charlie12
Junior Member
Hello All,
I’ve been lurking for a month or two now, and the time has come for me to introduce myself and (more importantly) my FZ6. In April I took the MSF course because a couple friends were taking it, and ended up getting addicted to motorcycle riding (big surprise, I know). I quickly got tired of riding the pos KLR 650 I was borrowing from a friend, and started hunting craigslist for a bike I could afford. I recently lost my job, so I was thinking of picking up some cheap 30 year old UJM. Just when I was about to pull the trigger on a Nighthawk 650, a friend of mine decided to sell his 2004 FZ6 for a price I couldn’t refuse. After 3 weeks of desperately trying to craigslist everything of value that I didn’t absolutely need around here, I finally picked up the FZ6 3 weeks ago:
As you can see, the previous owner already did the naked conversion on it, though he gave me all of the original parts. I’ve already put about 700 miles on the thing, and done a couple mods. First up, I cut the clutch slave lever in half and welded it back together with some additional length in the middle. Makes shifts SO much smoother, I can’t recommend this enough. Also of note, I installed a tire hugger, one mirror (the bike came without any) and hyperlite modulating brake lights and aux turn signals right above the license plate on the back. I also picked up some hyperlite front white accent lights, but I haven’t installed them yet… which brings me to my list of planned changes and mods.
I got the white hyperlites hoping to increase the visibility of my bike from the front, but after doing more research, I’ve decided I’m likely going to order these instead: Scoops with halogens from AMT-Distribution.
So if anyone is interested in a brand new set of white hyperlites, let me know, I’d be happy to sell them for $15 under the manufacturers price.
In conjunction with the radiator scoops/lights, I will probably get a belly pan, mostly to balance out the look of the extra plastic on the front. Once I get that, I’m considering repainting all of the plastic and the tank. I like the blue, but the plastic parts and the tank are different colors… is that right? The tank is a significantly lighter shade of blue than the plastic panels on the bike, which are almost purple. The previous owner dropped the bike once at a great deal of speed, and as a result he replaced a couple of parts – don’t know which ones. He had sliders on, but as the gas tank is in perfect condition, I guess I assume that he replaced it? Anyway it isn’t noticeable now, but if I were to add a bunch of additional painted plastic parts, I think the bike would look odd unless I repainted the tank as well. And if I’m going through the trouble, I might end up picking a different color entirely…
Two other things are high on my priority list. First, as soon as I find a 2007+ swingarm on ebay (or on here), I’m going to buy it, paint it aluminum to match my frame, and replace the ugly industrial box that is currently on my bike. Also, I mostly do city driving and find the extremely throttle very annoying at low speeds. It is either ON or off… there is no gradual power gain without tons of clutch control, and as a result the ride is rather jerky. I’ve heard that a couple of things can help this, so I figure I’ll do all of them: pick up some slipons, get a power commander, and take the bike to a dyno to have the TBs synced and the fuel injection remapped. Of course, that last one will run me about half of the entire cost of the bike so far, so being completely broke right now I’m going to have to live without until I find more work.
Anyway, I apologize for being so long winded!
I’ve been lurking for a month or two now, and the time has come for me to introduce myself and (more importantly) my FZ6. In April I took the MSF course because a couple friends were taking it, and ended up getting addicted to motorcycle riding (big surprise, I know). I quickly got tired of riding the pos KLR 650 I was borrowing from a friend, and started hunting craigslist for a bike I could afford. I recently lost my job, so I was thinking of picking up some cheap 30 year old UJM. Just when I was about to pull the trigger on a Nighthawk 650, a friend of mine decided to sell his 2004 FZ6 for a price I couldn’t refuse. After 3 weeks of desperately trying to craigslist everything of value that I didn’t absolutely need around here, I finally picked up the FZ6 3 weeks ago:
As you can see, the previous owner already did the naked conversion on it, though he gave me all of the original parts. I’ve already put about 700 miles on the thing, and done a couple mods. First up, I cut the clutch slave lever in half and welded it back together with some additional length in the middle. Makes shifts SO much smoother, I can’t recommend this enough. Also of note, I installed a tire hugger, one mirror (the bike came without any) and hyperlite modulating brake lights and aux turn signals right above the license plate on the back. I also picked up some hyperlite front white accent lights, but I haven’t installed them yet… which brings me to my list of planned changes and mods.
I got the white hyperlites hoping to increase the visibility of my bike from the front, but after doing more research, I’ve decided I’m likely going to order these instead: Scoops with halogens from AMT-Distribution.
So if anyone is interested in a brand new set of white hyperlites, let me know, I’d be happy to sell them for $15 under the manufacturers price.
In conjunction with the radiator scoops/lights, I will probably get a belly pan, mostly to balance out the look of the extra plastic on the front. Once I get that, I’m considering repainting all of the plastic and the tank. I like the blue, but the plastic parts and the tank are different colors… is that right? The tank is a significantly lighter shade of blue than the plastic panels on the bike, which are almost purple. The previous owner dropped the bike once at a great deal of speed, and as a result he replaced a couple of parts – don’t know which ones. He had sliders on, but as the gas tank is in perfect condition, I guess I assume that he replaced it? Anyway it isn’t noticeable now, but if I were to add a bunch of additional painted plastic parts, I think the bike would look odd unless I repainted the tank as well. And if I’m going through the trouble, I might end up picking a different color entirely…
Two other things are high on my priority list. First, as soon as I find a 2007+ swingarm on ebay (or on here), I’m going to buy it, paint it aluminum to match my frame, and replace the ugly industrial box that is currently on my bike. Also, I mostly do city driving and find the extremely throttle very annoying at low speeds. It is either ON or off… there is no gradual power gain without tons of clutch control, and as a result the ride is rather jerky. I’ve heard that a couple of things can help this, so I figure I’ll do all of them: pick up some slipons, get a power commander, and take the bike to a dyno to have the TBs synced and the fuel injection remapped. Of course, that last one will run me about half of the entire cost of the bike so far, so being completely broke right now I’m going to have to live without until I find more work.
Anyway, I apologize for being so long winded!
