Rockets builds a touring bike

[Rocket]

I'd decided it was time (that'd be tax time) to get another bike.

I've been wanting a bike that would be kept in Queensland at a super secret high security storage facility for use whenever I came across from WA to QLD. It would save me shipping a bike over for AFR, which is a pain in the ring as well as costly and it would mean I could fly over more often than I do and have a bike ready and waiting.

With Ms Gillard deciding that I was worthy of recieving some of my hard earned money back, the decision was made.
Then all i needed was a bike.

I contacted my good mates at Motorcycle Masters in Kewdale, WA and they hooked me up with an awesome deal on this touring bike.

Well, not exactly a touring bike.
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More like a K6 GSXR1000.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1281029881.jpg


http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1281112865.jpg

[Rocket]

The bike is a repairable write off that M/CM had bought in to wreck but they kindly agreed to sell it to me.

The plan is simple.

Fighter the thing.

I have some Ducati S4R bars, I've ordered some bates style lights and a ...ahem...windscreen, fit legal indicators and mirrors and leave the quiet exhaust and rear fender on.
No fancy paint, no trick bits, just your basic fighter.

The bike is pretty much all there. The bottom triple is twisted and MC Masters don't have one so i'm sourcing one for it. The front wheel has a bit of damage and MC Masters are fixing that for me but everything else appears to be tickety boo.

I have a Moto gadget dash I can use on it but I might just get an original dash instead which will save a lot of fucking around with wiring. I'm still pondering that one.
I'll fit up the headlights and flyscreen and see what space I have behind it. But I'm leaning towards getting a stock dash for simplicity.

Today, Morry (Rock Hard) was finally able to run the bike up as they had to get a new key matched up to the ignition and ECU.
He gave it a clean bill of health, so I chucked in a set of new plugs and oil and filter this arvo and now it can all go back together.

So for now I'm just waiting on some more bits and we can kick it along.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1281032311.jpg

[crazymofo]

nice one phill. if your triples are root, there is a high chance for the forks are too.... either way, change the triples to 07/08 ones... much better handling.

love my k6, find it a perfect alrounder, fucking fast, comfy, and fucking fun to boot.

cheers.joe.

[rock hard]

Good one mate,:)

[Watto]

on ya Phil - ya bike whore :D

[BANDITROD]

awesome stuff phil i cant wait to see that one dissapear into the sunset like a unicycle aswell

[hyofighter]

quote:Originally posted by Watto

on ya Phil - ya bike whore :D

+1 to that , youll just ride anything ya whore , LOL , nice work , so if i head to qld would to be up for hire ??? haha

I'd be happy to store that in my shed for ya Phil

[Rocket]

heh. Thanks Davo, I'll keep that in mind.

[rock hard]

Hey Rocket, you can leave the turbo in my shed MATE!!

[irvinelmo]

Hi,
These kind of touring bikes are designed for long-distance touring and heavy commuting.Although any motorcycle can be used to tour with, manufacturers have brought specific models designed to address the particular needs of these riders.

[hooligan]

quote:Originally posted by irvinelmo

Hi,
These kind of touring bikes are designed for long-distance touring and heavy commuting.Although any motorcycle can be used to tour with, manufacturers have brought specific models designed to address the particular needs of these riders.


You are correct.
Although you missed an important point - this thread is titled Rocket builds a touring bike, not rocket buys a goldwing 'cause he's a nancy boy.;)

[Rocket]

Heh, there's touring and then there's touring.
This is a touring bike not intended to cover long distances.

[Rocket]

Some minor progress happening with the bike lately.
Mainly I;ve just been waiting on parts to arrive.

I'd been leaving the bike at Motorcycle Masters while waiting on triple clamps to be straightened but they needed some space so Rock Hard dropped it off home for me which is good as I can fiddle with it whenever I like.

Anyway, here it is, at it's new temporary home.
As always, a shed full of stuff.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282730339.jpg


The first bits to arrive were the dominator headlights and fly screen.
I've only mocked them up here as this is not my front end, it's a shop front end i've got in there until mine is ready to go back in.
When that happens, I'll get the headlight height correct and hopefully shorten the brackets a little to bring the lights back in a bit.
The clip ons will be going as well, of course.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282665421.jpg


http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282699992.jpg

[Rocket]

Next to lob was my new front wiring harness and instrument cluster from the states.
I just clicked a few buttons, changed it to KMH and its good to go.

I plan to cut off the triangle section at the bottom and make some mounts to go on the top triple.

I went with an original cluster to save on cutting and shutting harnesses and a shit load of time and effort.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282669059.jpg

[2ndclasscitizen]

This is the set-up I've got on my K5:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/3686144265_e630f090a4_z.jpg

It's not too bad at keeping the wind of, but once I put a tankbag on it's great, hardly any buffeting or pressure whilst cruising.

[Rocket]

Today I dropped into M/C Masters and picked up this overflow bottle.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282718379.jpg


http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282708371.jpg


I wanted to get rid of this...

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282713063.jpg


I've never been a fan of overflow bottles mounted in plain sight so I secured this one under the fuel tank with a couple of cable ties and then, presto ! Invisible overflow bottle !
I've done this on my K1 1000 a couple of years back and it works great.

A minor pain to check the level but these things never really lose fluid anyway.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282650332.jpg


http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1282669573.jpg

[Rocket]

quote:Originally posted by 2ndclasscitizen

This is the set-up I've got on my K5:

It's not too bad at keeping the wind of, but once I put a tankbag on it's great, hardly any buffeting or pressure whilst cruising.


Looks good mate, what guages did you use and how did you mount them ?

[2ndclasscitizen]

Still using the stock dash.

[Mr Hyosung]

Don't leave it at Davo's place. He might try to do a wheelstand on it, and we all know how your against that type of misbehaviour.

[Rocket]

I frown upon wheelies Terry, I frown very sternly indeed !

[rock hard]

yeah Rocket is your lebanese brother called ASIF or LIKEFUCK ?

[hyofighter]

yeah phil why dont ya build a unicycle ya never use the front ends that ya have now , seems a waste all that extra weight

[Rocket]

Morry finally was able to get my front end back on Friday from having the bottom triple straightened.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), things like barbies at Azreals place and spending most of today pulling weeds at my mums place put a dent in the time i wanted to spend on the bike this weekend.

But anyway, Saturday, Potato came through with my new, new front gaurd. After he had some technical issues with my old, new front guard. Those heat lamps'll fuck you up every time !

So having the front end back, i ripped out the dummy front end, knocked in some new steering head bearings and stuck my front end in in.
I'd picked up some fat bars and some nice risers from Motorcycle Masters so i drilled the top clamp, made up some 10mm reinforcing ally plate to go in the top clamp webbing for extra strength.

In the first pic, I have all the cables and wiring running as from the factory, none of it would actually fit my bars as they were all too short.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1284391562.jpg


After pulling the airbox out and re routing all of the cables, I managed to get all of them to what I think is an acceptable length.
So the only thing I need to replace is the front brake line.
Billywhizz hopefully has something suitable laying around in his shed.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1284302602.jpg


I also started on the dash.
Mr Dash, meet Mr Dremel !

I'll just make a simple ally plate bracket to hold this up.
http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1284384107.jpg


Besides the brake line and the rear part of the chain guard, I believe I have everything I need to get this bike finished, which is lucky as I'm officially unemployed this Friday so i'm keen to get onto this and get travelling.

[Hagarr]

Excellent work Phil.

[Rocket]

Thanks Danny,
Today i changed the front brake line for a longer one.
Made up the bracket to mount the dash.
Still need to find a grommet and probably will use a bit of velcro to stop it vibrating.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1284451228.jpg


Mounted up an Oberon master cylinder reservoir I had laying around.
These look nice but out of five of these that I've bought, I've had to pull three apart and re-glue the two bits so they don't leak.


http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1284422310.jpg


Front end is finished !!!
But I think it looks shit so i might chop the bracket back a bit and lose the screen.

http://www.asfphotos.com/upload/1284446010.jpg



Apart from that I just need to hide the wires and cut and shut a chain guard to fit.

[rock hard]

:):):):)nice work big fella

[Large]

Nice work Phill.

Where you planning to go on it?

[Rocket]

Thinking about shipping it into Melbourne, or maybe even adelaide in October and riding up to the Gold Coast taking the most scenic and winding roads that I can find.

[Surt]

quote:Originally posted by Rocket

Thinking about shipping it into Melbourne, or maybe even adelaide in October and riding up to the Gold Coast taking the most scenic and winding roads that I can find.


my dream is to ride hwy one round Oz mate lotsa windin roads! [8D] and great savin' on shippin!!

[crazymofo]

quote:Originally posted by Rocket

Thinking about shipping it into Melbourne, or maybe even adelaide in October and riding up to the Gold Coast taking the most scenic and winding roads that I can find.


let us know if you do this, i'll ride down to coffs and show you the roads back to the gold coast

cheers.joe.

[Rocket]

No probs Joe, thanks ! Coffs is one of the places I intend to visit on the way as I did the road out of Armidale down the hill in a car a couple of years back and it was a fun road. But it shouldn't be snowing this time.

[BANDITROD]

i too had to reglue my oberon master res's mate they are fucking shit house imo ...bike is looking the goods though