June '09 - My custom 07

[blackbelt135]

Year
2007

Model
R6

Engine Performance Mods
- MJS header with welded midpipe
- GYTR slip-on
- PC3

Chassis/Controls Mods
- Gold Scotts steering damper

Accessories
- Custom paint job - bright white base coat with silver metallic flake in clear coat
- Custom headlight modification
- FXR bi-xenon dual projectors with perfect clarity lenses
- 8000k HID's
- CCFL halo's / angel eyes
- Gold Vortex rearsets
- Carbon fiber, double-bubble windscreen
- Vortex black mirror block-offs
- Fender eliminator kit
- Smoked rear tail light with integrated blinkers
- Front arrowhead LED blinkers
- Black passenger pegs
- Black Pazzo levers with silver adjusters
- Progrip grips
- 5 LED running light
- speedohealer

Why my bike should be named the Ride of the Month
For those of you that don't know me, I originally owned an 06 R6 raven ... bought it when it first came out. I modded it out completely, then had a mishap and totaled it. About a month later, I purchased an 05 R1 in shift red. Added Leo Vince pipes and a few other mods, but as crazy as it sounds ... missed my R6. I then sold my R1 in November, and in no time found and purchased a 2007 R6 also in red. However, living in Mass, at that time we already had a ton of snow on the ground, so I wasn't even able to ride her.

I picked up the R6 in a truck, brought it to my house and into my basement, then got to work with the customization. I spent the next few months, every night after work, and almost every weekend working on the bike. (My wife was convinced I love my bike more than I love her, but we all know the truth.)

Also, everything that I had liked for mods on my 06 Raven, I got the same things for my 07. Things I didn't like, I took a different route. Therefore, being my second time around customizing an R6, this time I got to do everything I wanted to make my own personal ultimate R6.

I stripped the bike down, got a custom paint job, added the full exhaust, the Vortex rearsets, plus other numerous accessories (see above), the Pilot Powers, and then I did the custom headlight modification (that was an adventure!!). So I spent all this time and money BEFORE I even got to ever ride the bike!!

Once spring came along, the bike was completed and it was time for me to take her for a ride. She was everything I remembered from my 06 R6, but more.

Now for the pics...

I started thinking about painting the bike white, because it was something I wanted to do with my 06 R6 AND the R1, but I never went through with it on either. Being a graphic designer, I used my computer graphic skills to Photoshop what I wanted the bike to look like, to make sure I would like it, before I spent the time and money on going through with it only to hope I would like it. Below was my photoshop comparison of what the bike currently looked like, and then what I "wanted" it to look like.



Here's a pic of the bike in my basement as a work in progress (as well as my friends 04 R1 and GSXR 750)...



Here are the pics of the bike today: (I've been waiting to get better pictures on the front and rear stand with a nice back drop, but have grown impatient and can't see it happening any time soon with my baby boy due in 5 weeks, a new yellow lab puppy that's 9 weeks old, signing a purchase & sales agreement to sell my house today and to try and buy and move into another before the baby comes, and working 2 jobs. Soooo... obviously I'm busy and can't wait any longer to get better pics, so hopefully these will still get the job done. I even held out posting ANY pics on this forum to keep it a surprise until I had better pics, and I also held out from adding even my new signature (which I just added now), because I didn't want to give anything away. Well here she is ... even though she's been done for quite a few months now!)






Thanks for looking!
Hope you like it!!

[blackbelt135]

I know we're only supposed to have 4 pics, but I just want to show a couple pics with the halo's and HID's, since none of the ones above show them with them on, and also because it was such a challenging modification ... it's worth showing off.

Unfortunately I don't have any great pics with the HID's OR the halo's ... but here's a couple of what I do have...

[Cylore]

sick man.... very clean....

[jperez]

That is one gorgeous bike man and great pics!!! You have great taste and your bike is tastefully modded! Any plans on putting any decals on or will it stay like this?

Also, just like you...I'm a graphic designer and photoshop my ideas prior to modding my bike. lol

[ASTEBBS]

damn dude.....i remember a long time ago when you started this project. VERY VERY clean.

Awesome bike

[mmx2000]

Looks awesome, love the HIDs.

I think I'd like the wheels better powdercoated white, but black looks good too.

[ASTEBBS]

damn dude.......lean that thing. Get those c strips off

[redisdeadrideblue]

Very clean man... but if I had to nitpick, I would have gone with black rearsets and maybe a dark smoke screen... And I would have installed a second flux capacitor....

[blackbelt135]

Thanks guys for the awesome feedback ... it's greatly appreciated!

mmx2000 - I've already photoshopped white wheels and gold wheels on the bike to see how it would look. I personally thought the white wheels looked a little "ricey", but the gold wheels looked SICK!! (see below)



However, I really don't have the money right now for those expensive wheels, and I don't think powdercoating the stock ones will pull it off, so I may just stick with the black stock wheels until I can afford some nice aftermarket gold ones, which I personally think really helps pull all the gold parts together nicely.

jperez - I've been contemplating putting decals on the bike, but I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. My close, respected friends suggest doing nothing, and not to take away from the cleanness and sharpness of the bike. However, I've thought about doing light gray or silver/chrome decals (something subtle, or to help play off the silver metallic flake in the paint). I also thought about doing something in gold, to help tie in the gold forks, steering damper and rearsets. If I do either gray, silver/chrome or gold, whatever I do will be very subtle on the main bottom fairing ... either something that says "YAMAHA", or maybe even some oversized tuning forks. I've done a few mockups in photoshop, but haven't found anything that I LOVE yet, so haven't gone through with it, obviously.

HOWEVER, my most recent design for some decals might have sparked my interest. Well, it has, and I've already looked into printing costs for if I were to go through with it, but this is something I've been working on for a little time now ... and you can even see the pattern that I added in the background of my sig I did...





Looks sick photoshopped, right? Well, my only concern is that if I were to really go through with this and do this...the only way to do it is to print the entire pattern on either black vinyl or clear vinyl, lay the whole printed vinyl over the fairing, trim the edges, then use a hair dryer to shrink and wrap the edges of the vinyl around the back side of the fairing so it's seemless. BUT ... if I were to print on black or clear vinyl, I'm afraid it's going to make the fairing look too glossy, and I like the flat black look. I'm not sure if I'll like it as much glossy...

Thoughts??

And thanks again!!

[blackbelt135]

Originally Posted by redisdeadrideblue

Very clean man... but if I had to nitpick, I would have gone with black rearsets and maybe a dark smoke screen... And I would have installed a second flux capacitor....

I would've blacked out the accessories, which was my original plan (see my photoshop job before I even started customizing the bike) ... BUT the bike already had gold forks and the gold scotts damper, so without changing the forks (which would be a pain), and the gold scotts damper only coming in gold (and I LOVE the scotts), that left me with trying to pull out the gold. I personally think the rearsets do a nice job setting that off, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I just want you to know why I took the route that I did.