Matt's Slow Build Thread (56k death)

So I got another package in the mail and figured its about time to finally start my build thread. Even though it will still have a windscreen I think this is the best place for it to go.

So to start off I bought Fizzy the second of January 2008 (New Year's Present to myself and they were closed the first ).

Here she was back then.



Sorry for the dark picture, only one I can find when she was completely stock, rear airbrake...err...license plate holder and all.

Next I put a fender eliminator on, removed all the plastic back there, signals and all. Put on small aftermarket signals, and an LED to illuminate the plate at night.



The LED isn't on here but it is right in that little hole above the registration sticker.



Next on the list was a set of oso2k's setback plates for the pegs. I used some M8 1.25 thread stainless bolts from TrueValue to keep the OEM look and on they went.









That's how she worked for a long time, was great but I wanted more.

So I start my R6 fork collection. Got the forks and calipers for $200 shipped, the axle was another $18, and $70 for some CBR1100X clipons.

Instead of going the normal route and getting spacers I decided to pick up some R6 triples for 30 bucks and attempt to swap the whole deal since I have clipons anyway. This way I won't have ugly risers with nothing on them.



I also have a set of Goodridge stainless brake lines to swap in but I don't have any pictures of them. I'm sure you can imagine them fine

Now on to the route less traveled part. Since my accident last week I did a lot of thinking of what I would do with the bike, just replace the panels with OEM ones or go a different route. I decided on the latter.

I ordered up a used Buell XB12R front end, since I have always loved how they look, just not the lame Harley engine (no offense Wavex :scared

Anyways it arrived today and now I've got to figure out how I'm gonna mount it. I'm studying the Buell FSM on how they have it mounted. As you can see from the pics, it has holes mounting the windshield and mirrors but that is it. No actual mounting points onto the bike. Anyways I will post up here after some more FSM scouring (576 pages to look through )

Here it is, I got a scuffed up one on purpose, much cheaper and I won't feel bad if I mess it up somehow

pics are way to big...go down one size.

Hmm yeah. They weren't supposed to be fullsize, somethings up. Lemme try to fix that.

Say, keep us updated on the clip ons! I never thought about that conversion 'till I saw this thread . . . do they make cornering that much more aggressive?

Probably a newb question, but what are setback plates for? Do they just move the rearset to more of a sportbike position?

And yeah, the Buell front is gonna look SWEET! You going to paint it first?

Very cool Matt, I really like the bits you've assembled, I hope the triple clamp solution works out well. That fairing rocks too, the Firebolt is very sharp looking bike. :thumbup:

flamewulfe said:

Say, keep us updated on the clip ons! I never thought about that conversion 'till I saw this thread . . . do they make cornering that much more aggressive?

Probably a newb question, but what are setback plates for? Do they just move the rearset to more of a sportbike position?

And yeah, the Buell front is gonna look SWEET! You going to paint it first?

Click to expand...

Yes the setback plates move the rearset up and back about 1.5 inches or so.

Looking like you are on a good path! keep us updated!

Yeppers, looks great so far. I can't wait for summer again so I can start working on my bike again.

nice looking build... Can;t wait for the final product.

looks good - keep us updateds.. love those pics

Nice!!! except for the comment about my engine :spank:

Definitely keep us posted! :rockon:

Ok I sort of mocked up the XB12R front compared to the stock FZ6 one (2004). Holding the Buell front I was afraid it would be too big, but it is actually the same width as the FZ6 one. It is a little shorter depth-wise, and roughly the same height-wise from the headlights up. The Buell one ends just below the headlights whereas the Yamaha goes down a little further.

Enough with the text, on with the pictures!











I also found how to mount it, at least how Buell mounts it. There is an inner panel much like ours (but one piece that is flat in the middle, instead of two pieces molded around the gauges), and the fairing stay mounts on to that. The inner panel then mounts to the front fairing by way of the lowest two windshield bolts and the turn signal bolts on the sides.

I am now looking for those panels along with mirrors and maybe turn signals. Since the inner panel is flat it shouldn't be too hard to get my gauges mounted on it. Then I just have to figure how to get the Buell bracket bolted to our fairing stay. Hopefully it is the right length, otherwise I'll have to make something.



As you can see once the Yamaha front is off the Buell one will move back a good bit, so it depends on how much gap there is between the fairing and the inner panel as to whether the stock fairing stay will work or not.

After I get the fairing all figured out I just need to get some headlights and the headlight mounting bracket to hold them in. The trick with the headlights will be to make a dual headlight setup, as the stock bulbs are single filament with one bulb for low, the other bulb for high. I'll have to see what kind of bulbs they are and see what fits; I don't really care about high beams since I don't use them too often but I would really like to have two headlights on with the low beam.

As a side note, I think it is funny that the spell checker is fine with Yamaha but says that Buell is misspelled.

So how are you planning on doing the R6 triple clamp? I was thinking of doing the same thing, seeing as I bought a whole R6 front end for my fork conversion.

I ended up giving up on using the R6 triple. Things I found out along the way.
R6 steering stem is much larger at the top than the FZ6. It can't be used without modifying the Frame/bearing seats.
FZ6 steering stem is slightly narrower that the R6 at the base. Therefore I couldn't just put the FZ6 stem into the R6 triple.
If I was to get the FZ6 stem into the R6 triple snuggly the R6 upper triple would need to be modified to make the stem hole smaller.

Good luck on your project, it's looking good.
I hope some of my learnings help you out.