Performance Bikes — March 2018

MARCH 2018|PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK 87

THE GARAGE / OUR BIKES

used set won’t grip our bars. So we’re ordering our own

new set – Velox Racing are winging a set of Breese

switches our way.

If you just scoffed at chasing 100g, consider this: we’ve

already changed the wheels, both subframes and

bodywork. An aftermarket swingarm and fuel tank

might save more, but they’re not easy (or cheap) to find.

And race-oriented parts sometimes sacrifice mass for

stiffness or quick-release parts, so there’s no guarantee

our project will be any better off for tracking them down.

In terms of large parts, there’s not much left to lose.

But there are many details left to sort – if we can

shave at least the same from a number of them, they’ll

soon turn into kilos off our wet total.

One of the next items to sort is the wiring loom.

There are certain connections we don’t need (the

lambda, knock sensor and electronic damper

connections, for example) so they might as well go in

order to simplify and shave grams. The main harness

itself is also cased in plastic, and our HRC subframe

relocates some of the key parts. When our Sebimoto

carbon/Kevlar seat finally arrives, we’ll also need to

decide on some LED stop/tail lights – probably some

generic strips in an endurance racer style. So there’s a

fair amount to sort on the loom.

Road and Track Electronics in Norfolk will be tasked

with transforming the wiring (a speciality of theirs, as

the name suggests). They’re already commissioned for

the reflash work, which will involve deactivating

redundant functions that will also be cut from the

loom, so it makes sense for them to handle all of our

bike’s electrical matters.

There’s also the question of the exhaust – not

necessarily for power (though we do like that), but to

exchange the steel headers/stainless link pipe for

titanium. We’d like to retain the high-mount style we

had with our Hawk slip-on, too, if possible. The 2017

bike is arranged as such, and when Johnny’s long-

termer had its Akrapovic fitted, I offered the new bike’s

original headers up to our RR8: a pipe for the new

model should fit the old. Only the bracketry would be

a minor issue if that’s the route we go down.

Chris has had his hands in our

Blade’s guts so many times he

can now do most things by feel

New battery slots
neatly into its tray