FEELER: Aluminum subframe, fairing stay?
 

Alright, so here's the story:

I would really like to lose the VTR's OEM steel subframe and fairing stay. I bought both a used (straight) VTR suframe as well as a stock aluminum CBR900RR (same all years according to Ron Ayers). As the two seemed reasonably similar on pics, my goal was to see if I work the RR unit and get it to fit (losing a few pounds of weight, most of it high up and back). Well, my tools and access to tools being about as limited as it gets (have basic hands tools only, in a rented garage), I soon realized that whatever changes were necessary were out of my grasp.

So, to make a long story short, who here would possibly be interested to see if we can organize/fab a run of said aluminum subframes and fairing stays (the latter being less important). Either built it (them) from scratch or perhaps mod existing units (900RR rear sub is not that far off from what I can see). If I can be done for a reasonable fee (whatever that means to you), who would be in for such a project.

To start the ball rolling, any such sub for me would have to be strong enough to carry a passenger (not 320 lb Bertha, but a 150 lb passenger). Price range for me would be @ $400...?????

Anyone interested? Let's hear from you.

cheers

P.S. Please respect the "raison d'etre" for this thread: naysayers kindly please just move on......

P.P.S. If anyone here is interested, or knows of someone capable of taking this one on, please share. As I alluded to earlier, I am not very well hooked up in this dept....

I'm pretty sure Tweety has made an aluminum sub-frame with identical dimensions to ours... and I have a feeling Little_Horse may entertain the thought at least. He has mad aluminum skillz

my old vtr had a k1 gixxer subframe on it, it had to be shortened and re welded but it lined up. might be easier to do something like that and just weld on tabs to make the tail section fit, be alot cheaper that way too

not so sure about that, once the widget is made and a jig set up, all it is is cost of materials, welding consumables, and labor. rather than having to buy a subframe at a higher cost than materials and then add in labor and consumables

FYI, '01 and up subframes are slightly different having provisions to mount the CDI and ECU on either side of the frame.

Yes, that's correct... I basically just duplicated the stock subframe in aluminium, making the tubing of a bit larger round stock instead of the square, and adding a few braces... My version is about as sturdy as they come, and I doubt the stock item holds more weight, but it still made it substantially lighter... I'm pretty sure Little_Horse can make a much more elegant version than mine... At this point I wouldn't say my skills in welding aluminium is that great, he's an artist...

Definetly cheaper to make from scratch rather than modify... (Unless you find a bolt on mod, ie drill a hole or two, and it matches)