Performance Bikes — March 2018

84 PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK|MARCH2018

2008 HONDA FIREBLADECHRIS NEWBIGGING

WHAT’S IN OUR GARAGES

Projectors were salvaged

from 2007 Kawasaki ZX-6R

light assembly

Straightened subframe

isnowasHRCintended

STORY SO FAR

PB’s Superleggera-

baiting Blade is now

structurally sound and

partially-clothed.

IF YOUR PROJECT enthusiasm is
waning, it’s steps like this that renew
your interest and give you the horn
again. Project Fireblade is back from
Simon Francis, who has been sorting
the busted subframe, adapting his own lightweight
caliper set-up to suit the Rotobox wheels, and adding
light provision to the HRC race nose frame.
The latter has been most of the work (though
straightening and re-welding the back end is also no
mean feat), but the result should be a useable and
properly legal lighting set-up. We may embellish it
with an HID kit or LED bulbs, but the basics are there
for proper night vision.
We provided a set of 2007 ZX-6R lights (bought for
£50 with damaged outer casings), from which he
salvaged the intact projectors. The low beam is
mounted on the right on the Kawasaki, which means it
should aim correctly behind the lens already fitted to
our used Sebimoto fairing. With much thought and a bit
of squeezing, he’s also got the high beam lamp in, and
retained the facility to adjust the beam on both. Cheap
generic projectors would be a bit lighter, but safety (and
going like a bastard at night) took priority, so
repurposing homologated parts is the right way to go.
Sterling job, that man.

FILLING IN

THE BLANKS

The biggest chunks of our lightweight Blade are as one, so it’s on

to the little things that will tie it all together

Photography Simon ‘Lone’ Lee

So it’s back from the wilds of east Yorks, and back in

civilisation with us. The engine, that’s been hidden on

Whitey’s garage floor, obscured from view by a bulk

purchase of ‘Rice Dream’ pretend milk, can now be put

in its correct place. Although once the catering packs

were cleared out of the way, I realised the missing

starter (removed to investigate sluggish turnover,

broken magnets discovered, and then exacerbated

beyond repair by dropping it...) hasn’t been refitted,

mainly because I forgot to buy one. It’s on order...

Still, with dicey use of a trolley jack, some grunting

and some expert jiggling, the lump found its way

between the frame spars of the Honda for what’s at

least the fifth time in its life. For now, we’re putting the

throttle bodies and airbox on, though Whitey wants

‘With much thought and a bit

of squeezing, Simon Francis

got the high beam lamp in’