[sharrokor]

put her down in a corner today at 10-15 mph, no injuries.
fairing is a bit messed up, but not an issue and the right foot peg tore off. I'm not worried about those things however when I stood my baby back up the front wheel is bent probably... 5 degrees to the left. I really didn't want to call anyone to come pick my bike up so I rode it 35 miles back home.

I'm not sure if the wheel is bent, or the forks, or the handle bars. I'm also not really sure how to check to see which bits are not how they should be; I don't want to take it to a garage without at the very least having a good idea of what the issue is.

the only thing noticeable other than the wheel bent is that when I try to lock the steering the key pushes down to move to lock position, but stops turning just a hair short of locking. this happens when I'm on the side-stand and wheel is turned all left. when I lock it with the wheel straight, it goes into lock position- when locked in this manner the wheel doesn't turn left but does turn right. I'm not sure if this might indicate an area of bent-ness or not? I was hoping some of you folks could point me in the right direction.
I can take pictures if you let me know what angles/set up would help the most.

thanks fellas

 

[virtualmatrix258]

Glad to hear you're okay man!

 

[Delta107]

gosh sucks you want down, glad your ok!

 

[Nikolaos]

Post pics of a front on shot, or any shot that you were in to see the bend. Maybe take a picture of your forks. Im sure someone here will know what theyre looking at.

 

[spooph]

sharrokor, sorry to hear you went down. Glad you're OK though, and damage is minor... Welcome to group #2!

To fix your front end, get the front wheel off the ground, loosen the front axle, brake calipers, and the forks in the triple trees. You don't have to take any of the bolts out, just make sure they're loose to the point where you can turn them with your fingers. Turn the handlebars lock-to-lock a few times to see if anything is binding, and if the column lock works, and then tighten it all back together. See if it's still bent. If it is, loosen everything again, and try to pull the wheel in the direction you want to, to make it straight, while holding the handlebars, and tighten it all back up.

Concerning the steering column, it sounds like a cable or something is binding to keep your wheel from going all the way left, and locking into position. The column lock is very simple, and the plate that the bolt locks into is fairly small, which is why you can lock it when it's straight (the bolt is on the other side - wrong side of the plate), but not when it's to the left.

There is also a high probability your right-side handlebar is bent. If you want us to take a look at it, take a clear, blur-free shot from right above the triple trees, looking down the length of the forks, and we should be able to tell you, but you'll also be able to tell pretty quickly from this vantage point.

Once you think you got everything lined up, with the bike on a rear-stand, or somehow held upright, tie a string around the wheels of the bike, just underneath the axles. I use tape to secure a piece of string to the front tire, and wrap it all the way around, making sure it doesn't hang up on the kick-stand, fairings, or anything else. The string should contact each tire twice on each side, for a total of 8 contact points. If your wheels are straights, and in-line with one another, there will be an equivalent amount of space between the tire and string on each L/R set of contact points. The rear tire should have all 4 points contacting the tire, and obviously the front points of the front tire will contact as well, but the rear contacts of the front tire will have a little space between them. This is because the front tire is thinner than the rear. This is also a good way to make sure your rear wheel is aligned after adjusting your chain....

I hope all this makes sense. If not, post up some questions.

 

[sharrokor]

So I mean... I didn't loosen anything and kinda just bent the front forks back cause I'm muscly (lol ya ok) but anyway I fixed the bent-ness and it seems all cool? it rides straight and everything hooowever I suspect the frame near the handlebar or whatever part of the frame that the mirrors are attached to is bent :

the console here is pushed forwards a bit on the right side. it seems that this is a cosmetic problem only, but is balance going to be an issue at high speeds or over bumps and whatnot?

the bit of metal frame or whatever that's attached to the mirror seems to have been crushed inwards a bit.. which has warped my windshield and subsequently now nudges my console in the previous picture. can I get away with... not fixing it? lol.

also: sad days =(

I've tried using epoxy (don't laugh, the replacement bracket is like 45$) to stick it back on but whenever I inadvertantly stand on it it breaks off again. sigh... is this kind of metal weld-friendly?

here's the pic that looks down the forks: (not sure if you can tell if its bent? I don't notice anything..) the cables make some rubber-on-metal squeaking when I turn the handlebars, not sure if I remember it used to be like that? fail on my part.

thanks guys. you're a bunch of sweethearts.


edit: my steering lock started to work properly when I mandhandled the handlebars and wheel re-bending-type-procedure-thing

 

[Delta107]

Damn!

 

[Felix]

Doesn't look that bad, but of polish and you'll be on the road in no time. Least there is no need to major repairs on you!

Felix

 

[zartan]

so sorry you dropped your bike. It is sad but good to hear you are ok!! Like Felix said,clean it up and it's back on the road for you!

 

[spooph]

Sharrokor, your foot peg is made out of aluminium, which I think requires TIG to weld, and is a bitch, since Aluminium doesn't look like it's getting hot, the same way steel glows red. Definitely need a pro to do this.... Just buy the new part already and get riding, eh?

The "frame piece" you keep referring to is your Main Fairing Stay, or some order of those three words... You can easily fix it by taking everything off and beating it straight with a hammer. However, it serves only to keep the fairing in place, and unless any cables are rubbing through where they should, you could just leave it as is, if you don't mind the aesthetics being all out of whack... You close to the Hudson Valley?

My BFF is down there and could like totally help you out with all straightening it out... He has helped me before... As you can tell by this last sentence though, he still has some work to do... J/K.

 

[BlackBoar]

I see a bad-ass street fighter waiting to happen...

 

[sharrokor]

street-fighters are badass but I have seen some pretty horrific ones as well.. I don't want to be horrific.... I'm in the rochester area so a no-go in the hudson valley :s

yess I suppose I will order the bracket today. what about 'brazing'? I heard thats like.. soldering for other metals? Anyone know much about that?

taking the fairings off now to play with the fairing stay thing. the right side of the muffler got pushed in a bit and rubs in some places so I'm about to investigate that.

Tell me about street-fighters?

 

[spooph]

brazing indeed is soldering for other metals. You get an oxy-acetylene torch and some brass rods, heat up the metals you want to join, and melt the brass into the crevice, making sure it bonds to both metals... Great for low-stress joins, but doesn't come close to an arch-weld for strength.

An arch actually melts both pieces of metal, very precisely, together, and adds filler for the metals blown into oblivion by the intense heat...

Unless your stay is cracked somewhere, I wouldn't worry about those. If you're thinking of doing some body work, or fixing a crack in the stay, braze away. If your frame is cracked, weld, don't braze.... I personally like to braze with the same metal I'm joining - ie, if I'm joining two steel plates, I be using steel filler, read old fence wire... Especially galvanized, throws some nice sparks as it melts... Smells really bad though, I feel like a man every time I do it....

Concerning the muffler, you can prolly get away with just using your amazing muscles and pulling it close to where it was before. Otherwise you have to yank a bunch of parts off and go to town with a hammer, anvil, really big set of pliers and a vice...

street-fighters. IMO a street fighter works if any modifications follow the inherent lines of the bike, if they're kept conservative, and if function over form is your guiding principle. There are some custom shops, which have access to all kinds of cool toys, which can pull of some crazy-cool and out there streetfighters, but you're right, most home-brews coming out looking pretty sad. I would however recommend you attempt it with your ninja.

www.xpostreetfighter.comhttp://http:// is a good place to find headlights and instruments for your beasty... Pricey, but well worth it.

Want an easy way to make your little ninja look bad-ass with ease? Cut the bottom "chin" part of the fairing off the rest, and keep it mounted. Ditch the rest. Grind down the fairing mount points on your tank. Farkle the stock instruments down about 3 inches and slightly forward, right on top of the forks, and get some generic black headlight clamps, which clamp to the forks, and stick a big ass 7" single headlight up front, running an H4 bulb (high/low). Then get crazy with fiberglass. Maybe build a little bug shield to go over the headlight and provide some shade for you instruments. Cut down the rear fairing and put small turn signals, even maybe a different tail light, that's more pointy... Then add some slightly more aggressive tread tires. Urban Assault bike, Viola! Take off the lower fairing, and stairs won't stop you...

Oh, and flat-black it ALL!

www.blackletter.orghttp://http:// has some pretty cool stuff...

Edit, looky what I remembered, might help you, and Kawi should be shot for changing the Ninja's styling from this to what it used to be before '08....

 

[sharrokor]

after having off all the fairings (and dealing with some stripped screws.. grrr..) I think it looks pretty awesome... The headlight is ugly, and something needs to happen to the instrument console and tail-lights. what would be really badass is if I left the tank red.. and for realz painted the frame the matching color. ... red rim tape? flat black is nice buuut so is red =)

would need to take care of the more fundamental design issues first though.. tail, headlights, and signals :s then console. the first link to xpo is hecka expensive.... but does give some good ideas. the 7" headlight would be tight, but I want to find it for less than 200$. I don't need it to be a kit for me to man-handle it onto the front of my bike, ya know?

I don't know much about how to do a tail-light mod either and there's no way I could leave it stock or at least change it somehow. I don't really feel the need to buy after-market streetfighter parts for every change; making them myself would 1. be cheaper and b. make me feel a little more accomplished/proud.

 

[spooph]

Then get yourself acquainted with the fiberglass. Cheap, found at your local H/W store, and your only limitation is your imagination....

 

[sharrokor]

did some research about fiberglass body work.. I think i'm gonna try to cut out the old instruments from my console and build a new/custom/badass housing for them.

do any of you have experience with powder coating or any other auto-quality-painting methods?

 

[spooph]

HP will help you out with that... As in, cut you a good deal...

From my understanding, powder coating is a paint that's not a liquid. To the naked eye it looks like a liquid, but it's actually intensely small particles of ceramic or other material that you spray on a part, and then bake in a special oven which causes the coating to melt and harden perfectly to the contour of the microscopic indentations of the metal.... Which is why you can't really powdercoat plastic, cause the plastic would melt.... Coating fiberglass I think is possible, but risky....

Professional painting methods, erm, it's basically a spray gun, air compressor, and paint. You choose the paints and finishes - which is too much for me to explain here, and I don't know that much about it... Ask a local body-shop guy. You'll get information equivalent to that of asking a performance tuner about something like tires or suspension... There is so much tech and info that goes into the paint type it's not even funny!

Basically, what I'm saying, is if you want professional results, pay a professional to do it....

Personally, I do most of my painting with rattle cans.... If you'd like more info on this, let me know.

 

[sharrokor]

so... how do you do your painting? .. <3

 

[spooph]

Ha ha, I sand the part down till everything is smooth. It doesn't matter to me if I go to bare metal, or the plastic base, everything just needs to be smooth. If there's rust on a metal part, I'll start with 60 grit and move all the way to 320 or 400 grit. I don't go finer, because the paint doesn't seem to stick as well above 400 grit. Then a wipe down with rubbing alcohol and let it dry for 15 min. Don't wait, shoot primer as soon as possible.

I shoot 3-5 coats of primer and wet sand that with 400 grit. It should be absolutely smooth and beautiful now. Wipe it down with a moist, not wet rag and let dry 30 minutes. At this point you can leave it be if you have other things to attend to.

This is the crucial part. Once you start this process you're in it until it's done.

a.) Shoot a "test" sheet, preferably of the same material, not on the part, to the same thickness, or amount of paint you'll be using for the rest of the part. If you don't have scrap of the same material your painting, use cardboard. Shoot a nice clean coat of paint, using 50% overlap between bands of paint and let it try. have a beer. test if the paint on the test piece is tacky yet. if it's still wet, continue drinking the beer. if it's tacky, repeat step a.)

I usually shoot 3-5 coats of paint. Once you're done shooting the paint let it dry over night, maybe even 48 hours depending on how warm it is in your area.

Once it has dried, take an emery cloth to it and polish it up all nice and shiny. Wipe it down with a moist, not wet rag, and repeat step a.) with clear-coat instead of paint. I usually shoot up to 10 coats of clear coat because clear coat in a can comes out very fine and light.

Let the clear coat dry over night or even 48 hours. Take a nice polishing cloth and polish the crap out of the piece....

Note: Don't ever paint below 60F

So this is a bit different from the pros, because I use the rattle can. If I had a booth and spray gun, etc, I could prolly paint it all in one sitting of 3 hours or so. Why? The paint gun gives you so much more control over where and how paint gets dispensed than the rattle can. I'd rather take my time with the rattle can, and put on more lighter coats than try and spray more (similar to paint gun), and end up with some drips and things... I usually get results very similar to that of the pros, as in people won't believe me when I tell them I painted it with a can, outside and such forth... Good luck, and keep asking questions if you have them.

 

[sharrokor]

I definately want to do some painting after I fix up the ... you know road-legality features such as lights. I've got an air compressor.. I could pick up a paint gun for about 60$...

Found a whole bunch of fun turn indicators offered by lockhart phillips usa. There are some pretty neat turn signals that can mount to the license plate to keep things looking neat, I'm still browsing.

I def. decided on a 7" head lamp but I'm not sure how I want to mount it... If I keep the main fairing stay I can use mounted mirrors (not bar end mirrors.. not sure if I'd like those but I'm considering) also about the console... my console/instrument housing plastic is pretty broken. I have some electrical experience / resources I'm considering taking everything out of the stock console and fashioning some kinda new box for it. If I do that I could even cut out a hole and make the headlamp fit in, all gentle-like. ...... still browsing for parts so when I find some I'm set on i'll try to design something.

thanks for the painting tips by the way, mang.

I like the standard gauges because... (sigh) I like watching the needles move with rpm and shifting. >.> but these are so cool: http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=294/prd294.htm

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=285/prd285.htm

combo: http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=618/prd618.htm

I think these are fun but they are expensive.... not really sure what I want I guess