Hi guys I have'nt been on here as much in the last month or so due to either work or other duties. A few of you may remember that I bought a Blackbird a few months ago in mint condition, only for it to be written off by a young driver attemting to do a U-turn without looking, and then smashing into the missus and myself in the process. Well in the last few weeks I have managed to buy the bike back from the insurance as a Cat C, (not that it matters as I plan on keeping it). Here's a few pics of before and after the crash. Before After Once I had the bike back, I stripped it down to assess the total damage. Basically it needed a new headlight, new headlight/clock bracket, new fairings and a little bit of TLC. All of which I have managed to source and put on the bike apart from the fairings, which will arrive Monday/Tuesday. While I had the bike apart I decided to improve where possible to make it up to the battered beaut. I fitted new end cans, and rejetted the carbs to suit, and while at it aslo cleaned and balanced to carbs. Cleaned and removed rust inside the tank, and gave the engine a decent scrub down and oil up. I'll post up more pics of progress so far tomorrow, and also once the fairings have arrived and fitted to the bike. Must say a massive thanks to my good friend Craig for giving me a proper hand in doing all this stuff, without him the bike would probably have been stripped for salvage, which would have been a real shame as it had only covered 9k miles in its 15 years.
I thought you mentioned a blackbird in a post last week and was going to ask if you'd got another one, but my attention span problem came back and... ...look! A squirrel!
Colin, glad to hear you have managed to buy it back, It sounds like you are getting on well with the repairs and will have it back on the go soon enough. Be nice to see some pics of the shiny black beastie once it's finished.
fantastic outcome Col, looked stunning pre incident but i'm sure once she's back up and running it'll fade into the past and you can enjoy hyper sport cruising again, been there with my rr and she's definitely better for the strip down and refit, plus its the satisfaction of doing the work your self. Eagerly awaiting the new pics ..
All going well the bike will be back on the road next week. As always the pics of the bike finished is a must. I just hope that the new fairings will do the bike some justice. It has to go in for a new MOT due to it being a Cat C, but it will fly through that no probs, it;s just for insurance purposes.
Glad something good came from all of this, obviously it would have been better to not been knocked off at all, but to see the bike resurrected will be a great result for you, cant wait to see the pics and well done to you and your mate Craig who deserves a pint or two .....or three
Hi guys Here's a few pics of the bike with it's new fairings and exhausts fitted. The bike flew through it's MOT yday without even an advisory. The guy was so impressed at the condition of the bike that he offered to take it off my hands. The cheek I took the bike out for a quick blast today as a bit of a shake down, before I plan on doing some decent millage on it. With the new exhausts and it being rejetted it really does go damn good for its age. Its still a little fluffy in the lower RPM, but I'm sure its just overfueling and some smaller main jets will sort it out. The fairing I got from Hong Kong really did impress me. They're obviously not on a par with the OEM panels, but at the price I was surprised how little fettling was needed to get them on, and the paintwork is top notch. Here's hoping it stays this way for a little longer than last time
Thanks guys Only thing left to do now is get some miles on the bike. I'm just back in from re-jetting it again, to get rid of the fluffiness at low RPM, and cracked open a bottle to sit and chill. The girlfriend wants to go out tomorrow for the first time since the crash, so hats off to her for getting back on the saddle. All going well on that front I'll get a road trip planned for us
