I am starting a thread to show the work I am doing to my bike before spring. Heres my story.
At about 500 miles I locked up my front tire in a panic stop and low sided on the right side of my bike. The signal sheered off like it is designed so it only had some rash.
At about 1000 miles a kid flew out of his parking spot at my high school and knocked me down on my left side. The blinker punched through and gave me a few scuffs. I also got caught between the tank and the ground:( putting a quarter sized dent in my tank from my belt. His insurance paid $2400 for the damage.:eek:
I went the rest of the year without fixing any of the damage.(Now at 5500 miles) I want to keep you updated on my progress.
My to do list is:

Repair all scratches in plastics
Get bike painted
Install Yoshi CF Full System (Purchased)
HIDs (5300k)
LED Break Light and Flasher

Heres my before(This was after the damage):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3078/3213630667_61dcc15290.jpg?v=0

geezzz, I think the riding gods don't want you on a bike, if I had that many accidents in such a short period of time I'd be going back to a car. lol.

If your getting the bike painted are you going a different colour?

Miles - if I remember right from my year in Wilbur, MN back in 1998 you get to see the ground in late May or early June right? Plenty of time for your to-do list.

I got my bike in April of last year and got about 2 days of riding in before getting 4 or 5 in of snow:mad: But Ill prob start taking it out a little bit in April and by May it will be all I'm driving.

Ya they happened fast. But neither were very serious. My low side was at 10 MPHish and the other was less than 5. But I have been accident free for the last 4500 miles. Not even a close call.

I have the bike 100% naked right now and am all most done repairing the fairings. I will post pics tonight still of how they are turning out. I am using a soldering iron to melt the pieces together than abs cement as a glue/body filler to smooth it all out.

I love the black but I think if I am doing a custom paint job I should get a non oem color. Im thinking a very very dark gun metal. If anyone has photoshop skills I would love to see this. What do you guys think about a color?

if you're going for the stealth mean machine look, a really dark gun metal would look awesome. Only I don't know how that would go with the stock black wheels because it'd be like they almost match, but not quite.
I'm glad to hear you're okay too, being down twice in such a short span of time.

I think just a plain gunmetal grey that is sparkley would be killer! You doing the painting or is someone doing it for you? I think I might take mine off and wet sand everything down and paint mine as well....but not for quite some time!

find me the shade you want and I'll get it for you

I attend a technical college half the day then have regular high school. The body shop dept. said they would gladly do it for me! All I got to pay is for paint and materials. They charge you what they pay for the paint so its going to be very cheap. Like 50-75 bucks:D
In your guys oppinon is a custom painted bike worth more than a OEM one?


As for the color I like how the paint looks by the bottom of the door in this pic:
http://www.michaelclee.com/pics/evo_x_production_colors/evox_gunmetal.jpg

Thank you every one for the input.

noche: I would love to see it in this color. Thank you so much.

kazam58: I love the stealth look. Good point on the wheels. According to colorrite the wheels use the same ebony black that the 08s use. I found that intresting.

here you go - from blue to gunmetal

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=582&d=1233806407

:drool: That would be a nice look. Maybe some accent pin stripes or accents.

That looks great. I am going to have trouble deciding. I would be afraid that after it was done I would like the black more. But I think that would look so sweet reflecting in the sun.
Here are some pics of my fairing progress. The close up of the turn signal hole is the one that was punched out. You can see the line where it broke but you cant feel it at all.

Yeah, gun metal would look good I recons. As for a custom paint job, whenever I see a bike with custom paint I automatically think its been dropped and probably has some damage so I'm less inclined to purchase. But I dunno, depends a lot on who your marketing the bike towards.

I attend a technical college half the day then have regular high school. The body shop dept. said they would gladly do it for me! All I got to pay is for paint and materials. They charge you what they pay for the paint so its going to be very cheap. Like 50-75 bucks:D
In your guys oppinon is a custom painted bike worth more than a OEM one?


I was in the auto collision repair and refinishing when I was in high school. I painted the hood, fender flares, bumper on my jeep. As well as a fender for a teacher, bumper for my cousin, and air brushed an eagle on someones tale gate, I think i have a pix on my phone that I will try and get up. I ended up winning 2nd in state for the refinishing catagory.

But what I was gonna say is don't be fooled. There are a lot more "hidden fees" (tack rag, paint booth fee, filters, paint, clear coat, primer, wet sand paper, final clean, flex agent) and thats about all I can think of right now.

Some of it the shop will supply for you, but you might want to get the bill before you commit because they will charge you for all of that. I would sand down the whole fairing with 800 grit wet sand paper, possibly prime and etch coat the whole thing then wet sand it again. Use a block when you do it otherwise it will show the marks in between your fingers where there was no pressure.

Flex agent will HAVE TO be used because it is plastic and plastic easily bends and can be manipulated, if you don't use it your paint will crack! (ask me how I know)

As far as paint goes there are several choices. Single stage- the cheapest and still looks decent, wont last as long and doesn't have a "really glossy look" (has the clear coat in it). 2 stage- base coat/clear coat is a quality paint and has a great shine! Looks good and lasts a long time (what I would recommend) And 3 stage...which I wouldn't worry about unless you want to spend lotsa' money.

Regardless get a quality brand of paint, I only shoot with dupont and everything they make. Single stage is harder to spray then a 2 stage paint. Make sure you get someone who knows what they are doing when they are painting or you will get uneven coverage, runs, orange peel, pits and all that good stuff. also remember that paint is more expensive based on the color as well. White paint is the cheapest, the red paint i bought for my jeep ( 1 qt) was 120 bucks! My guess is for the fairings you will only need one pint of paint to do 2-3 coats. When you dolute one pint you will get 1 qt of paint.

depends a lot on who your marketing the bike towards.
Well I'm going to make an assumption and say he's marketing it towards himself since he's taking the time to paint it himself and put money in it :p
And I have to say that I also take back my comment on the wheels after seeing noche's photoshop, it looks good. I'd go for it if I were you (and I had the time:rolleyes:)

Well I'm going to make an assumption and say he's marketing it towards himself since he's taking the time to paint it himself and put money in it :p
And I have to say that I also take back my comment on the wheels after seeing noche's photoshop, it looks good. I'd go for it if I were you (and I had the time:rolleyes:)
Ya I have no plans to sell it. But 10 years down the road I dont want to find out its worth poop because of a new paint job.

haha. I really doubt that's the case. Just be honest when you sell it, tell them it was down and that it was very minor. Or you could keep it till it croaks...

I think if you wanted to do something flashy and stand out like a kawi green bike check out the orange color of a Porche 911 gt3 rs. With the various black pieces on the bike it would look so nice. Not really stealth but so nice nonetheless.
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I received my HID and taillight. I went with 5000k. I will post up some pics of the taillight soon.

I think if you wanted to do something flashy and stand out like a kawi green bike check out the orange color of a Porche 911 gt3 rs. With the various black pieces on the bike it would look so nice. Not really stealth but so nice nonetheless.
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Did you see this in my other post?:D:confused:

Ya I did. I also think orange would look great. But I really enjoy the stealthy look. Grrr. I really need to decide.

I'm very partial to white. I think it really only looks good on bikes. If I ever needed to repaint or had the chance I would go with white.

Heres some pics of the bulb. Both of these pics are of the new bulb. I would say it is about the same brightness as the stock bulb. Today I am getting some serious jetting done.

Miles,
Which bulb was that replacement?

I ended up purchaseing a 32 LED tail light bulb from autolumination BUT DO NOT ORDER FROM THEM!!!! THEY ARE A COMPANY THAT DOES NOT STAND BEHEIND THERE PRODUCT! BEWARE
The bulb was THE MATRIX II LED BULB. It was $12.
I would have bought it from dealextreme if I had known they had it.
http://superlumination.com/images/auto_bulbs/1157_90_matrix2_wm.jpg

hows the installation on the rear light bulb? did you have to tear the whole back end apart? I like the brightness of the aftermarket bulb. anything to make yourself more visible, ya know?

hows the installation on the rear light bulb? did you have to tear the whole back end apart? I like the brightness of the aftermarket bulb. anything to make yourself more visible, ya know?
Just remove your passenger seat or cowl, then grab the light socket and twist:D
No tools needed : ) Bulb comes out the backside of the light inside tool kit area .

You don't even have to do that do ya? just remove the two screws on light cover and the bulb is right there....could be wrong though.

All you have to do is take off the back seat and untwist the light socket. Takes like 10 secs.

What color did you buy for the rear light bulb?

I got red.
I would buy them from here. But Shipping will take about two weeks.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5041
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.3845
Free shipping. I buy tons of stuff on this site. I wish I would have seen these before I ordered. You get two for the price I paid for one:mad:

I think if you wanted to do something flashy and stand out like a kawi green bike check out the orange color of a Porche 911 gt3 rs. With the various black pieces on the bike it would look so nice. Not really stealth but so nice nonetheless.
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:thumbup:

Yeeaaapp a really hot candy metallic orange + all black accents. nothing chrome.
can some one photo shop that

New Levers came in today! I got a set on eBay for 16 shipped. They ae for a 07 but it does appear that they will bolt right on. I have not been able to install them yet but will post back when I do.

They ae for a 07 but it does appear that they will bolt right on. I have not been able to install them yet but will post back when I do.
I doubt they do, but here's hoping! :thumbup:

They look all most identical. Otherwise I will make mill/drill/mod them so that they work. Some ebay auctions listed levers for 86-07 and some went to 08. So I feel they should be compatible.

Like I said, I hope they do fit, but based on clutch and brake lever discussions that were started back about a year ago, it was found the levers were not interchangeable at that time. I hope the levers are a bit different and they will indeed work. Please keep us informed of the results. :)

Like I said, I hope they do fit, but based on clutch and brake lever discussions that were started back about a year ago, it was found the levers were not interchangeable at that time. I hope the levers are a bit different and they will indeed work. Please keep us informed of the results. :)

Thanks for the support. I hope they will work. I will post again tommrow with my findings.

cool... thanks!

so did they work?

Sorry. I was swamped this weekend. I had two papers to write:(
I just tested the fit and the clutch fits perfectly. The brake has one small difference that I took a few pics of.
The first pic shows the differences between the brake levers. The one on the right is stock. The area that the bolt goes through is about 1/4 thinker on the new levers.
At school tommrow I will mill that off and check the fitment again.
Also I threw in a pic of my new and old clutch levers. The new one has bumps for my fingers!!!:D


I am getting so excited for riding season! I need to get my fairings done:eek:

nice thread - keep it up

nice thread - keep it up
Thanks. I will continue to update with my progress.
Also if anyone wants me to check anything my bike will be 100% naked for at least another month.

I milled the brake lever today and am going down to test the fit now:). I will post back in a few with my results.

I have didnt take enough off yet.:( I will need to remove more tommrow.

hey man i have the same bike, i say u should paint it a similar color black or paint it white, even some black and yellow would look good... how are u in highschool and college? im in highschool rite now too

My high school has a program where I can attend a technical college for the first half of the day then go to high school for the rest. The best part is that the high school pays for the technical college.:cool:

My high school has a program where I can attend a technical college for the first half of the day then go to high school for the rest. The best part is that the high school pays for the technical college. Thats cool, my school does that to, except I dont have to go to high school anymore, just college courses. Heloooooo 13 free credits. Then again....I also dont have a ninja :(....yet:rolleyes:

thats nice man .... free college 2 bad my cheap school doesnt do it, firing teachers next year and they have like no classes.. i was going into AP psyc. before i moved from FL and then found out they dont offer it ..sucks... but thats cool to hear other schools offer that, i would probably go but just to find out how to do things.. dont wanna be a mechanic or anything of that nature

This friday I installed my yoshi. It sounds so good. It was about 40 F. I took I out for the first time this year. It was AMAZING!
At the end of last year I put a KandN on and my jetting wasn't perfect. I redid it over the winter and it is perfect. The jets are drilled to 110s with 2 washers under each needle. I am so happy. I cant wait for it to warm up as the temp has dropped below freezing again.

nice, what did u have on it b4 that ? i cant afford yoshi, its what i wanted

I had a cherry bomb that I made for it. :o

The fairings are ready for paint!!!!!!!

good to hear! So what color did you settle on?

good to hear! So what color did you settle on?

IDK yet:D OEM Black is winning right now! Then if I ever buy a new fairing or factory painted anything I wont need to get that painted to match.

Right now I cant afford it either. LOL. Last summer I was making 13/hr and had more money than I knew what to do with. I bought a bunch of stuff I didn't need when live cashback was at 25% on eBay. New tablet pc, Yoshi exhaust. Now I am broke.

lol, makes sense, and I know exactly where you're coming from too.