Rise of the Raven

[themadscientist]

I like motorcycles as well as cars. Years ago I sold my 600 because it didn't scare me. It wasn't because it wasn't fast and dangerous, it was; I just don't scare that easy. Anyone who does something dangerous, bikes, cars, base jumping, commenting on their lady's weight, etc will probably agree that the minute you stop respecting the danger involved you are likely to get seriously fucked up or killed. It was a rare moment of wisdom after giggling off a 100mph tank slapper that sorted itself off 19% because of my actions and 81% because of pure luck that I realized I was not properly respecting the danger of what I was doing. Knowing I couldn't change my mind I thought I would mechanically limit myself. How to do that, buy a 50cc bike!

I bought an NSR50, Like 9hp of fury. In Japan 50cc bikes don't require a bike license and they are legally and mechanically limited to 60KPH, about 37MPH. Boring it up without changing the title to reflect it will get you in trouble two ways, road law and tax law as your tax is higher on larger bikes. Taking the speed cut out just violates road law. Mine came just one way illegal. The racing ignition box kills the speed cut. Despite being small and only slightly more powerful that most push mowers it was a real blast to ride!



Unfortunately, I quickly realized that while I couldn't do the speeds I used to, I could still act really stupid on it and being so small I could go through incredibly small holes between cars. Many a Gixxer was left behind when I would squirt between two cars with enough space between the mirrors for my shoulders. Very stupid and reckless, I admit that.

I did notice that in heavy cornering lean, though, that my boots were dragging on the road. At first it was scary, but me being me I worked through it. I did add some back step plates to kick my pegs up and back and it helped a little.



One very hot day I was getting a top end stutter. At a certain point it was acting screwy and down on power. I tried to figure out what it was, but while my brain was doin figurin, the detonation was hammerin my piston. Revs, stutter, silence broken only by the chain running over the sprockets as the bike coasted to a stop. I was about two miles from the house so I stood on the left peg and razor scooter kicked with the right down the sidewalk. It's not very heavy and the weird looks I got were fun.

I got home and pulled the plug and looked in there. "Connecting rod looks fine" I said out loud, then I started to think "wait, how can I see the connecting rod, uh oh!

Yup.



Ok, fine, it's not the first thing I broke and lord knows it wasn't the last. When confronted with a setback like this I usually try to upgrade rather than restore the status quo. I dropped a high compression one ring piston in there and polished the chamber then swapped the fiberglass reeds for carbon fiber for less high end flutter, put a high flow filter on it and rejetted the carb.



Now gifted with a healthy concern for engine temps, I added a digital water temp meter to keep an eye on things.



Nice kick in the pants and whorth it. Not enough to beat an 80cc 2-stroke as that KSR80 showed me, but enough to show that 4-stroke XR100 my taillight.

The factory suspension on these bikes was decent, but had a lot of room for improvement. First I hade the forks overhauled with new seals and heavier oil and the ¥40 shim stack on top of the springs. This is simply two ¥10 coins, about the size of a quarter, on top of each spring before you screw the caps on. It stiffens it up a bit. HUGE difference. The brake-on nosedive was gone. It still felt too soft, but it actually felt like these was some damping in there where before it would damned near throw me over the bars.

For the rear shock, my wife hooked me up on Christmas!



I went for a ride new year's day. Hard setting on new shock and cold tires = lowside.

[malave7567]

Nice find with the NSR50. I see you're currently listed as in Japan, so it's probably easier to find one there. Back stateside, I'm still using a CBR250R as a commuter when the weather's nice. I love small bikes, lol. More than enough fun on a city streets commute.

[themadscientist]

My gloves had been getting a little worn out and I knew I should have changed them, but I got lazy. When the shit hit the fan, they weren't up to the task anymore.



You know those lessons that are hard to forget? Yeah, I gots a booboo.



Remember the philosophy, UPGRADE!





I spent many more months racing around on my little riding chainsaw before we bought our new house. There was no longer a place to park the bike out of the weather and safe from thieves. In the old apartment, I just parked it in the front room.



I parked it in my storage container with the intention to drive out there and ride it from there. Between the hassle, the sudden serious hit to my disposable income and craziness at work and school, it never happened. My little buddy sat in there for years.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. My wife wanted a bike so I picked her up a Monkey. It's another 50cc bike, but a 4-stroke with about 4hp. It was in pretty great condition and she is super excited about riding it. This made me remember my forgotten friend sitting in that shipping container with boxes piled on it. I went out and dug it out. Wow, it did not look good at all.

The chain and sprockets had become one large piece of rust.



Both front and rear brakes were seized up.




The carb was leaking oily gasoline and the pod filter was rusty, but the engine, while kind of crusty, would clean up with a decent soapy scrub down.




Now, the good news, I cycled the kicker and the engine rotated immediately smooth as silk. Hmm, that's great. I may just need to overhaul the carb to get it running again.

The battery, of course, was dead, but this is a kick start bike as, IMO, all bikes should be or at least have the option to. When I had my 600 and the battery died, trying to find a car to jump off was a bunch of BS. Unable to find anyone with cable in their car, seriously people? I had to push start it. Holy shit on a crack that bastard was heavy! I almost dropped it once, but I got it started. All bikes should have a shaft exposed on the engine and a kicker lever stored under the seat!

My lil guy is kick only. Being a dinky engine I usually just crank it with my arm. I went foot this time. Smooth rotation, I could feel the cylinder sealing so that was good, then it sputtered! This is like six year old gas in this thing! Witnessing my neglected little friend fight to wake up I started kicking in earnest. It fired up!

You have to be kidding me! What a soldier this bike is! Smoke was pouring out of it. I thought, though, "hell, if all it needs is a re-ring, that's awesome!"

http://vid119.photobucket.com/albums...psrn1pvqfp.mp4

It doesn't appear to be necessary, though. After it warmed up, the smoke was damned near gone. This was the normal amount back when I regularly rode it. It has a bad bog when the throttle tips in, but as nasty as that carb looks and as old as that gas is, the fact that it runs at all is insane!

http://vid119.photobucket.com/albums...psqmdneicy.mp4

[WesleyG]

nice story, this seems like an awesome bike

[themadscientist]

Ok, dude, you gave me that Christine moment.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I98L5imvTh4"]Christine "Show Me" Scene - YouTube[/ame]

I'm back like a deadbeat dad, I got you. Things are different now, I can afford to do those things I wanted to do again. Time is still tight, but my other distractions are getting pushed out and I have the additional fire under my ass of the wife wanting to ride. I'm not going to screw that up for her because my bike isn't operable.

Before I did anything, though, I had to get my plan sorted. I got the ADD real bad and I get off track easy and waste a lot of time, energy and money pursuing dead ends. Gotta do some zen shit first. Conceptualize before I do anything. Like Mr. Mayagi would build his bike. Get picture of bike in mind, open eyes and make bike like picture. Coincidentally, I live on Okinawa so that reference has mad levels.



I don't want to spend a bunch of cash, but I'm not going to half step. If the stock part is rugged and attractive it will get cleaned up, dressed up and reused. If the part is inadequate, suspect or just plain broke it's gone. Anything that gets tossed will get upgraded. I won't shoot for full show bike stuff because I'm not really in that mind set and I want to ride the bike harder than I ever did and odds are it's going to pick up some war wounds so really flash parts are not in line with the plan. I want top notch stuff, but not so pretty I'll be mentall if the bike hits the pavement.

In a word, black.

I don't mean black. I don't even mean BLACK. I mean, well, tell em Mike.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFY2kJ96jNY"]Im black yall CB4 - YouTube[/ame]

Every single inch of this bike that I can make it will be black. That is the pivotal theme that all further decisions will have to align to.

OK, let's start. Gotta tear it down.

The plastics were all worn out, scuffed, ill-fitting and cracked; they're all getting replaced.



Pull the wiring out. I will clean it, check it and probably replace the switches and rewrap it.



See that top triple clamp? It's not a clamp. The handlebars bolt down through it into the top of the fork tubes. The little NSRs didn't get a real top clamp until the third generation. Mine is a second generation. If it were a thrid gen the stock setup would be adequate, but since it's not this will be upgraded. This will also require real clip on bars. The forks may be reusable after an overhaul, new real performance springs and emulators if I can source some and some top preload adjusters.

Yeah, those brakes are fucked.



Overhauled and shod with new shoes and plumbed with steel braided lines stock calipers would have got the job done, but they are messed up. You know what that means, UPGRADE!

The parts are on order. Look for brake porn coming soon.

[rucfj159]

That's almost as cool as a ruckus, almost.

[f0rge]

For some reason that exhaust makes me laugh.

[themadscientist]

Chapter Two: Swing and a Miss

So, to recap, the target for this project was to overhaul my bike within a tight envelope, everything black and only upgrading where required. Yesterday I was able to finish ripping the bike down.



I'm really relieved the shock didn't get all crusty, but then again it's not 21 years old like the bike it's bolted to. Yeah, I forgot the bike was this old.


I'll just set Mr. engine over there for now. It's the original one and I think I want to keep it unfucked with.



All stripped down to its birthday suit ready to get prepped for mailing off to powder coating.





The swingarm is especially crusty, but it's usable after it's claened up and powder coated.



But wait, WTF is that shit?



Well this is a problem. A bushing pivot swingarm is crap. If it were a dirt bike, sure, but I want more precision than that. Hey, no worries, I have parts from another bike, one being another swingarm. Let's see what that one looks like. It sure as hell looks better.



Wow, this one has needle bearings!



I do some research and this was not something custom. In 95, part of the model change in addition to a real upper clamp on the forks, Honda ditched the bushings for needle bearings on the swingarm pivot. We are back on track!

I catch a mention, though, when discovering this that there is a difference between the pre95 and 95 and up swingarms, not just the pivot. I investigate:

Same length.



Same width.



Shock mounting point and bolt holes and brackets all seem to be in the same location, what's th,, oh, shit; there it is.

[themadscientist]

Alright, I put both frames side by side and determined that the later frame has a shorter cylinder welded in it to receive the wider swingarm pivot. It's a logical evolution and good on them for taking the bike up a notch. They were dead serious when they built these things.

Now, I could just have the cylinder on the early frame milled down to receive the later swingarm. It wouldn't be hard and we would be back in business. Ah, but I have TMS problems. These are problems that normal folks don't have because they are not weird and impulsive like me.

As I said earlier, I had plans for my bike back in the day that sort of went off the rails when life got switched up. Never one to wait until I had all the details sorted out, I had started buying new parts immediately. One of these parts was a custom aluminum swingarm.

The original plan was to build a mini version of a street drag bike like this.



I was going to shoehorn a 250cc engine into the frame and an extended swingarm would have been a requirement to keep the thing from skying the front tire every time I rolled on the throttle. Going from 9hp to over 30hp in a bike that weighs less than 200lbs is a significant thing.

I experimented with the idea and I thought and still think it looks great. Stock:



12cm extended:



I contacted G-Craft and explained my silly idea. I told them the length I wanted and that I would need a buttress welded on it too. They said they didn't usually do that on built to order swingarms. After I told him the power levels I was planning on bringing to the table and my desire to push the bike to over 160kph (100mph) they decided to add it for no extra charge. Cheaper than a lawsuit I guess.

What they built for me was truly a work of art and has been safely stashed in a box for years. Now, that swingarm is built for my main bike, the older one. I still wanted to do the drag bike, but it wasn't the one I was trying to build now. I planned to do that with the other frame. Well, half an hour ago I discovered it doesn't fit the later frame!

So, if I don't use it on this bike, I don't have another one to use it on. This frame is the one that's registered, plated and insured. This IS the frame I will be using right now. The steel swingarm is crap and I won't use it. The later steel one won't fit, you can't cut it down, the bearings won't allow it and if I do that the other frame has no swingarm. Buying a standard length off the shelf aluminum needle bearing swingarm means spending money I didn't want to spend and not being black. That violates the plan twofold.

Never using a swingarm I've already spent about $800 on because of these issues is really stupid. I think the wise move is to adjust the plan and do the plan I thought I was going to do now on the other bike. That's fine, I wanted to track that frame anyway; it's a more solid platform out of the box. That means the brackets and calipers I just ordered will still be used too, so I haven'"wasted" any money. HEY, I put the fucking quotes around it, get off my jock; I'm a silly fucker, alright?

Alright, let's pull out the blingtastic drag bike swingarm. Put on your sunglasses.



Yup, the pivot point is early gen width.



Wendy's wishes they had this much beef!



There is just no comparison between the two.



Therein lies the problem. The all black bike was pimp, yes, but it would have been subtle. A punched up 50 at around 12hp would have been perfectly acceptable in that bike. You bolt this big, long, John Holmes swingarm on a little bike, though and you are making a statement. What good is a big johnson if it can't thrust? Not having the power to justify that big lever would be embarrassingly dumb.

Oh it gets worse. I also bought brakes with similar "WTF are you looking at, punk?" capability. Beringer baby!




Here is how dramatic the difference is. Sock NSR calper:



Beringer radial four piston caliper:



I also have the rear caliper, matching levers and G-Craft brackets to mount them. I only need the rear master cylinder and front master reservoir to complete the set. I think the whole shooting match has set me back about 2 Gs.

Now, bolt that stuff up to a bike that barely cracks 90kph? That's silly. Arguably, the whole idea, regardless of power level, is silly, but if the bike can eat a 400cc bike and most bikes around here are that or less, at least it can justify the parts on it.

I hate all show no go. If I'm going to show, it better go!

[themadscientist]

I will mull over the engine situation later. For now I need to take stock of what a directional change will mean.

Because of the quality of the swingarm, stock brakes are not going to do. If I didn't already have the Beringers, the inbound Brembos would have been great, but I have the Beringers so they are getting tapped. The Brembos can go on the track bike.

I could get away with a new stock rear master cylinder, but I think it would bug me. Now I have to order a Beringer rear master cylinder. Cha-ching.

I was already going to get new brake hoses so no problem there.

I can still use my existing shock so we are good there.

I have the brackets to mount the brakes and new wave rotors so that's taken care of.

I was already leaning towards picking up some new NSF00 forks; they are better in several ways than the NSR ones and swap into the trees directly.

I was flirting with RS125 upside down forks, but there's no bracket available for the radial caliper so that can't be used with the Beringers. They do make a bracket for the Brembos, though, so maybe when I do that bike I'll use those forks. The early gen forks I have are nothing special so not using them is no sin. So, new NSF100 forks, polish the lowers. I can do that myself.

The black bike could have gotten away with just an upgraded upper fork tree, but this original vision is at a higher level. There are several makers of raw aluminum triple trees or KKK makes red anodized trees that should tie in nicely with the red brakes. Take my $300.



I was going to go with a hyperpro tubular steering damper, but this is the drag bike. I really wanted a Scott damper for that build. I would have to build a mount for it, but that's a small sticking point for having a unit like that on the bike keeping me safe from head shake. A 100mph tank slapper on a 12" wheel, no thanks!



I was already close to deciding to step up to aftermarket back steps so I don't consider that an effect of the directional change. The wheels would be, though. Stock wheels, even freshly powdercoated are just not up to snuff on the drag bike build. Gotta get those high polish Galespeeds! It's only proper.



I don't think the bodywork choice would change. The one I was looking at is relevant to either build with perhaps a color change only. The stock meters are a bit pedestrian, though. Takegawa, do you love me?

Yeah, they do.



What to do about the engine, though? I'm not sure even a punched up 80cc will get me the omph the bike would promise from its looks.

[themadscientist]

Starting to see how I screw myself up? I just spent about $3000 in my mind because I was going to use a different swingarm. Maybe just buying another, better than stock, but less ostentatious swingarm actually makes sense after that train of thought, eh?



It's not that I'm "spending" $400, I'm "saving" $2600!

I think many women know what I'm talking about. That's what I live with every day.

What a friggin nutball I am!

[dem00n]

I'd like to see total cost after this build is done!

[themadscientist]

RS125 engine. There's a thought. I'd have to run the lights off a seperate battery, though. No generator.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2dLKCmkFC8"]NSR50ã�«RS125R(NF4)ã�®ã‚¨ãƒ³ã‚¸ãƒ³è¼‰ã�›ã�¦ãƒ‘ワ㠃¼ãƒ�ェックã�—ã�¦ã�¿ã�Ÿ - YouTube[/ame]

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by themadscientist

Starting to see how I screw myself up? I just spent about $3000 in my mind because I was going to use a different swingarm. Maybe just buying another, better than stock, but less ostentatious swingarm actually makes sense after that train of thought, eh?



It's not that I'm "spending" $400, I'm "saving" $2600!

I think many women know what I'm talking about. That's what I live with every day.

What a friggin nutball I am!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1805733/