Ok. Well I <3 the mod monkey, and I have been doing some more thinking.
That's nice someone should. I don't. I hate that viperous little bitch! Because of him I've got an enlarged gas tank, windowed case, Carr. rims, fresh tires, stretched swing arm, super bike bars, braided hoses and cables, 'busa brakes w/ galfer disks and pads, Barret clutch, Sean's air box, full exhaust system, wholly new ignition system, rizoma signals and mirrors, moto gadget gauges, new headlamp, frame brace and new grips sitting in a corner. Add in the usd forks sitting at Sean's waiting on his welder to get back from vacation and a set of uber masters/leavers to finish prepping. When do I get to put this pile of awesomeness together? He'll if I know what I was thinking? My job has me either in the wilds stomping around some native village or out to sea for months at a time on some research boat for Texas A&M. Or out of country.
Took the vmax out yesterday to the hill roads and it worked great, but I wasn't able to carry the sort of speed I could on my SV. Even though I am still getting used tot he bike, I would have preferred a little more stiffness. Also I feel like there is a serious lack of front end grip.
It can be done. Tightening the frame with some braces is generally accepted to take care of the confidence shredding wiggles; combined with the super light Carr rims to get a lot of unsprung weight off should help hold the line and thereby allow you to stay on the throttle. Smooth is fast. The rims will allow you to swap out to soft radial goodness and help with the grip issue.
So a few more questions:
-good link to chain conversion? Pro/cons?
-is it easier to go radial 17" with the chain, or do a shaft drive conversion. Anyone have a good DIY. I prefer to do things myself, then farm it out, so I would like to at least see if it would be possible for me to do it myself.
From my research:
17inch- if you are set on it there are already some rims you can choose, though none as light as the carrs.
Chain good- less weight, faster spool up, more gearing options, more wheel options.
Chain bad- major surgery, not DYI (for most mortals), more upkeep, makes most sense if you are already opening engine for major surgery/upgrade.
If anyone who feels different, jump in and correct me. Not like I know any of this first hand.
:EDIT: Sorry if I sound bitter, was planning to take my five weeks of vacation and two weeks of days off starting the end of the month and knock this out. Instead I've been informed I'm heading to some remote camp in Canada to oversee an operation with no firm date of return. We don't get much summer up in Alaska and I really wanted to be riding this bike. Enough f*ckin day dreamin.
