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Since starting to ride on the street 10 years ago track days have been a bucket list item for me. One of my main obstacles has always been not wanting to "wad up" my only bike. Now that I have a small Katana collection it seems like a good time to try and scratch that itch. I realize a Katana is not the ideal go to tack day ride, but its what I have. In my mind that makes it perfect.
This will be a (hopefully) low dollar build combining parts I already have with as many used and as few new parts as possible. While this is going to be a track day ride, I'd also like it to be street legal so I can ride it more often. Bonus points for being old enough to register as an antique. Oh and I hope to have it built by spring...
Since Fairings get in the way of maintenance, break easily and are expensive to replace I'm going to Re-purpose some old broken ones I have laying around for this build.
I had a little time, so I did a rough concept sketch and started a little body work. (modeled by my wife Jessica's project bike)
Then it was time for some real work. If its a frame up build, might as well start with the frame.
I finished stripping Mary Jane's ( my 750 project ) original frame which gave me a 750 swing arm (the 600 arm is shorter) as well as a decent set of 750 forks. Then I grabbed the 600 frame that I have paper work for and gave all the parts a good cleaning. I want it to look nice, but as its will mostly be track day bike I'm trying to use common paints ( easy to repair/refinish ) and I'm not going for show quality. A good old 20' "Nice Bike" will do just fine. The frame is painted with a Rust-Oleum Metallic Aluminum , triple trees with gloss black ( lower is 750 and upper is 600 ) and the body/forks with Rust-Oleum flat electric purple. Everything will the be shot with gloss clear. Anything seeing a lot of wear or possible fuel/oil will be covered with Spray Max 2k High Gloss Clearcoat. I have $250 in the build on day one. That includes a complete GSX600F parts bike with no title, 1993 GSX600F frame with a salvage cert. and paint.
This will be a (hopefully) low dollar build combining parts I already have with as many used and as few new parts as possible. While this is going to be a track day ride, I'd also like it to be street legal so I can ride it more often. Bonus points for being old enough to register as an antique. Oh and I hope to have it built by spring...
Since Fairings get in the way of maintenance, break easily and are expensive to replace I'm going to Re-purpose some old broken ones I have laying around for this build.
I had a little time, so I did a rough concept sketch and started a little body work. (modeled by my wife Jessica's project bike)
Then it was time for some real work. If its a frame up build, might as well start with the frame.
I finished stripping Mary Jane's ( my 750 project ) original frame which gave me a 750 swing arm (the 600 arm is shorter) as well as a decent set of 750 forks. Then I grabbed the 600 frame that I have paper work for and gave all the parts a good cleaning. I want it to look nice, but as its will mostly be track day bike I'm trying to use common paints ( easy to repair/refinish ) and I'm not going for show quality. A good old 20' "Nice Bike" will do just fine. The frame is painted with a Rust-Oleum Metallic Aluminum , triple trees with gloss black ( lower is 750 and upper is 600 ) and the body/forks with Rust-Oleum flat electric purple. Everything will the be shot with gloss clear. Anything seeing a lot of wear or possible fuel/oil will be covered with Spray Max 2k High Gloss Clearcoat. I have $250 in the build on day one. That includes a complete GSX600F parts bike with no title, 1993 GSX600F frame with a salvage cert. and paint.
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