Had a real good look around the bike today, and yes there is a date stamped under the seat unit that says 'Aug 23 1997' so it is indeed a 97 bike. Gave it a thorough degrease and clean with the fairings off too, there are areas of surface rust on the subframe and around the headstock but as said before i can live with that for the moment but at some time in the future i'll try and get it addressed along with the bubbling and flaking paint which seems worse on the left side of the engine. Also wanted to upgrade the starter cables, Exige on this forum used to do them but i dont think he still does, can anyone advise?...Top of my list for things to get for the bike is some decent carbon Termi slip ons, i've always been used to owning Ducati's that sound like they should , it sounds a bit too muffled for me with the stock cans on...i did 60 miles on it yesterday, no real aches or pains to report - brill
Are the cables no longer available from this site? http://www.exact-start.com/ I thing Exige "defected" to the other site a while ago, but he might still be doing the cables.
Yes, I very recently used Exact Start for both my 916 and 998 and you get really top quality right there. I am super happy with the result as well. Or may be not. With this and the lithium batteries, they both start like Japanese ricers now…
@crowned Hi there! I personally believe there is no « cheap » way to correctly and durably upgrade your starter cables to bigger gauge and better overall connection and crimping quality. Unless you have the right tools and equipment to do it yourself. The Exact Start kits come for a little over 100 quids, which, in comparison to the price of a 916, doesn’t seem much for such a great upgrade. Here are pics of the starter boot (upgraded boot from upgraded starter cables kit ): …and starter solenoid dodgy connector zip secured:
I'm probably too old and too tall (possibly even too fat) for my 996. However, fitting Helibars and a Corbin seat made a huge difference. Both were sourced secondhand (I don't think Helibars manufacture for 916 anymore) stock cables and brake lines are retained, visually makes no difference. As others have mentioned changing to a MOSFET reg/rect is a must if you want the charging side of things to behave. I sourced a used one from a MTS1200 - plug and play with the triumph harness.
Durable cables can be made cheaply at home. I use 16mm2 earth cable for welders, it's good spec and flexible, 16mm2/6mm lugs, dual wall heatshrink and rubber terminal caps. Costing mine out they come to about 50-60 GBP, most of that is the crimper which is a one off cost plus I have spare cable still for future use.
This is what is advertised (and most likely what you get) when you purchase the aforementioned cable kit: “Cable Choice: Investigation of a competitor’s choice of 25mm² cable was looked into first due many reports of fitment difficulty: we found the following information... An industry standard voltage drop of 3 to 4% was generally regarded as acceptable. Voltage drop over an average length 25mm² cable in our application is 0.02V or 0.17% Voltage drop over an average length 16mm² cable in our application is 0.03V or 0.25% Therefore both cables far exceed this requirement meaning 16mm² cables are more than fit for purpose and indeed over engineered for our application; as long as the life time quality with no deterioration could be achieved. Cable life: To ensure a lifetime of service with no deterioration we approached a specialist rail / aerospace industry cable/crimp manufacturer and specified what I believe to be the best anti vibration / anti fatigue cable system available. Not being satisfied stopping there I commissioned a double sealed system where the cable not only seals against the crimps, but is double sealed with a special bonded heavy duty heat shrink on each join. Further to this I had them remove the inspection hole in their high quality copper terminals to give a system that would remain fully sealed for life in the hardiest of conditions – designed to achieve no deterioration in current flow. Cable design: Our supplier already had a specialist cable developed for the rail industry which employed a special rope weave within its construction for extreme anti vibration qualities. Straight cable when bent can fatigue the copper, hence reducing the current flow. The rope system made up of hundreds of micro 0.2mm² high quality pure copper strands does not suffer this. So, we had our perfect cable. One minor problem, it was only available in black. Why not make the +’ve cables the correct colour, so we did! Kits for 'naked' bikes are supplied with black heat shrink just in case the customer prefers black on the positive cables. Terminals: Rail industry leading heavy duty ‘seamless’ copper terminals were chosen for maximum electrical conductivity adjusted to our design & cross sectional area requirements. These undergo a 35 tonne specialist crimp process which gives excellent conductivity and an industry leading strength – they will not fail: my supplier’s crimps have proven to be stronger than the cable itself during testing! Each terminal is designed for optimum performance requirements and bespoke designed specifically for fitment to individual models; they are then annealed and tin plated to protect the longevity of the terminals performance. Fitment: Everything is included in the kit to aid fitment including Photo Instructions, Wet & Dry paper, Tie Wraps, Isopropanol Wipes, Tubes for the Battery nuts & Dielectric compound. We even include brass half nuts where they may be necessary for the terminal posts on the Solenoids to effectively give more thread when cables are piggy backed.” I’m not saying some of us can’t replicate this quality and process at home, but one has to agree that it doesn’t seem like your average DIY Sunday project from the local hardware store, imho. I guess it’s a matter of personal choice.
