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Twisted's mid school RF of procrastination


twisted

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Hi All, So early last year i decided id by another bike and get my license this time round.

after much searching and research i found this RF400RVV just one street over. It was pretty tidy, and rode well. With 53Hp and 195kg dry, it sits at the upper echelon of the LAMS Power to weight formula.

 

Rode it day in, day out all through winter and did the following work:

  • Front wheel bearing
  • New pads all round
  • New air filter (wasnt running one when i bought it)
  • Brake fluid flush
  • Bridgestone T30 tyres
  • Valve Clearances checked and adjusted (Being a 'VC' engined model, this was a massive learning curve even for the mechanic, and was well beyond my skills and limited toolset)

After all this work, the bike was running really well, and i was thoroughly enjoying it heading into summer.

And then this happened:

Hit a patch of oil on Paekakariki Hill road, and Lowsided at 70km/h. Would have been fine, except shortly after I hit the bank, the Bike did as well. Having over 200kg (wet) behind it, it had considerably more momentum than my 80kg frame, and as it hit the bank rear end first, it pirouetted and came down on my leg, and then carried on further down the road.

A Local Good bastard was following, and he called an ambo and moved my bike to the side of the road, because at that point my legs were not working. The cops turned up, took one look at the oil covered road and declared that it wasnt my fault, and "we're really friggen happy you're alive".

Good Bastard shot home, grabbed a trailer and took my bike back to his and stored it for me.

After Most of the Day in A+E, it was declared that I had sprained the PCL Ligament in my left knee, and had nerve damage in my right Leg. I was OK and could go home. After about a month of physio i was walking normally again, with the ligament about 85% healed and the nerve damage 100% healed.

 

So anyway, I got my bike back and stripped all the plastics off it to assess. At first i though it was OK, however closer inspection revealed that the frame took a couple of good hits, with a good crease up front, and the rear subframe well and truly fubared.

Its sat like that for 4 months. I had a half assed attempt at straightening the rear subframe, but gave up when i realised it was too far gone, and even if i could straighten it it would have lost much of its structural integrity. As the rear subframe is welded to the main frame, I couldnt just find another and bolt it on like some bikes, also with the crease up front i decided that the frame was toast.

Then as if by magic,  a frame popped up on Trademe that had everything i needed:

  • Main Frame
  • L/H Rearset and Gear Lever
  • Front Fairing Support
  • Front Fairing and Screen
  • Dash Cluster (Rare as rocking horse shit - the last two years of production used s different cluster, and only on the 400s)

Came to a deal with the seller, and i'm getting the lot incl freight from Hamilton to Kapiti for $500. So i'm well stoked. Should arrive later in the week or early next week.

So the plan?

  • Paint frame 2k satin black
  • Strip existing bike, inspect everything and replace rubbers/bearings and seals where necessary
  • Strip forks, paint fork tubes, refresh fork oil
  • Repair plastics - a lot of work is needed here and i have a fair few tricks up my sleeve. I don't think i need to replace anything other than the front fairing. time will tell though
  • Fix Dents in Gas tank
  • Paint
  • Buy some Leathers (My textile gear melted during the slide. would not trade again)

Pics:

 

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2 minutes ago, flyingbrick said:

I have always thought these were a good looking bike!

Don't be too harsh on your riding gears damage! sounds like it did its job pretty well (eg you didnt mention losing skin )

glad ur ok

Likewise! some people hate them  (possibly because of their fat ass)  but I've always liked them. They're nice to ride as well, and are quite commuter friendly.

Yep gear saved my skin (mostly) though it melted through on the upper forearm, leaving a small burn about the size of a 50c piece. Next set i get will have a full zip at the wast too, as this one only had a half zip - net result was the jacket rode up where it wasn't zipped, and left me with a single spot of gravel rash, about the diameter of a coffee cup. All in all it did OK. BUT it wasn't exactly a high speed slide.

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So these all arrived today:

FB_IMG_1496306225968.jpg.5d9f5201748ad1f0c1fddfca9ea25fcb.jpg

Pretty happy with everything. Cluster has only 37km, and an unexpected bonus the frame has a current wof through to october.

Mulling over painting the frame 2k or not, doing so will mean paying someone to do it, or potentially making myself sick. Not that keen on powder coating, so still have to work through that.

Will be ordering headstock bearings and stripping the forks hopefully this weekend

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Keen to know what you do RE painting the frame. My frame needs to be blasted, but still deciding what to do after that.

Very cool looking bike, shame about the off but im glad the gear did what it was meant to. Sucks it was something as stupid as some oil on the road that did it, i hate variables like that.

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On 6/1/2017 at 22:11, kws said:

Keen to know what you do RE painting the frame. My frame needs to be blasted, but still deciding what to do after that.

Very cool looking bike, shame about the off but im glad the gear did what it was meant to. Sucks it was something as stupid as some oil on the road that did it, i hate variables like that.

I've decided just to go with 1k for the frame. easy for me to touch up if and when required, plus i can do it all myself.

Rubbed the frame down over the weekend. Etch primed it, then hit it with some filler primer.

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Going to order headstock bearings shortly.

 

Might start gluing the fairings back together tonight. I'm using 'Permatex Plastic Weld' Epoxy. seems to have a good strong bond. I'll reinforce all glued bits with fibreglass for peace of mind. I'm going to need to get creative with the Side fairing though... i'll explain later with a picture.

 

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No major progress on this yet. Frame is all primed and rubbed down ready for paint. I think I've decided on a colour scheme. Basically black and gunmetal. Black will be a BMW colour (cosmosschwarz), but I'm yet to find the right gunmetal.

Expoxied up a broken stud in the back of the cluster. The stuff I'm using sets solid as and seems to hold strong as. Yet to properly stress test it but I'm happy so far.

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Also made up some discs out of broken fairing to fill in the very large holes for the indicators, as I'm going to be running modern units with a small form factor.

I will probably try reducing their size fractionally so they fit inside the holes, then i'll epoxy and glass them in.

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Not sure wtf iforce is doing with my photos, but they seem to orientate correctly when clicked.

 

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Hello 

nice bike. i always wanted a rf900.  

Epoxy and glass will not work. 

it will fail in the end and crack. I worked in a fiberglass factory and used epoxy and glass on my repairs as it was all free. 

But it all cracked and split easily. 

Get them plastic welded in or use a soldering iron and strips of plastic from the broken fairing and plastic weld it your self. In the final repairs i also got some fine mesh, layed it in the back then heated it with the iron to impregnate the mesh in to the repair as a extra strength bonus. 

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If you decide to get someone to do it for you go and see All Bumper Repairs on Tirangi Road in Kilbirnie, they don't mind small jobs. I got a tail unit plastic welded up by them, only cost $20 and they had it ready the next day all nicely finished too.

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16 hours ago, datlow said:

And to think Ive thrown thousands of cable tie ends away

saw a bmw champagne quartz colour online today looked pretty nice, although prob not so grey but if your going with bmw colours

 

I was considering that colour, but i'm having difficulty visualising it on an RF. Though i do quite like the understated nature of black and grey.

Don't think the cable ties will work, as im pretty sure the fairings ABS. Test piece i did last night came apart with a bit of force.

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13 hours ago, kicker said:

If you decide to get someone to do it for you go and see All Bumper Repairs on Tirangi Road in Kilbirnie, they don't mind small jobs. I got a tail unit plastic welded up by them, only cost $20 and they had it ready the next day all nicely finished too.

Yeah, Will keep that in mind. there's a bit to weld up, mostly around mounting points so i want to make sure its strong.

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Wet sanded this with 2000 grit, but i don't think i soaked the paper long enough and it won't cut out 100%. So i've rubbed the whole thing down and i am going to shoot another coat of clear over it.  Before i do this, i'm going to finetune my gun.

I'm just not sure what size tip is the best for clear? I have a gun with a 1.5 tip and one with a 1.8. both suction cup guns. I got some good results using the 1.8 on a test piece the other night, I just wonder if i could get better results with the 1.5 if it was set up correctly?

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