Finaly naked!!!
 

Well, some of you might remember of me wanting to "get a hand on a pair of twin headlights" in order to get my bike naked with the Speed triple look.
A couple of you even helped me with the pursuit for it.
Well, i finaly did it!
And it came from this:


Attachment 27282

To this:
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I know some of you hated it, but i also know that some just love it, one thing it´s for sure, it´s a new bike, and i couldn´t believe how fast this thing is in city trafic.

I'm not a fan of naked bike but I like it.. good job man. Looks good.. Maybe paint your exhaust header flat black will make it look even better?

Oh yea! I likes it! Nice job, could'nt see the gauges, are they stock?

Nice job!...

Not a problem, i´ll show you the gauges:
Attachment 27281
You see, this mod is completely reversible to the stock form.
This was the big challenge.
And by the way of it, i change the R/R to the R6 and all the hoses to black brainded ones.
Unfortunatly the bite is just a bit better, not such a great improvement...

thats pretty sick man, goes great with your hi-mounts

Mind telling me where you got the sweet headlights?

Man, you did an awesome job. I would be interested to know where you got the headlights, bracket and mini fairing. I did basically the same thing but yours looks better. My headlights are futher apart. I like the close together look better. Well done you!

Nicely done, the install looks very professional.

Looks GREAT!! I would put some frame sliders on there for enhanced radiator protection... I have mine naked right now, and the slightest tip-over puts dents in the fins. One good low-side and they are getting beat up. Nice thing about naked is that it you don't need those no-cut sliders, you can get regular ones that mount on the engine hanger, nice and sturdy.

so since you went like this, wanna throw that double bubble my way. i got some money to blow

SOLID.

nice work dude.

I like the headlights, they are classy. The bars look good, must be comfortable! You planning on moving the rads at all or painting the wheels? I'm not really one for the naked bikes but to each their own, and I know it requires work to do that so cheers go have a beer and enjoy your work:cheers:

NICE! Great work! I think this is the best looking dual headlight setup SH I've seen.

I just peeled off my front fairing last weekend, but I'm not at the stage you are right now. Doesn't it make the bike feel 30 lbs lighter?

CR

Very nice, Luis. A Speed Triple with a better engine. +1 on the comment regarding getting some protection for the radiators.

Wow :eek:
I wasn´t expecting so many replies...
Let me see if i can answer to all of you.
Ok, first thing, a big thanks for the coments and for the advice on the rads.
I really must do something to protect them, as they´re gonna stay side by side as they are.
Second, i bought the headlights on ebay, under advice of some members here.
Superbeater, you might not remember, but we exchange pm under this subject.
Your bikes pictures were the confirmation for the headlights size i was looking for.
You can find the "mini fairing" here:
http://www.giviusa.com/My-motorcycle...le-1050-05--09
The Speed triple in this page was the goal.
The bracket was hand made in stanless steel and painted black.
The main thing is that i can go back to the stock form whenever i want, it´s completely reversible. That was the big chalenge.
Then came the clean look, has in a stock bike and not a streetfighter that someone fell over and decided to get the naked look just because it was too expensive or too hard to put it back together again.
I have to say, this is a hole new fast, confortable, and powerfull bike.
I couldn´t believe the bike i´ve been missing over this years.
This is a 1997 VTR and i have it since 1998.
Coming up next is the manual CCT´s and the rads protections.

Hey Luis, great job. Like the way you "masked" rads by painting them black. They definitelly need some protection, though.
One question: from your pics it seems that you dropped your forks a bit in the triple. I think that they usually stick out much more when naked. If so, can you tell the difference in handling, both in straight line and in turns?
I haven't gone naked, but tried dropping my forks about 3mm (don't have those safety rings) lower than stock and sometimes, specially with passenger, feel like front end gets light. I figured it may be because of the different weight distribution (front/rear). Or maybe it's just self-suggestion...
Asking this because usually people go opposite way, by dropping triple clamp some 10mm or so.

Thanks Danny,
Well, has you know our stock forks aren´t the better ones so it´s natural to have complains about them.
I have a lot.
But it´s something i can live with in my daily rides.
Yes they´re dropped.
Can i tell the difference? What can i teel you, the hole bikes changed, it´s all different.
Even the gear lever had to be changed.
Just as an example, i´ve only rided 50 km in it and i´ve allready started cleaning 5mm of chicken stripes on both sides.
And i have myself on a good account as a rider and had good looking chicken stripes allready...
It simply amazes me onthe potencial of this thing on curves.

Wide handlebars seem to make quick turn-ins faster, but I'm not sure they're as good for fast, wide sweepers. In places like Deal's Gap it's almost cheating to be on a big single with flat wide bars, but I remember feeling a little less confident on the fast sweepers around T.W.O. when I was on my GB500.

The SH already has a weird weight distribution for a sportbike, and I'm a little concerned about how the bike will handle if / when I relocate the radiator along with the superbike bars. But as it is right now, everything up to around 90% riding seems easier, especially the riding around town stuff.

Everything is a trade off, I imagine.

CR

Yes, I have to give up on the hight speeds in the highway, but neverteless i was very surprised to see i can cruise confortably at 160 km/h (don´t know how many miles/hour it is).
But this is a choice i had to do, cause this bike goes from a "long distances bike" (how i miss those old times) to a "city bike".
It handles very well, and the potencial is huge.
How many of you already read reviews on how fun and fast the Speed triple is in the city?
They say wonderfulls about it.
Well, i´m quite sure that a VTR like this with a good set of brakes and good forks will beat any Speed triple by far.
Not many doubhts about it.

The SH is a rear-biased bike. I don't recall the exact numbers, but more weight is at the back, which makes the front light and leads to some odd braking dynamics sometimes. (I’ve often wondered if this was why Honda gave it such low clip ons.) I don’t feel that it’s particularly top heavy, but having high mounted cans probably isn't ideal either. As a fad they seemed to last about three years.

I think Tweety and Mikstr keep track of these sorts of things in real life, so they would be the ones to ask.

Every Triumph I3 I’ve ridden has been incredibly top heavy / rear-biased, but they make it work for them by giving the bikes wide bars. You really feel like you’re falling into corners on those bikes. It’s frightening the first couple times, but after a while it came be sort of fun.

CR

This would suggest I'm full of shit ;)

"The VTR’s weight distribution is one of the subtlest and most devious world population control schemes history is likely to see. The bench hard seat slides you into the tank, as the evil Honda engineers intended, to make up for the fact that the front wheel is only taking 53% of the distribution. You as a rider are there to optimize the equation, mainly by being sat forward and crushing your nether region’s dangly bits (if you have them) on hard stops, medium stops, and well just about any stop other than gentle and rolling. This bike apparently prefers riders of the bumpy-chested variety."

http://www.onewheeldrive.net/2004/01...d-bike-review/

I don't know. I thought sportbikes tried for 50/50 and 53% sounds good to me. But to be honest, I've always just felt the front was light on the bike. I'll dig deeper.

CR

Ah, here it is:

http://motoprofi.com/motospecspictur...00_f-1999.html

Here are some comparisons culled from the Interwebs

front/rear

Superhawk: 47.1/52.9
1098S: 49.6/50.4
CBR1000RR: 51.6/48.4
ZX-10R: 51.0/49.0
R1: 51.9/48.1
GSX-R1000: 50.7/49.3
MV F4-1000R: 51.7/48.3
V-Star 1300: 48/52
Roadliner 49.6/50.4

You can see in some ways the VTR is closer to a cruiser in this respect. *duck*

CR

well since he's now naked, as am I, I can tell that the front is much lighter, closer to that 50/50 mark I suppose

I think you would be headed in the other direction there, Nothing. Maybe 45% front 55% rear...?

Ok, i have a confession to make that will bring light to this mather:
My forks are cut and i have a thicker oil, in order to make them shorter and harder.
Plus, i´m a tall guy (1.85m).
So the bike´s not that hight in the front, and my weight´s mostly in the front weel.
I was trying to copy the Ducati monster ergo with the Speed triple look, but unfortunatly i couldn´t find a lower pro-taper (even this one had to come from the USA) and had to stay in the midlle.
But it turned up very good.

Actually having more than 50% weight in the rear is going to make you very nervous in corners...

Admittedly the RR bikes are slightly rear biased but that's not taking into consideration that on those bikes the rider is even more forward than on the VTR (You are actually not very forward on the VTR for a sportsbike)... I'd say with the rider on there they have a good bit more than 50% in the front...

My bike is at 51% front bias, and with a raised rear it brings me further forward vs stock... That's how you want it...

tweety that shock adjustment on the rear SH stock shock, is that just for height purposes?

CR, one of those sources is - obviously - wrong. They cite opposite values.
If any, I'd say 53front/47rear would be correct. Can't see VTR having more weight at the back than V-star or Roadliner. And also, I'd expect 1098S to have more weight in the front - but I may be completely wrong in my assumptions.
Regardless, it seems they're all within 3% range - which means that rider's weight can play a big role. For heavy-weights (like myself) going from leaning forward position to upright - as a result of ANY wide bar conversion - can thus make a big difference. But because I am a complete ignorant when it comes to m/c geometry and physics, i guess I''ll have to wait till my new handlebars and clamp arrive (currently in the mail!), do some testing, and report back...

Or maybe I am just overthinking this whole bar conversion thing :confused: