- Joined
- Jan 25, 2015
- Messages
- 2,558
Well, I didn't even know this forum was here until a "today's posts" search turned up a thread. Since I'm buying my first lathe (Atlas 10x36) and my bike work is part of the reason, I'll post up my current bike. Well, other bikes have come and gone, the Interceptor has been a ride/project for about 14 years now.
I used to have an 83 V45 in high school and always had fond memories of it. One day while driving home from work, I noticed the red white and blue of a V45 peeking around the back corner of the local bike shop. On a whim I pulled in. The bike was an 85 (last year for this model) and in bad shape. It had been left out over a couple winters, it had been thrown down the road a couple times and was just generally mungy. But it was complete, all there.
I asked the shop if it was for sale and the owner said it was a customers bike in for work but he was interested in selling it. The engine had the new cams and was otherwise tight. A quick toot around the lot showed no real problems other than some bits being tweaked and it general poor appearance. So a deal was struck and I took it home for 900 bucks.
First things that had to be done was a new muffler on one side and braze up the collector box. On went a VF1000F front end with welded closed air ports and slipped on a set of CBR600F2 wheels. I made the rear shock ride height adjustable, cranked it up a bit to load the front wheel more and lopped off the rear fender. Dropped in some cartridge emulators and eventually a resprung CBR600F2 reservoir rear shock. it was torn down to the frame, blasted and given a good coat of aluminum colored imron. The red white and blue cleaned up well enough to be respectable. On went a new vinyl seat cover and called it done:
I rode it that way for about 5 years and it was very enjoyable. With the newer radial tires it could often show it's rear tires to modern (at the time) sport bikes. Spot on carburetion and a hellacious roll on drive out of the corners had more than one kid shaking his head at the "old man" on the big heavy old bike he just couldn't close on. That had as much to do with the rider being familiar with where the limits were for the bike as much as the bike itself I think.
But time progresses and soon the big ol bruiser was torpedoed amidships by every 600 sportbike that crossed it's path in both power and handling.
I was also getting a bit too beat up to ride (knees, back, neck etc all work related) and admitted to myself the bike's (and my) prime was past. I rolled it into the garage and covered it up. Couldn't really ride it anymore, couldn't justify the registration and insurance but still couldn't bring myself to sell it.
I lugged it back and forth across the country for the next few years until it started it's next evolution......still Interceptor flavored, but a bit more radical changes.
Since the ol hack was no longer "competitive", time to make it a curiosity.
On went a CBR600RR rear swingarm:
A little custom linkage action:
The 600 shock interfered with the side rails, so a CBR1000RR shock with a rear facing reservoir was substituted:
decided I wanted a set of CBX750F dual front headlights. I'd ridden one in the UK and the headlights are years ahead of anything you can get on a NA model. Graft them into the fairing bracket:
Then split the fairing to fit and plastic weld:
After trying several high mount exhausts, I just didn't like the high can look. So I built an underslung muffler box like what's available for the ducatis:
you can also see the vf1000f side covers I'm adding in that pic
on went some NC24 floating front discs:
and this is what it looks like today:
Unfortunately, it's only together. It's not ride-able as is. I need the lathe to make an offset engine chain sprocket, properly sized swingarm pivots and a few other bits.
There's also SP2 switchgear, brake and clutch masters as well as some SP2 front calipers I have yet to add. I'm also watching for a CRF450F rear brake master cylinder ot show up at an affordable price.
I used to have an 83 V45 in high school and always had fond memories of it. One day while driving home from work, I noticed the red white and blue of a V45 peeking around the back corner of the local bike shop. On a whim I pulled in. The bike was an 85 (last year for this model) and in bad shape. It had been left out over a couple winters, it had been thrown down the road a couple times and was just generally mungy. But it was complete, all there.
I asked the shop if it was for sale and the owner said it was a customers bike in for work but he was interested in selling it. The engine had the new cams and was otherwise tight. A quick toot around the lot showed no real problems other than some bits being tweaked and it general poor appearance. So a deal was struck and I took it home for 900 bucks.
First things that had to be done was a new muffler on one side and braze up the collector box. On went a VF1000F front end with welded closed air ports and slipped on a set of CBR600F2 wheels. I made the rear shock ride height adjustable, cranked it up a bit to load the front wheel more and lopped off the rear fender. Dropped in some cartridge emulators and eventually a resprung CBR600F2 reservoir rear shock. it was torn down to the frame, blasted and given a good coat of aluminum colored imron. The red white and blue cleaned up well enough to be respectable. On went a new vinyl seat cover and called it done:
I rode it that way for about 5 years and it was very enjoyable. With the newer radial tires it could often show it's rear tires to modern (at the time) sport bikes. Spot on carburetion and a hellacious roll on drive out of the corners had more than one kid shaking his head at the "old man" on the big heavy old bike he just couldn't close on. That had as much to do with the rider being familiar with where the limits were for the bike as much as the bike itself I think.
But time progresses and soon the big ol bruiser was torpedoed amidships by every 600 sportbike that crossed it's path in both power and handling.
I was also getting a bit too beat up to ride (knees, back, neck etc all work related) and admitted to myself the bike's (and my) prime was past. I rolled it into the garage and covered it up. Couldn't really ride it anymore, couldn't justify the registration and insurance but still couldn't bring myself to sell it.
I lugged it back and forth across the country for the next few years until it started it's next evolution......still Interceptor flavored, but a bit more radical changes.
Since the ol hack was no longer "competitive", time to make it a curiosity.
On went a CBR600RR rear swingarm:
A little custom linkage action:
The 600 shock interfered with the side rails, so a CBR1000RR shock with a rear facing reservoir was substituted:
decided I wanted a set of CBX750F dual front headlights. I'd ridden one in the UK and the headlights are years ahead of anything you can get on a NA model. Graft them into the fairing bracket:
Then split the fairing to fit and plastic weld:
After trying several high mount exhausts, I just didn't like the high can look. So I built an underslung muffler box like what's available for the ducatis:
you can also see the vf1000f side covers I'm adding in that pic
on went some NC24 floating front discs:
and this is what it looks like today:
Unfortunately, it's only together. It's not ride-able as is. I need the lathe to make an offset engine chain sprocket, properly sized swingarm pivots and a few other bits.
There's also SP2 switchgear, brake and clutch masters as well as some SP2 front calipers I have yet to add. I'm also watching for a CRF450F rear brake master cylinder ot show up at an affordable price.
Last edited: