[Surffrog]

You get what you pay for

[racer873]

true. The fact though is they are extremely scarce here in the US so I jumped at the chance on this one. At least I have the 600 to ride around while work on lil blade.

[LoopyLee]

What did you pay for her racer 873.. if you dont mind me asking..

[racer873]

$1300 US I think the exchange rate is roughly half that amount in pounds.

[LoopyLee]

Originally Posted by racer873

$1300 US I think the exchange rate is roughly half that amount in pounds.

^%$(* hell!!!!!

[Surffrog]

Bloody hell, he got a better deal than me! Mind you, mine was working when I bought it

[racer873]

i'll probably be in it for 2 or 3 times that amount by the time i am done. My goal is to have it completed by Daytona Bike Week next march.

[Surffrog]

Well you do have some expensive items to replace. I wish you all the best on the project

[soupnazi]

She's by no means finished. I only just gave the fairings a lick of black paint. The tank was freshly aquired from the UK and I'm waiting for the sticker kit to arrive before painting it.

The original instrument cluster died in the arse so I rigged up an Acewell meter which is brilliant. Most of the bits and bobs are sorted now too. Got a Magnum carbon fibre exhaust but the other half (we bought the bike for her as a project.. she has duck's disease you see) has her eye on a nice blue stained pipe. It's so easy to pour money into these things!

I'll pop up some fresh pics when I get the paint job sorted. In the meantime here she is a week ago with a few things still.. untidy.

[Surffrog]

Hey Soupnazi, that chassis looks like a VFR and the tail section looks like the 250 CBR. Which is it?

[Twincam]

She also has electronic clocks - Has she been built up from parts?

She looks nice though! I want one.... please...

[soupnazi]

Oh ah it'd be nice if it was of such breeding. It's an 89 NC23 tri-arm CBR400R. The tacho died, speedo cable snapped and it was missing most of the back light bulbs so for the same price I got an Acewell digital cluster. It's got a sexy blue backlight too.

[Twincam]

Ahh that explains it, is it only spraying & a mirror left to do? What colour do you want to go for?

[soupnazi]

A bit more too. She was an ex-race bike of which I know her lineage. I've sorted the mirrors and just have to spray the tank black. All black.

I bought it as a quasi rolling-frame with engine and some fairings. It needed a fair bit of work to put things back together which wasn't helped by these little critters being so rare in Australia.

She runs very well but also quite rich. One of the original owners claimed he got 65hp out of her and could get more with some extra go-fast bits. I'm not too sure about what the power figures are but it pulls nicely!

When I pull the tank off this weekend I'm going to check the fuel/air screws and see if leaning it out will solve the problem. If not the carbs might've had bigger jets installed or the like. I've got some spare carbs on a spare engine sitting here (in a spare frame ) so might make sure they're fine so I can just swap them over if there's a problem.

[soupnazi]

Ok she's got a nice lick of paint on the tank now.

If you were wondering heres a closeup of the dash.

[Twincam]

She looks nice - are you going to leave her bare on the sides or cover her up with decals?

[Surffrog]

Yep, come on, lots of stickers

[Twincam]

Ahh you see, im not a fan of them... IMO I seem to like mine straight colours.

[Surffrog]

Like...erm... yellow?

[soupnazi]

For now she's going to stay jet black. My previous bike (a 600F4) was also jet black with only a red honda wing.

I'm also a fan of straight colours (or shades). In fact I'm tossing up whether to spray my blade all white or all black.

[Twincam]

Originally Posted by Surffrog

Like...erm... yellow?

I was thinking whether I should have bought and stuck on the original stickers, but IMO and in my eyes it looked better being just yellow. It sticks out more too.

Originally Posted by soupnazi

For now she's going to stay jet black. My previous bike (a 600F4) was also jet black with only a red honda wing.

I'm also a fan of straight colours (or shades). In fact I'm tossing up whether to spray my blade all white or all black.

Being all white could cause issues e.g. keeping it clean, maybe a deep glossy black? Mmhmm

[Surffrog]

Originally Posted by Twincam

I was thinking whether I should have bought and stuck on the original stickers, but IMO and in my eyes it looked better being just yellow. It sticks out more too.

Being all white could cause issues e.g. keeping it clean, maybe a deep glossy black? Mmhmm

Fair enough

[soupnazi]

Originally Posted by Twincam

Being all white could cause issues e.g. keeping it clean, maybe a deep glossy black? Mmhmm

Surely bright yellow would suffer the same dirt accumulation?

Black is always nice, but since getting my blade (yellow and blue) I did notice an increase in awareness of surrounding drivers. Having a bright colour makes you more prominent.

I was thinking a stark white would be nice as it resembles two wheeled transport as used by certain authorities here. In fact I was thinking of getting some blue Ariel bold stickers made to read 'Polite' and stick them on the bike.

[Twincam]

Originally Posted by soupnazi

Surely bright yellow would suffer the same dirt accumulation?

Honestly, its a pain in the rear end - ever time you take her out she gets dirty, thats why I hate cleaning her (usually spend about 2-3 hours cleaning it and making it look nice, and within 5 mins she is dirty again)

The reason was when she went down, both the rear cowling and the tank were not hit so there was no point in me removing them.

My Hornet was supposed to be Black with Silver flakes in it, its turned out a yummy blue. Ill have to try and get some pictures of her in the sun sometime.

[soupnazi]

Please do, they're good looking bikes. I once had an Across that was black with purple tinge. The paintjob was beautiful, shame about the specimen it was used on.

[Surffrog]

Twin, I still think your 954 is the sweetest of all your puppies

[Twincam]

Originally Posted by soupnazi

Please do, they're good looking bikes. I once had an Across that was black with purple tinge. The paintjob was beautiful, shame about the specimen it was used on.

The Hornet hasn't come out the whole weekend, neither the Fireblade - Weather has been and still is really cr*ppy. The tinge is purple/blue (depending on the light on it), probably the same as on the Across you once had.

Originally Posted by Surffrog

Twin, I still think your 954 is the sweetest of all your puppies

Thanks Surf She is sure the fastest (and loudest)

[GirLoNaCBR]

I'm new to this forum & to the CBR400rr. Any advice/comments are welcomed