The first thing I picked
up was a Lockhart-Phillips carbon look
tank bra. It looks very nice, but the fit isn't as good as I've seen in the
past from LP. It doesn't fit real good on the sides of the tank as you can see
in this picture.
To minimize load times for these pages, I have inserted hot links to the photos in each paragraph.
The first thing I picked
up was a Lockhart-Phillips carbon look
tank bra. It looks very nice, but the fit isn't as good as I've seen in the
past from LP. It doesn't fit real good on the sides of the tank as you can see
in this picture.
Next was a Timing Retard Eliminator
in December 2001, otherwise known as a TRE. The GSX-R1000 is delivered with the ignition system designed to
reduce power in 1st, 2nd, and 6th gear so it doesn't:
A) Flip up over your head when you crack the throttle
B) Break 186 Miles Per Hour at the big end
This device bypasses both of these. It's fairly easy to install if you follow the directions carefully. It has a toggle switch so it can be turned on and off. With the TRE on it's noticeably smoother at idle and has a lot more pep below 4000 or so. I haven't attempted to see if the top end has improved. I prefer to keep my license with me.
Also in December I
purchased a carbon fiber
triple clamp cover from Suzuki,, and a
Powerbronze Airflow windscreen.
The windscreen got great reviews from my
buddies at gixxer.com (there's a link on my main page). It allows you to see the top half of the tach from the
saddle and
directs a little more air out of the way. Here's a view from the
cockpit.
I picked this up from CCP Performance. They provided some great service, so you'll be seeing their name a little more often as my source of parts. You can find a link to them at the top of my Links page.
In January 2002 I picked
a carbon fiber
gas cap cover from
Lockhart-Phillips. It has a glossy finish and fits very well.
I replaced the horn in
the middle of January 2002 with a Fiamm I got from Pep Boys. The new horn is a
ton louder, and it fits fairly well if you fiddle with it for a while. Here are
before and
after views.
At the end of January I
picked up a gold anodized aluminum cap for the front brake fluid reservoir. It's
made by ProTek and looks
great. Cost was $18.95.
The same day I got some
quick release fasteners from Sargent
Cycle for the rear seat. They are a simple bush button fasteners that
replace the Allen head bolts that I had already almost stripped after 5 months.
Here's a close up view.
A cold day in early
February of 2002 saw the installation of a few more items. My wife bought me a
Pyramid carbon fiber hugger and I picked up some Lockhart Phillips turn signals.
You can see them both in this picture.
One of my good buddies on Gixxer.com (Charles from Street and Track) provided
the hugger. It's great looking piece and fits very well. You can also see that I
removed the decals from my tail section.
In late February I added
flush mount turn signals to the front of the bike and some carbon fiber
heel guards made by Harris. The
turn signals have the iridium lenses like the rear ones. The heel guards are
very well made and have a nice weave to the carbon fiber.
26 March saw the
installation of some Lockhart-Phillips carbon fiber
frame sliders. I picked them up at
Cycle 1 and they are extremely cool looking. You can buy different colored caps
for them too. Here is another view.
I also grabbed the matching swing arm slider and
bar ends.
On 29 March my buddy Mike
at Oklahoma Honda/Suzuki swapped wheels. He just bought a 2002 GSX-R1000 in Red
and Silver. He told me he was going to powder coat his wheels, so I asked him if
he'd swap with me since I wanted black wheels. I sure like the change.
In early June of 02 I
picked up a carbon fiber exhaust
pipe hanger off of Ebay. I like it a lot, but I think it's a one-off race
piece because it's very thin. It allows the pipe to bounce around a little left
to right. I'll hang on to it until it cracks or something.
In late June of 2002 I
picked up the carbon fiber rear cowl
made by Suzuki. You need to take the hardware of the original piece and bolt it
onto the new one. The front of the cowl sat a little low, so I put a couple
washers under the latch piece. On the same day I grabbed a set of
Hel brake lines from my buddies
at Cycle 1. They are top notch quality and have improved the feel at the front
and back.
In early August I felt it
was time to start working on the "cool factor" of the bike. Aesthetics are
always a personal thing, so take my choice of goodies with a grain of salt. The
first thing was a gold anodized oil filler cap and
gas cap bolt kit. Both come
from Pro-Bolt and look and fit great. You can find their web site here at
TastyNuts.
I finally decided to get
rid of the ill-fitting tank bra from Lockhart-Phillips. I grabbed a carbon fiber
(what else) tank protector from ART, a British company. The fit and finish is
outstanding, and the carbon fiber is thin and fits perfectly on my tank. I
purchased it from my buddies at Cycle-1 here in Oklahoma City.
In late 2002 I had the
guys at Cycle-1 order a gold bolt kit from Lockhart-Phillips. It arrived with an
assortment of over 100 different bolts. All of them Allen head. They look great,
but being made out of aluminum cannot replace anything that is subjected to any
stress. Here are a few shots of some of the locations that I used them. First up
was in the cockpit. Here are a couple on the
master cylinder and gas tank. Next
area was the foot pegs. I used them for the heel guards on both sides and the
case covers. Next area of
attention was the three bolts on each side holding on the
front fender. I also used a
couple where my carbon fiber hugger bolts to the swing arm. In
this picture you can also see
the gold sprocket bolts I picked up.
After returning from
Saudi Arabia in June of 2003, I put some Galfer brake lines on the Big Gix. They
are the same lines supplied to some of the factory race bikes. I already had Hel
lines on it, so the only reason I added them was because they matched my
black/silver/gold theme I was doing the bike in. Here are some pics of the front
(1 and
2) and the rear (1
and 2).
A few days later in
June, I also added some Tasty Nuts preload adjusters. They are very nice looking
and make adjusting the fork preload a whole lot easier.
