The (mis)Adventures of a NEWBIE's CBR1000RR Front End Swap
 

Sounds like you're committed now! - Pics would be fun...

I'm finding that using zip-lock bags works amazing for storing/labeling. I've been recommended rubbermaid style containers but the zip lock seem to take up less space and I have a billion of them so am not worried about using ones for very specific parts (ex. left handle bar mounting molts, etc.)

You may be able to put masking tape on the bearings or tape plastic wrap over to keep them metal shavings out...

Oh, and if you have your shipping containers still you can store your old parts in the equivalent shipping boxes to save space/protect them.

A hot tip for the radiators... Just loosen the clamps and wiggle the hoses enough for them to pop loose... Won't leak excessively and you can then slip them further up the pipe when moving the radiators back and just cut the excess... Don't even need to drain them if you are lazy...

Also, there are two ways for making the new mounts... One way, measure, measure, measure, re-measure then drill/bend whatever and make a mount going over the two of them... PITA... My version make 4 equal pieces with about 1 1/4" distance between the holes, clamp them together and drill the holes... Then bend them in a slight S curve and stick them on with finger tight bolts... Move the rads about until they fit nicely and then torque the bolts and cut the various hoses...

The steering stops needed to be extended or "shimmed" slightly on the contact surface on the 929/954's and filed down on the "backside" to clear the mount for the fairing/cluster... Dunno exactly what the difference is to your triple...

BTW why the axle & bolt ? Where they missing from the first set? You got the wheel right?

7moore7- I never thought of using tape or taping plastic around it. Thanks! I was wrapping a rag around it, but it kept moving. Tape, duh!

And I am using plastic bags for the small parts. I thought I wouldn't be able to mix up the big parts, but that was before I had 40 big parts from two different bikes on the floor of my garage . . .

Tweety- My first idea was to use 4 separate brackets, so I made those last night (but without a bend). But I liked how the one-piece design looked. I'll have to revisit my original idea, and think about bending the bracket. I might need to bend the braket to get the radiators on the same plane, right?

The steering stops on the 1000 are much further back (closer to the frame) than the stock 'hawk's. The positive is that they don't hit the gage mount in that location, but the negative is that I can't steer. I'm working on a solution and will take pictures of what I come up with. But beware, it will probably be ugly.

The wheel didn't come with the axle (but it did come with all spacers), so I had to order the axle separately. I got my CBR parts from a guy who was swapping out all of his stuff with chromed/aftermarket/upgraded parts. I got really nice looking parts, but paid a little more than I anticipated.

And I plan on taking pictures. If anyone has any picture requests while I have it apart, ask now . . .

I like the destruction pictures best- but don't go out of your way; just if you have a camera handy and feel like posting...

I made radiator tabs that moved everything back about .8". I used 1"x 1/8" aluminum. To get the bends, I used two spare pieces of the aluminum and staggered the tabs in a vice with one spare piece on either side of the tab, but at opposite ends. (Make sense?). I also modified the fairing brackets that mount to the bottom of the radiators.
https://www.superhawkforum.com/forum...1&d=1289596723

Pretty sure smokinjoe used the 1000rr tripples so I wonder what he did with his steering stops...

GregW, have you had any problems with those brackets loosening and swinging down (radiator dropping)? That was one reason I was thinking about using a single piece on each side, but the separate pieces look much simpler to make.

And what you said about method of bending does make sense, but I don't have a vice. I should probably get one anyway, and maybe this can be my excuse to the woman as to why I need one.

Any reason why people seem to move the radiators back around 3/4 inch? Is that all you can move it before bumping into something? I ask because I have some flat metal brackets that had pre-drilled holes every 0.5 inches, and I was going to use those brackets to move the radiators back one inch. But actually, if I bend the bracket, it would be closer to 3/4 inch, so maybe that will be perfect.

On my stops I dremmeled/ground the stop on the lower triple about 1/4". I didnt move the rads yet, might eventually but its plenty ridable without moving them. I would recommend that if you are already doing all this that you swap to all balls brand tapered roller bearings. Really you should do this on all bikes but you really dont want to put questionable bearings on the bike & introduce another variable to the package. You will be hyper sensitive to handling after this swap so you dont want pitted bearings screwing up the works. If you have any specific questions post em up & I will be happy to help if I can. Or you can shoot me an email at englatona(at)netzero.net. After 11 yrs racing I have gotten alot of help so never mind giving it back.

I did my swap 'bout 2 years ago and the tabs are still in place. Locktite on the screws and the bottom fairing bracket takes some of the weight. Attached hoses may help hold things in place too.

Oh yes you do.:D

:thumbsup: 'scribed

My brackets/radiators hasn't moved once and it's now 5 years since I did the swap... I'd say it's a non-issue...

This is great evines, good on you for trying this buy your self.:cool:

You will get lots of support & help from all the guys on this forum.

I just have to say -:worthless:

I want to see all your hard work.:p

Pictures coming today (if I can figure out how to post pictures).

Yesterday I got the triple mounted. It wasn't that bad actually. I'll still need to take it back apart though, but right now I have it together just to make sure everything fits. I might put the fairing on today since I've heard I might have to trim it some on the sides.

I drained the radiator coolant yesterday, somewhat on accident, but then I just went with it . . . I'm guessing coolant isn't supposed to look like dark caramel, right?

I just added some pictures to the first post in chronological order. There's more to come . . .

So now that the triple is mounted up, I think I can say that that was the easy part. Today I feel like I didn't get much done, even though I spent hours in the garage just staring at everything. Getting all the lines (brake, electrical, throttle cables) sorted out is a pain. I wish the throttle cables were about a inch longer, because at full lock they are almost binding up on the fork (I have them running from the bar behind the fork before coming back under the tank).

And the master cylinder is not fitting very well. I think I can make it work, but it's really limiting where I can put the clip-ons. The brake lines are touching the throttle cables, and the ignition switch can't be fully rotated into the correct position due to bumping into the master cylinder. Very annoying. I'm curious how others did it if anyone wants to chime in . . . including brake line path down to the calipers. I have mine running down outside the lower triple clamp, then coming back through between the lower triple and fender.

Here are some pictures:
My top tripleAttachment 26717

Clearance at the radiator hose on left:Attachment 26718

And right side:Attachment 26719

Radiator bracket:Attachment 26720

Pic showing bend in the bracket. I got the bend just by bolting it up very tight. The aluminum bent, so that was easy.Attachment 26721

I ran into an unexpected issue . . . the CBR1000RR lower triple does not have the same size hole in the bottom as the superhawk, so I couldn't use my triple tree stand anymore.
Big peg doesn't fit in the small hole. Attachment 26715

That was a problem because I used the triple tree stand to get the bike up on the car stands. But then when I swapped triples, I couldn't get the damn bike down off of the car stands since I couldn't use the triple tree stand. That was pretty dumb of me. I considered just dropping the bike down off of the car stands and "hoping" that nothing bad happened. But then I got the bright idea to replace the end of the triple tree stand with a three inch socket extension. It worked perfectly.
Attachment 26716

Just from looking, those look like apex bars. They are angled the exact wrong way. They will need to be angled down & toward the back of the bike. This will solve your brake clearance issues among others. If you leave them like that it will feel like when you were riding your BMX bike with the handlebars turned backwards

They are Apex bars, and thank you, now that I look at it, it's pretty messed up. The bars aren't in the same position right now as in that picture, although I've been experimenting with a lot of different positions. As I have it right now, the bars aren't hitting anything, and it looks like it's clearing the fairing. My issue is that all the pieces clamped on the right bar (throttle, ignition switch, brake) are interfering with each other. I'm sure I'll get it to work eventually, but I wasn't able to today. I'll have to take a picture tomorrow so you can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

I know exactly what your going through. I tried every way you can think of with the right clip-on with the placement of everything. The biggest pain in my ass was my throttle cables. I have my throttle cables on the outside of the fork, not through the fork and have the cables on the top about 2 o'clock between the mastercylinder and the resivior, not on the bottom like it wants to go. Then I have my brake lines through my wires for the killswitch. It is all a really tight fit anyway you do it

Basic geometry to get it close to what the VTR has as stock...

Put the standing tube of the clipon in the forward-outward quadrant vs the forkleg, then twist the handlebar in until you can put 2-3 fingers between it and the tank at full lock...

In that position it should clear the fairing and be rideable with small adjustments... Anything else will hit the fairing and or pinch your fingers, the levers or whatever...

I haven't had a lot of time to work on the bike the last few weeks. But here are the updates . . .

I got the clip-ons sorted out mostly. I ended up having to bolt the brake master cylinder between the throttle and kill-switch because my shorty levers weren't able to get close enough to the throttle with the kill-switch in between. I think this is how Tweety has his arranged, and actually looks normal to me.

The throttle cables were hitting the side fairing when I turn right. I could have twisted the throttle clamp up some to clear to fairing, but that interfered with the position of the brake lever. The only solution that I liked was to put the throttle cables pointing up. A lot of sportbikes have their throttle cables exiting above the clip-on, but my throttle cables are not long enough to point them up AND route them through the triple clamp. So for now, I have them routed between the triple and gas tank. This allows full steering lock, keeps the throttle cables from hitting the fairing, and allows the brake lever to be in the correct position for me.

The problem is that my thumb has to go around the throttle cables to hit the kill-switch and starter button. That's not a big deal to me, but it also looks kinda dumb. If it bugs me enough, I will eventually get longer throttle cables (I've heard the CBR F4i cables are much longer) and route them back through the triple clamp to get them out of the way.

I also had to cut the inner fairing pieces where the front turn signals are. The lower triple clamp was rubbing the inner fairing just barely, so I cut the fairing with my dremel and now it clears with no problem. That was a simple 5 minute fix.

The steel braided brake lines that I had on the old front end look like they will work on this set-up also. They are just long enough not to bind up with the forks fully extended. If they were an inch shorter, they wouldn’t work. You might wonder why they are barely long enough when the CBR forks are shorter than the VTRs. Well, I think the issue is that the lines exit the CBR1000RR master cylinder at a different location, in a different orientation, and the lines enter the CBR1000RR calipers midway down the caliper instead of on top of the caliper like on the VTR.

Using Tweety's geometry in the post above, my configuration cleared all fairings, almost. I had to bend the CBR1000RR's brake fluid reservoir stand so that it wasn't so high. After that, it cleared the fairing easily. I actually have at least a cm of clearance all around now, so I'm happy with that.

All that is left is to put the coolant back in, add brake fluid, and get the front tire off of the old wheel and on the new wheel (I magnificently failed at removing the tire myself, so bike shop here I come!). My first test ride will have to wait until after the holidays.

Sounds like your right on track. You picked a good time to be doing it. I did mine in the summer and I missed a few great weeks of riding. Here's a few pics on how I routed my cables. I bent the steel elbows inward that the throttle cables go into to get the angle I needed. Hope it helps a little...

Thanks t-dogg. Those pictures will help me a lot. I'm hoping I can get my cables in the same location. Right now my throttle cables are more in the 11 o'clock position and in the way of the kill-switch. I'll try your way and hope that works. It looks much better your way for sure (going behind the reservoir instead of in front of it).

Actually, the images of my setup is several generations old... ;)

Now I have Hayabusa control pods, and those incorporates the throttle tube on that side, so the switch and throttle is one unit...
I have the throttle wires going down/forward and I have rotated the banjo's on the brake lines around so that it's all happily nestled in there with the throttle cables routed in through the triples...
Basically the banjo sits between the throttle cables... ;) Snug, but it works...

There isn't much slack or clearance in any place, but as it is, all ergonomics work, and nothing hits (cept the headlight pass button on the other side, but I can live with that)