I've hemmed and hawed about where to start this thread. Ultimately I decided to put it here, as it's not really about the build as a street fighter, but more so about how I resurrected a crashed RR for free, and got paid to do so.
The back story begins in 1998ish while working for my local Honda dealer as a tech. A 93 Red White & Blue 900RR came into the shop crashed, needing a repair estimate. The upper cowl, headlight assembly, and tail section were pretty smashed up. Frame had "marks" on it, and the swing arm was dented. Adding these high dollar items to the crash estimate deemed the bike a total loss. After numerous attempts to contact the owner in regards to paying the bill (only $58), he never responded. Numerous certified letters went unanswered, and the bike was never claimed by any insurance company. I talked the manager in to turning it into a "standard". That was the term we used before "streetfighter" became the norm.
At the time, making a street fighter was quite uncommon, especially in the northeast. I came up with a relatively cheap way to keep the bike going, getting a single headlight kit from K&L, and the related mounts. Front turn signals from a CB1000, and we had a local upstart metal fab company weld on bracing underneath the triple clamp to add the CB1000 risers and bars. All the original 900 switchgear was used, and new tires were fitted. We had another local guy on a newer RR, and he had just upgraded his exhaust to a full Micron Carbon system, no longer needing the Two Brothers unit. The shop bought it from him for me to use. Perfect. The frame was already polished, however the guy who did it did a helluva bad job, almost sanding off all the lumpy welds. I just cleaned it up a bit.
I talked the service manager in to letting me "build" this fighter during down time and during the winter of 98-99. The manager had aspirations to then own the bike (as the dealerships). I finished the build, using a Second Look seat skin, Sharkskinz tail section, and a tank we had from a different crasher (a 96 RR I believe, with the two hole mounts on the front, vs. the 93's single hole mount).
Being that my dealer was also a automobile dealer, we used their body shop to paint the tank, side covers and tail section in Triumph Racing Red. I was told I needed to make it a "road legal" machine, however never put a gauge cluster on it. I did however mickey mouse an old magna idiot light assy. to the top clamp to at least know if I had high beams, oil, and was in neutral.
This picture denotes the end of the build from 1998. Yeah, that's me, but pay no attention to that. The bike was never sold or bought back by the dealer, we just threw the dealer plate on it and ripped. We called it Project Bike. Subsequent posts will reveal how this bike recently re-entered my life. Enjoy the thread, and upcoming bike porn (digital, BTW).
The back story begins in 1998ish while working for my local Honda dealer as a tech. A 93 Red White & Blue 900RR came into the shop crashed, needing a repair estimate. The upper cowl, headlight assembly, and tail section were pretty smashed up. Frame had "marks" on it, and the swing arm was dented. Adding these high dollar items to the crash estimate deemed the bike a total loss. After numerous attempts to contact the owner in regards to paying the bill (only $58), he never responded. Numerous certified letters went unanswered, and the bike was never claimed by any insurance company. I talked the manager in to turning it into a "standard". That was the term we used before "streetfighter" became the norm.
At the time, making a street fighter was quite uncommon, especially in the northeast. I came up with a relatively cheap way to keep the bike going, getting a single headlight kit from K&L, and the related mounts. Front turn signals from a CB1000, and we had a local upstart metal fab company weld on bracing underneath the triple clamp to add the CB1000 risers and bars. All the original 900 switchgear was used, and new tires were fitted. We had another local guy on a newer RR, and he had just upgraded his exhaust to a full Micron Carbon system, no longer needing the Two Brothers unit. The shop bought it from him for me to use. Perfect. The frame was already polished, however the guy who did it did a helluva bad job, almost sanding off all the lumpy welds. I just cleaned it up a bit.
I talked the service manager in to letting me "build" this fighter during down time and during the winter of 98-99. The manager had aspirations to then own the bike (as the dealerships). I finished the build, using a Second Look seat skin, Sharkskinz tail section, and a tank we had from a different crasher (a 96 RR I believe, with the two hole mounts on the front, vs. the 93's single hole mount).
Being that my dealer was also a automobile dealer, we used their body shop to paint the tank, side covers and tail section in Triumph Racing Red. I was told I needed to make it a "road legal" machine, however never put a gauge cluster on it. I did however mickey mouse an old magna idiot light assy. to the top clamp to at least know if I had high beams, oil, and was in neutral.
This picture denotes the end of the build from 1998. Yeah, that's me, but pay no attention to that. The bike was never sold or bought back by the dealer, we just threw the dealer plate on it and ripped. We called it Project Bike. Subsequent posts will reveal how this bike recently re-entered my life. Enjoy the thread, and upcoming bike porn (digital, BTW).