2003 Yamaha R6

I use to own a Yamaha R6. I loved that bike. I still miss it. Here is my bike and the little bit of work I did to it.



Early mods were to remove the reflectors and cut down the huge mud flap in the back. Well my friend cut it, I wasn't ready to put a saw to my brand new bike.

Next I bought a tank pad to protect the paint from the zipper on my jacket. Then I rode. My son was young then so I couldn't see the point in spending $700 on a new pipe and so on.

I put on about 10000 kms when my rear tire was more then ready for a replacement. Because there was still some life in the front I was going to replace the rear with the OEM Dunlop and then replace the set when they go the next time. I was quoted $350 for the rear tire. I was expecting it to be much lower then that. Then I was told about a sale they had for a set of Michelin Pilots for around $300. I was sold. That was one of the tires I wanted to upgrade to.

Brand new shoes!!



To save money I removed the wheels and took them to the shop to have the tires installed. New tires get me excited. This tires had a different profile then the OEM tire so it rode different. Steering the bike was different, once I got use to them I was in love. Those tires performed really well for me in all types of weather.

Here is the bike waiting for the new rubber.



The new installed rubber.





James

 

Then I want to make a change. I decide that I'm going to strip the rims and polish them. FYI, winter time is a better time to come up with crazy ideas like this.

I need to see if I took any pictures of the the rim just before the stripper and while stripping. I used furniture stripper to remove most of the paint. It wasn't easy and was messy.

This is the rim stripped an cleaned up. I don't think I did any polishing on it at this point even though it looks like it around the rim. Spokes are rough and a few have raised letters on them. This all had to be removed to polish them.



I used a rotary tool and a mouse sander to remove the letters and to smooth the metal. Then I use various grits of sand paper and a ton of elbow grease to get the finish as fine as possible.



Doing around the disk brake mounting posts and the holes was murder on my fingers.

Here is the bike waiting for me to return its wheel.



Here are some dirty pictures of my rim. I had many people tell me it looked great and I should do my rear. I was putting off the rear because I still had about 8 hours to go to get my front rim to my standard.









James

 

Thanks. I miss it. What would you buy?

James

 

Nice. I rode a R1 one night. My brother in law had it for the night. It had a lot of torque. Nice bike.

James

 

I wish I could have my R6 back. I wouldn't mind an R1 as well. That is a tough decision. Right now I would go the Yamaha Warrior route but still love the R1 and R6.

James

 

The freedom, feeling and for some the danger is all part of the enjoyment.

The feeling when riding is something that can't be matched by a car imo.

James

--- Double Post Merged, Oct 31, 2013 ---

Thanks how did you like the R125?

James

 

It's amazing. I love it.

James

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 1, 2013 ---

Insurance can be expensive at times.

James