Brad The Bike Boy: April 2015

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Helibars clip ons on a 748 / 916 / 996 / 998

I had a customer who wanted some higher bars on her 748. I enquired about a few of the options, and came across the Helibars TS07026 clip ons. Available locally, they're at the expensive end of the range at $480, but they come as a guaranteed straight fit. They have the holes drilled for switch blocks, meaning you don't need to mess around with that (always an annoying part) and the labour time it entails. Once fitted the only clearance issue I noted was between the tops of my fingers and the mirrors at full lock, and that was more a surprise touch than real issue.

I fitted the LH side, and took a photo from behind for a comparison with the std RH side. With a very obvious shallower angle, they're advertised as 44mm higher, 25mm further back and 30mm wider.

The only issue I had fitting them was with the front brake hose. It did seem like it was too long anyway, but the angle of the banjo meant that I was very limited in options. Running forward as shown, it looked a bit odd, but cleared everything and didn't get jammed at full lock. The instructions (which I forgot to read until I was done) specified running the throttle cable under the front brake master cylinder. The drilled hole in the handle bar for the throttle housing locating pin would have required this, but the housing on this bike was pinless. And over the top seemed more natural when I was lining it all up.

To further help with the comfort, I pushed the forks down through the triple clamps 13 mm (they were at the specified setting) so that the tops of the tubes were flush with the top triple at the inner edge. Then, in the rather futile hope that the rear suspension rod rose joints would actually move in the rod, I removed the rod to try to adjust it. It was at 262 mm centre to centre, and after much heat and Inox I finally managed to get one end to wind in to give 259 mm. This gave us a 10 mm drop in ride height at the rear axle. Overall, this combined 23 mm change in attitude rotates the bike approximately 1 degree.

The owner found the most noticeable change to be in the angle of her neck, which combined with the general reduction in forward weight will hopefully see her enjoying the bike more regularly.

The 851

The 400SS

I bought this 400SS (genuine 93 model Australian delivery! Woo hoo huh.) after seeing it in Ebay for what was possibly an good price. As ever, good was too good to be true. Badly repaired and rusted out fuel tank, badly repainted side panels, lots of km (83,000 of the bastards), etc. You know, the usual. Purchased in October 2012, as of now (Jan 2014) I've nearly finished a major service. The cam timing is done with some of the Madasl adjustable pullies that have been drilled in 4 different settings for easy dyno testing. And I have some 900 headers to try a 40mm dual exhaust set up on it (ala M400). Not a great deal of progress for 15 months, so it's taking on a long term feel. There's an F1 endurance style seat base (more taper at the rear) and front fairing sitting around, which will require frame mods to fit. It's a bit of a mental sticking point as this time. But hey, it's not like I can devalue it much more.

The Mighty KR1S 250

How it looked the rainy night someone came to take it away. Painted all black when I bought it, at some point later I realised i could rub the black off and have much of the original colour scheme underneath. Although the main fairing was originally from a red KR1 I think, and definitely badly repaired more than once, so it stayed black. And the tail panel shown was bought to replace the one I smashed the only time I crashed it and the last time I rode it at a Sandown track day. A sensational little bike, holed pistons and frequently failing stator windings aside. The first bike I rode on a race track and the first bike I had my knee down on. And a great commuter too I found. It's sometimes nice to have a bike that won't wheelie past the city speed limit in first gear.