Until a handful of years ago, BMW Motorrad was mainly known for their touring passion and bikes to suit. There were a few boxer cup race bikes but nothing too exotic.
Then the K1200S was announced and often with a statement such as "Hayabusa killer" in conjunction. And as the Hayabusa was the worlds fastest production bike at the time, a very bold statement. As things turned out, this killer was just stiff competition but made its mark by putting BMW's name up with the other sport bikes at the top of the game.
K1200s
But then there's the K1200 R model which takes that fully faired sport bike and strips it down to streetfighter manners. Hosting the same 1157cc liquid cooled inline 4, you get the same 167hp thrills and shrills but in a slightly more upright manner. A beefy 522 pound bust (wet) keeps the R from being truely agile around town. But, sometimes its not all about agility as it is pure acceleration which some reporters have remarked is easier on this bike due to forward weight. 0-60 times come in at around 2.9 seconds.
Other noticable features are the single sided swingarm and shaft drive. Arguable a neccessity on a bike like this. The ease in maintenacne will allow for more tire changes and so forth. Another featuere is the unique front suspension. The duolever suspension is based off of the Hossack design, and so involves an attempt at isolating steering from suspension movement giving the rider better stability and control while cornering and braking. Diving is for swimmers. And it is a BMW, so it has plenty of creature comforts such as electronic aids and the what not.
Picture from Two Bros Exhaust. comparing the R and S models
The K1200R has already enjoyed some racing treatment in the Power Cup. Seen here is a K1200R Cup Racer
These two bikes seemed to serve as a gateway for BMW to enter into an all new market segment, far departed from its usual lineup. A few years ago they launched the first of their HP2 lineup, an enduro bike with a 'High Performance' boxer engine (over 100hp). Now there is a supermoto and supersport HP2 bringing all kinds of new life to the famous BMW boxer. There is another bike in the works which is said to shatter all that's come before in BMW's history. The K1000RR is set to take on the very best in the Superbike world with its 1000cc straight 4. And be rest assured there will be a street version to follow
Progress was coming along but is now at a full stand still. You see, before I had a schedule worked out to where I would cut parts at home, make measurements, tack them together in the fab shop at school the next day, recheck the fit at home that night, then weld it up the next day if all was good. It took me three days to do a couple hour job but at least I was moving. Not any more.
TIG welding stands for Tungsten Inert Gas. You use a tungsten to focus the heat of the arc and an inert gas to help purify the weld zone. Everything has to be clean for the weld to happen. If your base metal is unclean, you contaminate your weld zone, if you touch your tungsten with your filler rod, its contaminated, if you dip the tungsten in the molten puddle, you got it, contaminated.
So my story now is that my tungsten keeps becoming contaminated by some means and burning a hole right through my frame. Very frustrating. And even more so because Ive checked and rechecked all possible causes and cant come up with anything so now I have to tug on the coat tails of my instructor and ask him kindly to take time out of his day to help with my personal project.
Thats the state of things to date. I still have a lot to do and not a lot of time left before the quarter is over. Always comes down to time
For those who are following, just wanted to send out a post saying things are still going. Haven't had a whole lot of time to work on the VFR and things are rather inefficient when I do have time.
I will try to get a new post out sometime soon...when I actually have something to show.
After a long while, my bike is finally finished up at the Hardrock Motorsport's shop. It was well worth the wait. Take a look and listen:
Video was shot with a Canon SD870, so the mic. isn't nearly up to par. Short story, it doesn't do the real pipe justice.
Hardrock is a local business started around 30 years ago. Jason, the manager, is a hell of a nice guy and was always cool with letting me stop by to look in on the bike. He took my bike in on a prototype fitment so I knew going in it wasn't going to be an overnight job. And while it did take longer then expected, it was a price well paid. The Hardrock Riot series pipe is just so different I couldn't pass it up.
The HR1 Riot pipe is a recent addition to their original lineup; at least since the last time I visited Hardrock just before my lowside. The pipe I have is 9 inches opposed to the stock VFR's length of 20 inches. Even better is the weight savings. No joke, about 1/6 the weight of stock. While my bike is no performance machine, those that are can benefit from their adjustable baffle that gives slight tuneability from low to top end torque via the adjustment on the end of the pipe. And lets not forget the sound. If nothing else gained but the new V4 grumble, it would still be worth it. Jason told me before leaving that if I wanted to quiet it down, I could bring it in for a longer/quieter can. Thanks but no-thanks, this pipe is staying.
As it's my goal to make my bike unique, choosing the HR1 Riot pipe was just the way to go over the myriads of Micron, D&D, and Two Bros. that you see on every other bike on the road. Not to knock on those others, but the HR pipe fits my project to a T.
Wanted to make a quick rundown post on the gear that I have and use.
From the top, I have an HJC AC-12 Carbon. Motorcyclist or Cycle World did a write up a few years ago testing helmets as low as $100 bucks and up to $999. In conclusion they stated that the AC-12 held up as well as any other and at 1/3 of the cost. And I threw in another 100 bucks to get the slick carbon fiber shell. It's really not that much lighter, but it looks pretty amazing. Helmet is comfy and I usually ride with earplugs so no complaints on windnoise...
The visor I just added is a HJC silver mirror lense. Haven't ridden with it yet but the tint is just enough to cut down any sharp glare but doesn't look like it would hinder too much if you get caught out in the dark
Just got this one in today. NJK Leather's Americana Jacket. Has 1.4-1.6mm leather, CE armor in all the right places, including a back pad. I was told 1.6mm is overkill for a street jacket but what the hell, more the merrier. Fits great out of the box but could benefit from some break in. Also has a long tail in the back to keep draft out of your back side. Has a classic Knievel design too.
Gloves are Joe Rocket something-somethings. I bought these so long ago I can't recall the model but they are thoroughly broken in and fit like a second skin. Been with me through two crashes and haven't had any problems with them yet. Nice and small too.
Boots are made by JAG. Bought them becuase they are waterproof and I was tired of getting caught out in the weather and having to endure sopping wet shoes and socks. They are nice boots so far. Only qualms with them are a scratchy seam up top that agitates the legs unless you have some tall socks. They're not broken in yet and so they're super stiff and shifting takes some more concentration.
Still need to get some pants, some that fit over other pants and have some decent hip and knee pads.
Got some more in the mail today. And I guess this would amount to my April fools day joke...on me. Seats are in and to be honest, I have no clue how I'm going to attach these things. I seriously thought I would be able to hook these things in and bolt 'em to the new sub-frame but its going to take some serious engineering.
I was able to get some of the other repairs done to the fairings. Last night I put the upper and lower parts together and super glued the tabs in place. Unfortunately, I re-broke one of the tabs removing the two pieces after they dried. So I fixed the remaining one.
I roughed up the area and cleaned with acetone again and cut out some fiberglass to fit.
Then used ample JB Weld to cover the tab and used the leftover to fill in the rash
I'll get the last tab fixed tomorrow and hopefully get fabricating soon
Next big step in the VFR project arrived in the mail today. I have a transplant in mind from a Yamaha YZF R6. You see, the stock rear end on the 5th generation VFRs don't look quite right without the company of the other fairings. It's just plain fat and ugly.
These are the tail fairings off of an '06/'07 R6. I guess I chose this particular make/model because its simple in design compared to some of the others out there, there's a selection of parts available on ebay, and predominatly I love the looks of it.
Thing I like best is its slim profile
Was able to get the fairings, both seats and the tail light for around $160 which is a pretty screamin' deal.
But there are a few drawbacks in the form of damages....
First, in the upper tail fairing, there are a few tabs broken off and some rash. But, it looks like and easy fix with some more JB Weld and some paint. Not pictured are the seats, which haven't arrived yet. The rear seat has a few tears in it, but I have a vinyl repair kit laying around here so that will be put to good use once those seats arrive.
So it's great to finally have something to do again. After those minor repairs, I'll set out measuring out dimensions and lenghts for the new rear subframe I will be fabricating.
For those who are following, sorry for the lack of updates. I've been playing the waiting game for a long while now and honestly just felt the need to make a post for the sake of posting.
I've spent a decent sum of money through the channels of Ebay gathering the parts and pieces I need for my next project/addition to the VFR. Stay tuned for that, I'll let you know what I have in mind as soon as the mail arrives.
I wish that the lack of updates was because I have been out riding, but sadly I haven't even had the bike these past two weeks. I'll give a sneak peek why:
Things will get going again soon and once there I can start making some regular posts on the VFR.
