This Cut's Got Flavor

Long awaited and overdue – the work on the CBR is finally at the end. I was at this stage a few weeks ago, actually, but just been slow to update on it.

One day I picked up all the SharkSkinz fairings from the paint shop. The color is a super white with a subtle mix of blue pearls. I remember debating over what to do with the color scheme. Initially, I was thinking of more elaborate options, but in the end, resorted to a less is more fundamental. I decided to have everything painted in the same color to keep it clean and simple.

For some reason, I was under a foolish inclination that the fairings should go on with relatively little modification, since I had things semi-mounted previously to drill out holes. Well, on the tank cover, I had to dremel out tabs where the clip-on Dzus went, or else the holes wouldn’t have lined up.

Upon mounting the upper fairing to the bike, it was discovered that it was no where near to fitting. Since the bottom of the radiator had to be jaunted forward an inch due to the exhaust headers, it was hitting the inside ridges of the fairing. This took a lot of repeated cutting and fitting to get things pushed in more. Needless to say, it was rather disconcerting having to introduce a cut-off wheel from a $10 dremel to a freshly painted SharkSkin…

The upper fairing eventually went on. Next was the lower fairing, which also required modification. The exhaust pipe on the bottom bulged into the fairing, so I cut out a section to let it stick through, and applied gold heat foil around the area. Also, a hole had to be elongated on the fairing, and after a while it found its way onto the bike as well.

At this point, the bike that had sat naked and in pieces was finally starting to look like a Motorcycle again. Last was the tail fairing. I threw in the battery, added another mounting point with the tank cover, got the tail on, and called it done.

I still need to cut out a seat from a neoprene foam pad, and figure out the front brakes since they still feel squishy.

All the hard work and money has led up to this, but the real fun and true test has yet to begin. I haven’t even ridden the bike yet, but am hoping to do it soon…