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Hopefully this belongs here. Rather than do one large project I'm doing a lot of little things to the bike. Believe me, if you're an amateur the painting alone though is a long term project.
Present:
Paint: The bike is blue (hence "Project Smurfette") with a subtle teal pearl and silver & green flake in the midcoat. The front blinker holes have been covered with fiberglass because I'm going with integrated blinkers, soon as I build the brackets for them.
Seat: The main seat has been cut a little so that it is more comfortable for a guy. A layer of 3/8 in memory foam was then added, and it was then recovered with a 4 way stretch, marine grade, metallic vinyl. You can find out a little more about that here: http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=102289
Grab bar. The Katana grab bar is gone. Perhaps I'll sell it when I find it next. I've always loved the way the grab bar looks on the katana, except where it connects to the seat. I'll be shopping for a replacement soon, the Hayabusa version might look good. Failing that I may build one out of carbon fiber.
Next steps.
1) Mirrors: In the next week or two I'm going to get my integrated mirrors installed. Unfortunately the one bracket fits all approach doesn't work for our kats so I'm building a custom mounting bracket for each side. I haven't decided whether to paint them body color or leave them alone.
2) Lower fairing: Once I get this painted and installed I'll finish buffing everything out.
3) Pegs...drivers pegs are in bad shape and passenger pegs have some wear. I'll be replacing these.
4) Windscreen: I'm going to scrap the oem windscreen and install an R1 double bubble blue windscreen. The empty areas will be filled and contoured to match the fairings and then painted body color. Actually this will be done at the same time as the headlight swap. This will ensure that the lines run together well.
5) I'm going to install a 2006ish gsxr 600 or 2004ish gsxr 1000 headlight to the bike. The present plan is to buy one that's a little busted up, install it and recondition it so there are no scratches.
6) The wheels will be either silver to match the seat and swing arm, or black to match the engine. Silver is more visible so I might go that direction.
7) Fender eliminator. I'm also going to either buy an undertail (http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=94654) or make my own. ABS > fiberglass, but I'm impatient, so we'll see whether my impatience or desire for quality win out.
8) Integrated blinkers. I actually like having blinkers on the bike. I also like increased visibility so I intend to integrate the blinkers with the tail light. This is reasonably easy to do with digital logic, or you could just buy a kit (not always my style). The net result will be that if I step on the brakes with the right blinker on the left blinker will show red, while the right will blink yellow. The brake light will work normally. More on that here: http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.p...=digital+logic
Present:
Paint: The bike is blue (hence "Project Smurfette") with a subtle teal pearl and silver & green flake in the midcoat. The front blinker holes have been covered with fiberglass because I'm going with integrated blinkers, soon as I build the brackets for them.
Seat: The main seat has been cut a little so that it is more comfortable for a guy. A layer of 3/8 in memory foam was then added, and it was then recovered with a 4 way stretch, marine grade, metallic vinyl. You can find out a little more about that here: http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=102289
Grab bar. The Katana grab bar is gone. Perhaps I'll sell it when I find it next. I've always loved the way the grab bar looks on the katana, except where it connects to the seat. I'll be shopping for a replacement soon, the Hayabusa version might look good. Failing that I may build one out of carbon fiber.
Next steps.
1) Mirrors: In the next week or two I'm going to get my integrated mirrors installed. Unfortunately the one bracket fits all approach doesn't work for our kats so I'm building a custom mounting bracket for each side. I haven't decided whether to paint them body color or leave them alone.
2) Lower fairing: Once I get this painted and installed I'll finish buffing everything out.
3) Pegs...drivers pegs are in bad shape and passenger pegs have some wear. I'll be replacing these.
4) Windscreen: I'm going to scrap the oem windscreen and install an R1 double bubble blue windscreen. The empty areas will be filled and contoured to match the fairings and then painted body color. Actually this will be done at the same time as the headlight swap. This will ensure that the lines run together well.
5) I'm going to install a 2006ish gsxr 600 or 2004ish gsxr 1000 headlight to the bike. The present plan is to buy one that's a little busted up, install it and recondition it so there are no scratches.
6) The wheels will be either silver to match the seat and swing arm, or black to match the engine. Silver is more visible so I might go that direction.
7) Fender eliminator. I'm also going to either buy an undertail (http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.php?t=94654) or make my own. ABS > fiberglass, but I'm impatient, so we'll see whether my impatience or desire for quality win out.
8) Integrated blinkers. I actually like having blinkers on the bike. I also like increased visibility so I intend to integrate the blinkers with the tail light. This is reasonably easy to do with digital logic, or you could just buy a kit (not always my style). The net result will be that if I step on the brakes with the right blinker on the left blinker will show red, while the right will blink yellow. The brake light will work normally. More on that here: http://katriders.com/vb/showthread.p...=digital+logic
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