Project / Owners thread: North 250R

[rousp]

Hi all, first thread here. Hope I ain't breaking any rules of yours!

INFO
This is going to be an extremly long term and slow going project / owners thread. Things will be upgraded along the way and plans changed as I go. I will update with rides, upgrades, worklogs etc as I see fit. But don't think it will be very frequent and don't have to high expectations. I'm mainly doing this thread for my own pleasure and benefit, don't take it too serious.

Feel free to post in this thread, questions, comments, ideas and everything else is very welcome!

The Name
North. Yeah, if this project goes on for long enough (reeally long...) you will find out why it's called North. Oh, and the name might even change, if the project goes in a different direction.

The Bike
It's a black '08 250R FI with a Yoshimura slip-on.

The Upgrades

• Skidmarx Double bubble windscreen
• Sportisi fender eliminator
• Bikemonkey rear light with integrated blinkers

Updates
1 - Genesis
2 - Paint correction and brake fluid
3 - Bubble power!
4 - Tail tidy

[rousp]

As of today I have owned my 250R for a few days, let's just say that I got it the 1st of may 2011. I've had a motorbike before, but thought it would be fun to trie the 250 flavour. Where I live, Norway, the speedlimits are low, tickets deer and corners tight and plentiful. So a 250R should, in theory at least, be ideal!

I have never upgraded or modified my bike before, so this is all new for me. So this could go well, or horrobly wrong. Either way it should serve as an example to others that are fresh to upgrading.

But enough talk, let see what se looks like.



Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr

Pretty much stock. Except the slip-on and the fact that the first owner thought it would be a good idea to spray paint the screen.


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr

Nedless to say, a new screen is imminent.

Also, it looks like it has been washed regularly, with the oil rag that is..


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


So, here is the first few things I have planned to do. It might take a while because I'm quite busy until the summer.

• New screen
• Detailing the bike with paint correction
• Fender eliminator
• Secret, related, upgrade

[rousp]

This weekend I didn't plan on doing anything but a simple wash down after a ride in the rain friday. After talking to a friend of mine we decided to do a little more than a simple wash.

We started with a good de-greasing and wash. Back in the garage we dried it with compressed air and started to disasseble the bike.


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr

Under the main seat I found an disck lock. No idea how, or when, it got into there.


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr

A good friend was helping me, he started with the correction. He's much better than me on this, so I left him to it.


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Turned out that this was easiest this way around.


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I started on the brake fluid instead. First time I did this, the brakes still works, so I'm happy.


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I didn't find anyone retailing a vacum pump for brake fluids here in Norway, so I made my own setup. Worked like a charm.


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Parts ready for correction.


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I need a 2nd opinion on this one, this is worn and ready for replacement right? Or is it still good?


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3/4 of the tank done, can you tell what part of the tank still isn't corrected?


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Seat got a few coats of fabric guard.


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Before it was about time to apply the wax.


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Right about now I should be able to show you some fantastic pictures of the finished work. But the truth is that I don't have them. I was supposed to ride home, a 5 minute ride, but I got distraced and ended up riding for about an hour. So I din't have time to take pictures. So you'll have to endure with this one, partially assembled:


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr

The paint isn't perfect, or anything near it. But that wasn't the goal either. It was way to beat up to get it perfect. Still, it's much better than the average paintwork when it comes to swirls.


I was quite suprised as to how easy it was to get the bike apart. To get it back together was a whole other story. Simply because all the mounting nuts on the front fairing fell off and caused trouble. I got the hang of it in the end.

In addition to what shown, and regular detaling stuff, I also applied under carriage proctection to the front and rear "wheel arches". Hopefully dirt wont stick to this area now, and look clean after a simple rinse down. Also I washed the bike when all the fairings was off, so the frame is quite clean now.

That's it for this time, can't wait to replace that ugly screen now!

[slolane]

Great thread, love the pics!!

I like the exhaust shield painted black too, I may do that to mine.

[rockNroll]

Nice work, it looks good

Originally Posted by rousp

[*]Secret, related, upgrade [/LIST]

I need this too!

[rousp]

Originally Posted by slolane

Great thread, love the pics!!

I like the exhaust shield painted black too, I may do that to mine.

Haha, I didn't realize that wasn't stock. It's starting to flake, so I might re do it over the winter. Problem is that the nuts have rustet into place and won't cooporate.

Originally Posted by rockNroll

Nice work, it looks good





I need this too!

Thanks! Yeah, you might need that upgrade. It's rather sweet! And actually, it isn't just one upgrade. Thing is, I've gone mad on the internet last couple of days. So I can't remember everything I ordered now. It's going to be fun checking the post next couple of weeks!

[blubyu]

I might have a stock windscreen in decent shape. If you want it PM and and we can work out the details.

[rousp]

I have a double bubble in transit to me. I'll shoot you a pm if I can't salvage the one I got as I'd like to have the original one in backup.

[cwb48]

Originally Posted by rousp

I didn't find anyone retailing a vacum pump for brake fluids here in Norway, so I made my own setup. Worked like a charm.

I use a turkey baster, available anywhere cheap. Don't use it for the turkey afterwards.

Chris

[rousp]

Originally Posted by cwb48

I use a turkey baster, available anywhere cheap. Don't use it for the turkey afterwards.

Chris

This should also be a good solution.

[rousp]

I recieved one of my upgrades today. The skidmarx double bubble screen.
As I'm really busy at this time of year I didn't plan on doing any work on the bike until summer. But seeing the new screen and thinking of the paint wrecked thing that was on it I just had to change it right away.


The stock, wrecked screen:

Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Because of a problem with the mounting for the screen I had to remove the front, lower plastic fairing.


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The weather wasn't very promising


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So this soon became my workspace:



Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


I almost got the thing on, before it started to rain. The fairing is still not back on the bike and one of the nuts on the screen was putting up a fight so I need a 2nd pair of hands in order to get that back on. Still, I think it looks good:



Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


But I must admit that I wasn't very impressed with the fit of this particular screen:


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Is this normal or should I try to get a replacement? I am quite anal, frankly, when it comes to stuff like this.. So if it is normal and to be expected, let me know!

[rousp]

Finally I got some free time to work on the Ninja again.

Today (or rather yesterday) the weather was nice so I decided to install two new upgrades. A fender eliminator, and the secret upgrade I mentioned earlier: A bikemonkey tail light with integrated blinkers! Also I put in some clever led license plate bolts, but I haven't wired those yet, as I need a new plate.

But first I want to share my experience when shopping from bikemonkey.
I ordered a tail tidy and a tail tidy from bikemonkey's ebay account. Everything went smooth, the package arrived I paid the 25% VAT on import and got the package. Now, when I opened it I realized that thy had forgotten to include the tail tidy. I sendt them a message and explained how I had paid 25% import VAT on the value of the fender eliminator. They immidiately offered me several different solutions, including refunding me the value of the fender eliminator plus the 25% VAT I had paid. I went with this option as a new shipment probably would have been subject to another 25% VAT.
They refunded me the value + 25% and even added a little extra for the trouble this caused me. They even offered me a discount towards my next purchase from them on top of this. Great guys to deal with!

Now, luckily for me I had already purchased a Sportisi fender eliminator from Bols, a fellow Norwegian on this forum. So I actually had everything I needed.

Anyways, let's show some pictures.

The original fender we all love to hate. Please ignore the filthy state of my ninja:


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr




This is starting to be a familiar sight:


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This is the connector for the plate light, if anyone wondered:


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr




Now, the bikemonkey rear light was allegedly plug and play. That is correct for the running and brake light. The blinker cables, on the other hand have to be modded slightly. The blue wire goes to the black connector, the yellow goes to the grey. The solid colored wire is the signal for the blinkers.


Plug and.. whaat? by rousp1, on Flickr




This is how I solved it. I have ridden a fair bit with it already. It seems to hold up nicely.


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Before I went shopping for those connectors I test fitted the fender iliminator. Turns out that none of the original bolts work with the fender eliminator. I got some new in stainless steel, should work like a charm.


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Looks neat too, I think. Now it was time for assebly


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Turns out that the fit of the Sportisi isn't perfect. It was a fight to get it to lign up with the undertail. And when it finally does the rear fenders won't fit properly. After some refitting and dicking about I got it to be a close enough fit to put the screws in. It's not perfect, but it is good enough.


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And finally:


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


Untitled by rousp1, on Flickr


The end result. For my eyes that look good! What do you guys think?