This is my gallery of the rebuild and transformation of my '98 model Honda CBR900 RR.
As a concept, I decided that I’d build my bike into something a little different for the Sydney AutoSalon. Many long days, late nights were spent building the bike and without the help of some extremely kind and generous friends, business owners and sales people whom I respect greatly, it probably wouldn't have been ready in time. So without and further delay, meet the newest bully on the block... Project Bladerod

THIS PARTICULAR BIKE
Year made: 1998
Make: Honda
Model: CBR900 (919cc)
Colour: Black…. And black

Why did you choose this particular car? (E.g. always liked this particular make & model): It was my former stunt bike. I crashed in January 2005 (broke my leg) and when I was fit enough to ride it again, I decided I needed more recovery time, so I stripped the bike (for a cleanup)

What were your main aims? (E.g. maximum power output/show n’ shine winner): With all of the trick Euro Fireblade street fighters I was at a loss as to how to do my bike so it’d look a fair bit different from any others that I’d seen. I firstly considered a dropped look with full grass fairing and an extended swing arm, so I bought the glass and made a start on it, but at that time I still had the moto bars on it and once I’d lowered the back I sat on it and it felt really cool. So I then loosened off the moto bar clamps and rolled them bar a little so I wasn’t leaning as far forward. After a few more beers I headed back to the computer and found an old press image of a blade side on with no panels, just a tank. Then by 1:38am the next morning I had a rough draft of the Bladerod. As seen on the website as “The Concept”. Anyway, getting back the question, I wanted something that was different, yet cool and with the blackening off al the parts that gave it the gangster look.

What engine has it got? (e.g. 500cc Honda etc):
Honda 919cc (runs like a gem)

What’s its dynoed power output? (e.g. 100hp at the wheel): Last time it was on the dyno it made 137hp at the tyre

Where was it dynoed? (Shop’s name & contact details/name of who did the power run): Competition Conversions (South Australia)

Are you sending us the dyno sheet (Y/N)? nope, it was donkeys years ago
Have you competed in quarter-mile drag racing (Y/N)? yes
What’s the quickest time your bike’s run (e.g. 10.02 @ 147.31mph):
10.92 @ 128mph as a street bike
12.65 @ 119mph (on the back wheel in 3rd)

Have you got the slip to prove it (Y/N)? y (it’s somewhere here)

What’s been done to the engine? (fill in the following): Internally the engine is stock. From memory it has a Muzzys 2 degree advancer and was rejetted to suit the previous exhaust system.

FOR PISTON ENGINES:
Which company/who did the work? (name, address, contact details, person there we should speak to): Original work and tuning was done by Phil (aka Philby) from Adelaide

Current intake/induction mods (e.g. carb(s), jets, manifold, no./type of injectors, turbocharger(s), supercharger type and all related plumbing/cooling): K&N Panel filter, Factory Pro jets

Would like to turbo the bike, but I’d probably run some kid of water/air intercooler as part of the intake so the front end didn’t get cluttered. Then again, it’s fast now and does wheelies… I’m happy

Fuel / ignition system: Factory Honda carbies, ignition system is per standard, but Its running SplitFire plugs


EXHAUST
The bike previously had an Akrapovic race system on it with a carbon fibre muffler. For stunt shows I’d slip on a crusty old cut down CBR600 muffler I made. What we did this time was dropped the system in the middle, then from there back spread the front of a mandrel bent tube and fed that into a 3-inch OD hotdog muffler. After that we put a 3-inch mandrel bend on it and linished it to the muffler to make it all look like one piece. The exhaust was then pulled apart and ceramic coated in satin black by Sydney’s Competiton Coatings. Many thanks to Dave Jnr and Senior from Castle Hill Exhaust Centre for their help with the exhaust. Dave Snr is a nut on a bike and just traded his K3 Gixxer 1000 in for a K5. No doubt he’ll be scraping the foot pegs on that soon.

DRIVETRAIN
Gearbox: Standard but with a Factory Pro quick shifter.

Ratios: factory

Clutch type: still the factory one!!! And to think about the hell I’ve given it and it still come up in 4th if you pop it!

Final drive: Renthal 525 15 tooth front, 45 tooth rear. DID X-Ring chain. (Bike was running a 53 tooth rear as a stunt bike) Rear sprocket was powder coated also so it looks pretty!

Anything else: New Cush drive, all wheel bearings, swingarm bearing and head bearings replaced (roller head bearings… common conversion)


WHEELS & TYRES
Front wheel: Non injected CBR 1100XX Blackbird
Front tyre: Bridgestone Battlax - BT014F 120/70/ZR17

Rear wheels: VTR1000 Firestorm
Rear tyres: Bridgestone Battlax – BT56R 190/50/ZR17

Any other details about wheels/tyres or selection criteria of wheels/tyres:



SUSPENSION
Dampers (shocks) (front/rear): Front forks are standard and have been run at medium settings as long as I can remember. The rear has been set a little harder and is actually quite nice that way as you can get the rear tyre to turn a little out of corners. The main suspension mod is the extended drop link underneath which lowers the rear end about 3-inches (when there’s a tail on it). By just lowering the back and leaving the front it’s given it a little bit of rake on the forks too. It rides beautifully, no front wheel washout etc!


BRAKES:
Rotors: Factory Honda, re-machined and painted

Calipers: Factory Honda

Chosen brake pads: EBC

Why these? Because I wanted new ones

Anything worth a mention: The brake lines were all put together by me and are made up from stainless braided nylon hoses and Speedflow fittings.



TRIM
Harri’s Grey grips, Factory seat re shaped and trimmed to form more of a saddle shape

Gauges: No instruments, bike is kept looking simple, however I did fit a bright green LED which lights up inside the frame where the engine when the bike is in neutral. Choke pull has been relocated to the inside left or the engine compartment (still works perfectly and is totally out of site). Ignition barrel has been relocated to just under the right hand side of the subframe and a tiny little black button at the rear of the left side of the subframe starts it.



Wiring: Wiring loom has been totally redone and simplified. All of the necessary wiring is still there to still run the turning signals and factory cluster if need be.
Security: My fist! (I wouldn’t leave it anywhere that it’d be unsafe)
Fixtures/fittings needing mention: Aftermarket foot pegs (powder coated gloss black)


EXTERIOR
Body kit parts: Front mudguard is the factory 98 CBR900 one, but has been cut down considerably as they’re huge and ugly from the factory. The “redesign” involved a black texta, and angle grinder (the edge of my swimming pool as the work bench), a $2 file from the local hardware store and some sand paper. The end result is great!

The rear hugger was a lucky find from a company on ebay called Piteck Color in the USA. It’s a really good quality fibreglass product and I’d highly recommend others to buy from them.

Both the front and rear mudguard as well as the tank were painted by Queen Street Smash in two pack black. Many thanks to Mohommed and Bakr!

Powder coating: The frame, swingarm and rear subframe are satin black, the wheels, rearsets, pegs, bars, triple clamps, headlights, sprocket, levers and other small parts were all done gloss black.

The headlights are a German imported street fighter twin beam with H4 bulbs. They were actually on a mates bike first and he sold me them as no shops in Sydney had them in stock at the time. They were stripped and powder coated. The brackets are normal street fighter brackets shortened. The tail light is a slim brake/tail/plate LED unit which sits just under the seat just above the number plate


Anything different/unique:

The rear subframe was modified quite a lot, yet is still 90% the factory alloy. We cut the top bars just behind the seat and removed all of the lower bracing. Next the lower bars were cut short and bought up to meet the uppers. We added some gusseting for strength and an extra cross bar to which helps to hold in the battery box which was cut down from the factory under tray and moved forward. The voltage rectifier/regulator now sits on a flat plate just behind the rear tank bolt and the CDI unit is mounted off the front of the battery box.

Pazzaz MotoX bars and single bolt clamps (www.pazzaz.com) (all powder coated gloss black), a longer F3 CBR600 clutch cable, CBR600 F4i front brake master cylinder was chosen as it has the same bore size and is more compact due to the inbuilt reservoir.

The side stand was modified rather than being shortened so that it’d sit the bike on an appropriate angle since it was lowered and still be stable.

Allen head engine mount bolts and the front fairing bracket mounts were removed from the frame.


PROBLEMS/CHALLENGES
What made the build particularly tricky/rewarding?
The main challenge was building the bike in such a short period of time. Stripped from a stunt bike on April the 10th and on show at Sydney AutoSalon May 15th

What would you do differently the next time ’round?
I’d like to build another rod type bike, maybe a tube style frame bike like a Ducati or a Suzuki TL1000S. A Ducati would be fun as it’d probably rub a few people the wrong way!

ESTIMATED BUILDING COST: Since I bought the bike…. Who knows… hahaha. Yet the Bladerod build wasn’t a massive bank buster!


TROPHIES WON: Best bike Sydney Tattoo Expo 2010

THANKS TO
---------
4 POWDER COATING (Rob and the boys)
GROOVERYDER FABRICATIONS (James)
QUEEN ST SMASH (Mohommed and Bakr)
CASTLE HILL EXHAUST (Dave & Dave Keys)
MCA PARRAMATTA (Mick aka Silver)
COMPETITION COATINGS (Rob the Backyarder)
ACTION MOTORCYCLES (John aka Yanni from spares, you legend)
MAW - CASTLE HILL (Matt)
MOTORSPORT CONNECTIONS (Travis)
JAYCAR ELECTRONICS (Robert Bell)
UNCLE HARDCORE, NED, BENDER, DANIEL
and JAY for the use of his trailer