So I've been wanting to do a project bike since selling my last one in 2012 but nothing really met my criteria... that is until the Panigale 899 came out... Twin cylinder. Tick Revs. Tick ABS. Tick Handles. Tick ~150HP. Tick Under 200kg wet. Tick So with the price difference between new and used been basically negligible because of the add-ons people had installed (that I didn't want) I picked up a brand new 899 in October 2015 Clocked up enough time on it over the weekend and dropped it off for first service after 3 days of owning it. Picked it up from service on the Thursday and was at the track on Saturday morning in some very retro leathers that I got for cheap. Great fun! So within 3 weeks my brand new bike was torn down and looking like this Plans were made and design work began on the new components with the first new part being a JW Speaker LED headlight. The exhaust was de-tabbed and prepped for ceramic coating Some 25mm 3mm thick aluminium tubing was layed out to start the new subframe Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk
And then machining and welding began. First was the headlight surround And welding on the new tail frame began Headlight and dash position were roughed out ... I'll upload more tomorrow Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk
I absolutely hate people with both talent, skill, big metallyworking machines and vision. Bastardssssssdss.
...and the time and money with which to do so.... Looking forward to seeing more if this; good work!!!
How are you planning to route the ram air into the airbox behind the headlight? Looks very unique thus far!
...now, onwards... A bit of cardboard design work to figure out the rest of the tail Some CNC fork clamps I designed and then had made up... for things Well, for these... motogadget ice indicators Got rid of some pesky emmisions hardware And started designing a radiator support and a few other brackets that I would need to get laser cut Then finished off the frame 0.2 degrees off level... by eye This is my brother... he's a fitter and turner, and hydraulics expert. Can also weld I like the stock seat, but I wanted a bit more comfort... so it got another 10mm of soft padding all round and reupholstered in hand stitched leather. And that's enough of an update for today Total spend so far... $600 AU on materials $200 on CNC parts Total time... ~10hrs teardown ~50hrs machining ~50hrs stitching ~20hrs design work More updates tomorrow... Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk
I should say that I set out to do as much as possible on this myself. So far I've done all the tube bending, all the leather work, all the design work. The machining has been shared amongst my brother, dad and myself on dads mill and lathe. My brother and dad have done all the welding Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk
Yeah - don't you just hate people like this....I was chuffed last night when I managed to find an alternative spot for a coil - and bolt it to it.... While café racers aren't my thing ill be watching this - id say he should have streetfightered it...looks amazing so far...
Me too. I'm curious as to how this is going to pan(igale) out And I'm more than a little curious why you'd want to butcher a perfectly good bike to make something else.
That's puntastic! As to why I would tear apart a brand new bike and modify it... it's just who I am. Taking a old Honda CB and modifying it is easy, taking something that's highly engineered with advanced electronics and modifying that... now that's a challenge worth taking on. Sent from my HTC_0P6B using Tapatalk
I wish I had the time, space and money to do this. My last car project took me 11 years. My last bike took me 6 months but with 100 hour + weeks I will just have to settle with watching this fantastic project. Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
