[[email protected]]

this is the finished product of the last 5 months. i took my '95 900 ss/sp down to the frame and rebuilt it from scratch. had the frame powder coated and took on the project of making my own carbon fiber fairings. i took the original fairings and used them as a mold to lay the carbon sheets. painted and clear coated.

ducshop here in atlanta did the motor work: 966 overbore, st2 cams, porting with 1mm oversize intake valve, dual plug, slipper clutch, then blue printed the engine.

sil moto headers. BST wheels front and rear, brake tech ceramic/carbon front rotors matched with brembo dual piston calipers. Ohlins rear shock and a showa fork from a 748 with Ohlins internals .

42 mm flat slides of course

corbin seat to match the carbon fiber motif.

guard dog keyless ignition

european style left control so i can turn off the headlight to start the bike with the speed cell battery

lots of little add on pieces and billet

put it on the bathroon scale and it weighs in at approx 340 pounds with oil and a half a tank of gas!

runs so sweet!

 

[dirkwrong]

Wow! that is awesome! Way to go!

 

[jack]

I just have one question:

Your bathroom scale goes to 340 pounds?




j/k that is a very cool project. How do the brakes perform on the street?

 

[jswartz84]

Looks like a very nice one of a kind bike. Great Job

 

[[email protected]]

the brakes are literally a two finger affair. if you grab a handfull you will stand it on the front wheel. great feel and the most progressive i have ever used. i had wave rotors on it before. these are really a step above.

at first i was a little disappointed as they really didn't hold all that well but the manufacturer said to do a stepwise break in. after that WOW!

the scale was easy, it was balancing it on one wheel to weigh it that was the
problem

 

[jamesmorgan]

Bike of the month Bike of the month!!!!
seriously, very nice SS. if you don't mind elaborating on how you made the molds to reproduce the fairings in carbon,,, is there a tutorial on the web somewhere that can give me some insight?

 

[ozmanyyy]

That there is true love.

Very well done,,

 

[[email protected]]

Bike of the month Bike of the month!!!!
seriously, very nice SS. if you don't mind elaborating on how you made the molds to reproduce the fairings in carbon,,, is there a tutorial on the web somewhere that can give me some insight?

thanks for the compliments. it was a true labor of love (and my wife is so glad it is finished). the carbon fiber was basically laid out on the old fairings which i covered with a mold release wax (8 coats and do NOT wipe off between coats - first rookie mistake). the web site http://www.webbikeworld.com/t2/carbon-fiber-motorcycle-parts/ was a great help and the guy who wrote the article was a world of help. there were a few videos on u-tube that also helped but mostly it was dive in and be ready to scrap a few yards of carbon fiber figuring it out.

once you have covered the fairing with the realase wax cut the cloth to basic shape with a 3+ inch overlap (in some cases almost a foot of extra). lay the cloth on the fairing one sheet at a time with epoxy painted on between each layer and squeegied out. i used 4 layers of carbon 2x2 twill. there is a release fabric and a felt fabric to absorbe the excess epoxy which also gets laid on. once all the layers are on i put the whole thing in a vacuum bag (2 layers of mylar sealed with caulk) and hooked a vacuum pump to the bag to draw out the air. you now have 14 psi pressing down on the part and it molds nicely. i put the whole system insude a large box with a heat gun to run up the temp (hot but not enough to catch the box on fire!). after 2 hours i took it out and cut off the excess carbon to fit and put it back in the vacuum for another 8 hours or so. then you take it all out again and by flexing the fairing the new molded carbon fiber pops loose. i used a dremel and sanding block to shape it all. then added an additional 3 coats of epoxy. the rest was just a lot of sanding and buffing.

jamestown distributers sells the carbon and the epoxy supplies.

 

[joepopp]

That is totally insane!!! Amazing job. Very inspiring. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Joe-B]

Wow! And I thought mine was cool (I just posted pics of mine on the Supersport Pictures Sticky thread). But mine was cheaper !! Beautiful bike.
Joe

 

[redgea4]

Can I have more info on the showa fork from a 748 with Ohlins internals swap?

 

[[email protected]]

the 748 / 53 mm conversion was easy (very subjective term). i found a set on ebay with the gold nitride coating and the ohlins internals for around $450 in great condition. the stock triple on the 900ss needs a few mods to make it fit. the lower triple is actually 54mm in diameter so i used an aluminum shim (1 mil) to make up the difference (i have lots of it left over if you need some). the upper triple is pretty small at about 50mm. i took it to a machine shop and they bored it out to 53mm for 50 bucks. you will also need to either replace the brake calipers as the spacing mounts are too wide on the 748 forks (65mm vs 40 mm stock). you can get a bracket to use the stock calpers or i obviously went with a higher end caliper of the appropriate size.

of course the stock axle wont fit nor will the front wheel unless you put some spacers in the 748 forks. i was replacing the wheels anyway with the BST so i just got a 748 axle and speedo drive.

speedymoto makes a triple clamp specifically for the 900ss to do the conversion but they have been backordered for 6 months.

 

[[email protected]]

Wow! And I thought mine was cool (I just posted pics of mine on the Supersport Pictures Sticky thread). But mine was cheaper !! Beautiful bike.
Joe

yea, i could have bought a good used 1098 for what i now have in it. but you know how it is with your first love. i have had the bike since it was new and it just fits me. now i can be known by my riding buddies as the idiot who spent a fortune on a 15 year old bike. but you know, i dont care, it is now all mine, unique and she sure does look and run great.

actually it has had an additional advantage. now my buddies dont feel so bad when i pass them. it used to shame them when i beat them on a mountain road.

 

[mac]

Very nice indeed! What are you using for clipons?

 

[[email protected]]

Very nice indeed! What are you using for clipons?

53 mm billet with 2 inch risers from swat motorcycles (swatmotorcycles.com). ordered from moto wheels but swat motorcycles sells them direct.

 

[rz33v4]

Project Bike

Nice work! I, too, have put a lot of time/money into an old SS (1999), but I did do most of the work when it was only a year old or so.

You were pretty brave to attempt the carbon fairings, especially when I think these are available for sale (or were at one time). My fairing is carbon as well, but came from Sharkskinz and my fuel tank too, from ETI. I used a Ti rear shock spring on the Ohlins shock and a Ti rear brake rotor as well. I also have a digital speedo now and ditched the stock cable/gauge. What I don't have is your BST wheels (mine are Marchesini magnesium), the BrakeTech front rotors or the Li-Ion battery. I do have large dual mirrors installed and full passenger provisions. I'm at 378# with 1/2 tank fuel on an accurate scale.

Did you do any dyno runs on your engine? My 944 with 10.5:1 pistons and porting work put out 95 RWHP and 71 lbs-ft torque, but that's with fuel injection.

 

[[email protected]]

Nice work! I, too, have put a lot of time/money into an old SS (1999), but I did do most of the work when it was only a year old or so.

You were pretty brave to attempt the carbon fairings, especially when I think these are available for sale (or were at one time). My fairing is carbon as well, but came from Sharkskinz and my fuel tank too, from ETI. I used a Ti rear shock spring on the Ohlins shock and a Ti rear brake rotor as well. I also have a digital speedo now and ditched the stock cable/gauge. What I don't have is your BST wheels (mine are Marchesini magnesium), the BrakeTech front rotors or the Li-Ion battery. I do have large dual mirrors installed and full passenger provisions. I'm at 378# with 1/2 tank fuel on an accurate scale.

Did you do any dyno runs on your engine? My 944 with 10.5:1 pistons and porting work put out 95 RWHP and 71 lbs-ft torque, but that's with fuel injection.

i remember at one time the fairings were for sale in carbon but that was a long time ago when i could barely afford to keep gas in her and only did a few mods from year to year as money permitted. i put a few posts out before i started this project but no one had anything like carbon fairings for the older 900ss. i am still looking for a carbon fuel tank as well but the older ducks design is different. i will look into EFI and see what i can find. i figured if i screwed them up i could go with the sharkskinz (non-carbon)

i am going to dyno it in a few weeks after i get the engine good and broke in. i am hoping for a good mid-high 90's hp and 70+ ft-lbs of torque. my seat of the pants dyno tells me it is a whole new ballgame compared to old. woo hoo! cant wait for a good track day!

i can not claim my scale is accurate but it is pretty close. it was good enough for the bathroom. i had to position each wheel separately and add the numbers. i was getting a consistant 170 on each reading with the wheel in the center of the scale. but when i get it dyno'd the ducshop guys will give it a good weight. the li-ion battery saves a good 5-6 pounds at least and the brake rotors are so light i thought the box was empty when they arrived. i also ditched a few brackets and the airbox as well. the 748 forks felt a bit lighter vs the old but i didn't weigh them.

 

[vickon]

Project / battery...

PM-Sent.

 

[corks67]

very nice, awesome werk

 

[ducatijack]

Great job on the panels, and the bike overall.... What type of front break rotors are you using? I have a 96 ss and its time for rotors..