I "accidentally" acquired myself a 2004 R1 this weekend. It belonged to a friend of mine, he bought it new and it has been his baby since then. However, the bike got stolen a few weeks back, and recovered (fuck thieves). Damage to the bike was pretty minimal, but insurance decided to total it. My friend asked me if I wanted the bike for the buyback cost from insurance and it was too cheap to pass up. Luckily I have a very understanding wife who wasn't too upset that there are now 4 motorcycles at our house...
Damage to the bike isn't too bad, and it's all cosmetic. They broke the ignition (of course), stole the exhaust, put a bunch of scratches in the plastics, and covered the bike in dorky stickers.
I totally lucked out in the exhaust department. Someone gave me some OEM R1 mufflers a few years back that have just been sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I was about to recycle them any day now because I've had them up on Craigslist recently for free and no one wanted them. Good thing I kept them!
First order of business was putting the mufflers on the bike so I could get it home. Then I pulled all the stupid stickers off.
Here is my fresh canvas:
Initial plans are to get it back into shape and fix all the little things so I can ride it for the rest of the season. Last night I ordered a new tail light, ignition, LED blinkers for the front, bar end mirrors, tail tidy, brake/clutch levers, and a seat cowl.
This coming weekend I'm going to strip the bike down to change all the fluids and see just how much damage the plastics received and fix whatever needs fixing.
Once winter rolls around, I'm going to strip the bike back down and give it a proper makeover. I'm really digging the new MT09, so I will probably be doing something along these lines with this bike:
This is my first truly "modern" bike, and my first liter bike, so this project will probably be a lot different than my other bikes I've built. It should be pretty fun though.
Damage to the bike isn't too bad, and it's all cosmetic. They broke the ignition (of course), stole the exhaust, put a bunch of scratches in the plastics, and covered the bike in dorky stickers.
I totally lucked out in the exhaust department. Someone gave me some OEM R1 mufflers a few years back that have just been sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I was about to recycle them any day now because I've had them up on Craigslist recently for free and no one wanted them. Good thing I kept them!
First order of business was putting the mufflers on the bike so I could get it home. Then I pulled all the stupid stickers off.
Here is my fresh canvas:
Initial plans are to get it back into shape and fix all the little things so I can ride it for the rest of the season. Last night I ordered a new tail light, ignition, LED blinkers for the front, bar end mirrors, tail tidy, brake/clutch levers, and a seat cowl.
This coming weekend I'm going to strip the bike down to change all the fluids and see just how much damage the plastics received and fix whatever needs fixing.
Once winter rolls around, I'm going to strip the bike back down and give it a proper makeover. I'm really digging the new MT09, so I will probably be doing something along these lines with this bike:
This is my first truly "modern" bike, and my first liter bike, so this project will probably be a lot different than my other bikes I've built. It should be pretty fun though.