want to share the work I've documented with everybody and to get you guys familiar with the bike so that i can get some opinions and guidance on mods from here foreword.
i hope some of you can get some ideas of ways to do (or NOT to do) things on your own builds from some of the stuff I've done to her.
so to start out...

heres how it sat when i unloaded it from the truck the night i bought it. test rode it in the first snow of the season, payed 2$G cash and took it home and just stared at my first sport bike. i stayed up late that night searching "cbr street fighter" and stumbled onto CF!.

 

[AtlStreetfighter]

We always like to see what work other are doing and see how they are doing it. No matter how small or big it is. So lets see what you have been up to.

Buy the way what is the cage fighter you are working with as well?

 

[leo_black_label]

got right to work stripping body work and the acerbic mask.
went on youtube and searched how to fiberglass videos.
got some pink insulation foam and started carving a plug (base form) for a seat cowl mold to lay a carbon tail piece.
made a fiberglass form, stiffened with foam to lay carbon fiber belly pan modeled off stock side plastics.

<a href="http://s1103.photobucket.com/albums/g466/leo_black_label/?action=view&current=user41820_pic6449_1260910685_thumb.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1103.photobucket.com/albums/g466/leo_black_label/user41820_pic6449_1260910685_thumb.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
still playing with lots of ideas for a tail...
and a nose cowl.

 

[leo_black_label]

We always like to see what work other are doing and see how they are doing it. No matter how small or big it is. So lets see what you have been up to.

Buy the way what is the cage fighter you are working with as well?

thanks Atl!
not sure what one you mean ? sorry.

 

[leo_black_label]

found a crashed nose cowl and tail off a red cbr 600rr on ebay for like 30$. just need something with a shape i like and work from there. cutting, and fiberglassing to make a smaller mask to house two little stacked lights and a shorter solo tail.

layed a carbon "windscreen" to bolt into the reshaped cbr mask. used an old welding face shield as the base shape and just layer the carbon weave and brushed epoxy into the waxed shape of the visor.
test fit carbon screen

 

[AtlStreetfighter]

you said something bout a car you have been working on since before you joined CF. What is it?

 

[leo_black_label]

found some little halogen driving lights for too cheap at the auto parts store. not great but good enough.

used an aluminum bracket that used to hold the no parking sign in front of my house, till i took it down so we could park there.
cut up bits of the side-panel mold i didn't need for the belly pan and used them as sides for the mask. they're rough but you never really see them( unless you're hot-wiring my bike).

 

[leo_black_label]

thanks to extreem throttle for pay it foreword gift of the 43mm clamps. haven't figured out quite yet how they're going to be holding on the cowl, but they're sweet.^^^^

 

[leo_black_label]

used the stock fender, trimmed down a little, as a mold to lay a carbon fiber front fender. oh yeah, it was the abandoned fender mold that i used for the side pieces on the mask. anyway, it turns out it takes ALOT of finish work to smooth out a carbon cast part off a mold that isn't very smooth. layers and layers of clear and wet sanding and more crystal clear spray! in the end it doesn't look store bought, but I'm good with that. I'm going for apocalypse road warrior military rat bike fighter thing at this point...

 

[leo_black_label]

mask and fender in place!

 

[Tallboy]

you said something bout a car you have been working on since before you joined CF. What is it?

In the first post, when he said "car", maybe he meant "cbr"? I could be wrong, but it adds up.

 

[leo_black_label]

cut out with a grinder and bent up a pair of covers for the ram air ducts.
going to have an aluminum diamond-plate (checker-plate for all you canadians) theme on the bike. industrial strength road warrior!
but this still leave a wide open hole into the air box so i cut the "snorkels" off just about flush with the line of the frame & fit them with some little pieces of expanded metal mesh glued in place with the same epoxy from the laminate work.

 

[leo_black_label]

rearview mirrior bolted to little tab on corner of radiator. clear wide-angle view of left lane, but no view directly behind. ^^^

 

[leo_black_label]

still using the stock tail and seat just painted black, tank painted black and made a carbon fiber tank cover just from the fill-cap back to the seat. this is the first working version of the bike as spring arrived. still running clipons and stock rear sets and mid pipe w. two bros exhaust.

much more to come!
gotta go do work now...

 

[leo_black_label]

painted on the logo that will become her name.

the whip.

note- also reppin AWS and bobs java hut (minneapolis) its not done till its got stickers on it!
actually its not even close to done...

 

[leo_black_label]

around this time i have a decently cool. pretty mean looking fighter. but I'm obsessed. and the more time i spend on CF the more i NEED to mess with my bike. i now dream about single sided swing arms. really. i wake up like "damn! it was only a dream." so i set out to make it a reality...
ducati wheel.4x100 bcd. 80$ ebay

triumph arm with hub. 175$ebay

being able to look at them up close and measure before buying...priceless.

 

[leo_black_label]

arm on left is stock car f4 arm. right is triumph sprint. ^^^
see the problem?
yeah. me too. oops.

 

[leo_black_label]

so. no amount of trimming and collars and sleeves and spacers is going to fix this incompatibility.
out come big guns. and stupidity maybe?
call in a favor to my machining teacher from last year...
and...

next thing i know we're at the bandsaw with some guy i never met who says he rides a gsxr looking over my shoulder saying "dude! what are you doing? don't do that! thats a bad idea! don't... oh..oh... you shouldn't have done that..."
and viola. incompatibility area removed.

 

[leo_black_label]

now some of you may have seen the thread i started on this project last spring.
here.
http://www.customfighters.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45655&page=3
but i will touch on the highlights...
chopped the part i do need off the car swinger, to weld into the empty space where the part i don't need was removed from the sprint swinger.
piece o cake! lol.

 

[leo_black_label]

started by jigging up a little fixture to hold it all in place based on the stock arm.

then cut the sprint arm as pictured earlier and reinserted in fixture with the cbr pivot area in place of the original triumph part.

^^^ it took a bit of patience, slowing removing material and test fitting and then removing more and fitting again...