Hello gentlemen. This will be my winter project thread, as i am rebuilding my 2008 blade after a painful highside earlier this year. I have had minor mods to this bike since i bought it in 2016, but now i am finally getting her to where i want her to be. To recap, here is how she looked when i bought it. After 6 months of ownership, my 08 engine started sounding really bad. I started researching and sure enough i confirmed crankshaft degradation (whine). At this point i must say how much i have appreciated this forum. Several members, like ColinBR and Daznorthwest have helped me out tremendously. Hats of to you guys. Thank you for all your help. Bought a 2013 engine off daz and fitted it myself in my garage. Around the time i replaced the engine, i had also fitted some minor mods. Like rearsets, grips, new sticky tires, brake lines etc. This is what she looked like after the engine swap and a few mods. The bike was running good and i was very pleased with it. Did several track days with it and started to build more skills on track. In august i highsided, bike was down on both sides. I got away lucky and so did the bike in my opinion. Some crash pictures. At that point i just wanted to get the bike rideable for the rest of the season. Bought a new clipon, bar end, mirror and grip. Also had to put on the stock rearsets, because these acted like a frame slider: Fast forward to present day. I recently moved and got the bike to a much better storage facility. Going to be doing some repairs and mods this winter to keep me occupied when there is snow outside. Here she sits. Going to be posting updates every now and again, and hopefully you guys will find it interesting. Not going to reveal everything i am going to do, but I think she will look very pretty come spring time. Cheers
Started to tear down the bike. Took the left fairing, front fairing, left ram air, tail and mirrors off. Going to be looking to paint the left fairing, and need to source a new front fairing. Got some new parts comming in soon, so will update as soon as i get to the garage. Mounted some new Renthal soft grips, and a new bracket for the front brake reservoir.
Hi buddy I have got a complete set of OEM fairings for a 2008 blade, Pearl White and black in very good condition, no cracks or splits, just a couple of very light scratches in the right hand fairing which are hardly noticeable. If your interested Good luck with the restore Karl
Got some more done with the bike. Took the tank and airbox off. Going to be fitting a PCV, new airfilter and block off plates. All in route in the mail. Just waiting for parts now. Also ordered a new chain and sprocket, going to be fun to see how the -1 +1 combo is going to be. Gold chain and gold rear sprocket. Have a good new years people!
Still waiting for parts, need to get the block off plates, mount the PCV, and new airfilter before i can put the tank back on. I also need to buy a speedohealer to stop my speedo from beeing all wrong with this -1 front and +1 rear sprocket change. Also, i picked up these earlier for my bike. What do you think? Black and gold Think it is going to look very nice PCV going in soon Going to start on the wheels / chain / sprockets once I gotten the tank back on. Also, dropped my left hand side fairing off at the painters today. Still on the hunt for a new head cowl tho. More updates later, cheers.
Hi mate, some nice mods going on here. What are you doing with your old wheels? I'd be interested if you want to PM me. Cheers
Could be a VERY good call, Paulo. I firmly believe black would improve the tri-colour and have considered it myself. Strangely, many owners think white is the bees knees. As I often say: horses for courses.
I've only had white wheels once and that was on my first bike, and blue and white SRAD GSXR 600 back in the day. All my other bikes since (8 in total) have had black wheels which has only been by coincidence. This is of course excluding my Aprilia RSV which had the most beautiful blue OZ racing wheels. Just not a fan of the gold ones on my HRC and no matter how many times I tell myself, they're fine, keep it original.....I can't stop thinking about black wheels!!!!
Those gold wheels will look mint on black....managed to find couple of pics from another members project that was originally a red blade!
Yes, i think gold wheels, especially the new style will look very nice on my bike. I have had black sportbikes before, and i have always wanted gold wheels. Finally pulled the trigger and got some. Hopefully will get some parts in this week!
Not long until i fit some new parts now, waiting for some to come in the post, and some have already come Sitting here looking through trackday photos, and thought i might share this one. So looking forward to summer now!
Hi mate. Looking forward to seeing this finished. Should be lovely. Speak to your man @Daznorthwest he always has nice bits available if your looking for stuff
Finally I got some garage time after waiting for new parts etc. Short session today . But i got to install the Driven Block off plates, new airfilter and asv clutch lever. Put the airbox back on, and all of the wiring that goes on top. Before block off After: Airfilter box with stock filter: New pipercross filter ASV lever turned out nice Also picked up some gold bling. Preload adjusters. Haha, not quite sure about them yet. Maybe a little.... tacky? Last up, as the bike stands now. Progress. Next up is fitting the PCV and speedoDRD before i finally can put the tank back on.
Finally got the speedoDRD in the mail. Fitted the PCV and speedodrd, and put the tank back on. Getting there now Also swapped the discs to the new rims, and fitted a new Talon gold rear sprocket 43 teeth. Going 15 teeth on the front, so this should be good. Question about the rear sprocket, is it correct with the talon logo facing out? On the back of the sprocket there are just some numbers etc. Looks so good Current state of the bike Got the block off plates installed earlier, but i am left with this connector that has nowhere to go anymore. Do i need a eliminator or something here to not throw a engine code? Final picture of the day, PCV routed through the tail
