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Lightening up 02 FZ1

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hillm250

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As you may know the gen 1 FZ1 is on the heavy side. I'm looking for ways to help lighten mine up. It already has a yosh pipe (I know the stock pipes are heavy), and i'm going to remove the center stand. Any other easy ways to help drop some weight on this bike?
 
It's not meant to be hurtful in any way... The simple fact is, you can spend thousands of dollars on lightweight wheels, brake rotors, carbon fiber body pieces, lightened aluminum parts, etc.. And you might have a net loss of 4-5 lbs....

Or.. You can cut back on the beer and cheetos and drop 10 from the weight sitting on it.
 
just off the top of my head I could think of a few places you might save some weight.
not sure about the FZ1, but my old bandit had 1lb cast weights bolted to the frame under the fairing, presumably to absorb vibrations. I removed them on that bike with no noticeable changes. The grab bars and passenger begs can be removed. a few ounces could be trimmed from your rear fender. aluminum bars may be lighter than steel, and smaller, lighter bar ends could be used. R6 foot pegs should be a little lighter than stock, at least you could remove the weights from under the stock pegs. gas is 6lbs a gallon. 1/2 tank will weigh 12ish lbs less than a full tank. Decorative frame covers could be removed. 520 chain and sprockets are lighter than stock. aluminum rear sprocket is even lighter. Pilot pure tires are the lightest on the market. radiator guards can be removed. Shorty levers might save another ounce. if HH pads are used with a steel brake line, one front brake rotor is adequate for street use. Smaller blinkers, shorter wind shield. smaller ,or bar end mirrors. The front fairing is quite heavy compared to a 7” round headlight and vapor gauge. Pod air filters would be lighter than an air box. Those lithium-ion batteries are supposed to be good for about 10lbs.
 
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Take a one day track course, that one thing will make losing weight (bike or self) mostly irrelevant. The whole idea is not just to lose weight but to ride faster, safely. Better training as a rider will do that.
 
va_rider said:
It's not meant to be hurtful in any way... The simple fact is, you can spend thousands of dollars on lightweight wheels, brake rotors, carbon fiber body pieces, lightened aluminum parts, etc.. And you might have a net loss of 4-5 lbs....

Or.. You can cut back on the beer and cheetos and drop 10 from the weight sitting on it.
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no offense taken, was actually drinking coffee when i read your response and think i lost some out my nose when i laughed!
 
This is too funny, when I lived out west the guys were weight obcessed with there mountain sleds. They would drop thousands to shave 5 or 8 lbs, what was even crazier was that they would then proceed to load a 6 or 8 beers into there back pack.....lol go figure.
I say this all the time whether it be sleds or bikes, we the average consumer does not ride either to even 80% of its potential so really 10 or 15 lbs makes not one bit of difference. Now if you are a trained rider who can use these machines to there full potential and find you are still needing more then yes drop the weight. But if your name is Josh Hayes keep the weight cause you are just soooo damn fast it really does not matter.
 
I remember reading a post from a guy who couldn't decide between levers for his bike because the ones he liked better were a couple ounces heavier. I think I told him to buy the ones he liked and just make sure he went #1 before he hit the road. Ten pounds will make a difference in day-to-day rideability, but shaving a pound here and a few ounces there is for million-dollar MotoGP budgets.
 
Take a one day track course said:
I agree, I was already planning on that

Hellgate said:
The best bag for the buck is a lithium battery. For the FZ1 you can use an 8 cell. You'll save about 7 to 8 lbs..
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Yes I was thinking about that. those are very popular with the DRZ crowd as well. i wasn't looking to spend crazy amounts of money to save an ounce like many people seem to do, but pipe + centerstand removal + lithium battery = 20lbs off. Not too shabby. If I took 20lbs off my body i'd be skin and bones :D
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I applaud your enthusiasm in wanting to drop weight from the bike. If there is anything screamingly obvious like the centrestand then go for it - but at the end of the day the whole reason these are a great package is that they are a solid thing with a bit of weight to tie them down to make them stable & nice to ride.

One of the many things that makes R1s etc a bit of a pain to ride is their extremely light weight.
 
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