FZ1inNH 2013 Cobalt Blue Build

[FZ1inTX]

Thus far, it's a solid GO for picking up the new bike this weekend. I'm starting a build thread in the Gen II Mods area to show and keep track of what is being done to my new ride. When I pick it up Saturday, I am bringing the Top Saddlery seats, knock-off adjustable levers, cramp buster and just in today's mail, new T-Rex Racing frame sliders. Also, some pics of the new design of sliders from T-Rex in my hands today. I really like these over the old simplistic barrels they used to be!

 

[Dustin]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeehaw! I will watch this thread!

 

[ballmead]

Sweet, let the modding begin...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[FZ1inTX]

Bank check is in-hand, insurance is effective at 12:01am tonight, bags packed, gear, tools and immediate mods packed, hotel room rented and we're on the road at 5pm tonight! Dealer has the bike ready and waiting to ride off when we get there tomorrow morning! Damn I'm excited! :Rockon:

 

[FZ1riderNY]

Bank check is in-hand, insurance is effective at 12:01am tonight, bags packed, gear, tools and immediate mods packed, hotel room rented and we're on the road at 5pm tonight! Dealer has the bike ready and waiting to ride off when we get there tomorrow morning! Damn I'm excited! :Rockon:

WooHoo!!! Nothing like a road trip with a pot-o-gold at the end of it! Have fun and be safe.

 

[returnrider]

I am a little jealous! Always fun to get a new ride! Happy it all worked out in the end and pics a must! Let's see the new bad boy ASAP!

 

[cos_fz1]

That's awesome, enjoy your new bike :thewave:

 

[FZ1inTX]

Here's the new one. Me before I signed the paperwork, then three shots outside of the Vermont Teddy Bear Factory, two with my new bear and one with MrsFZ1inNH and my bear.

Mods attached at dealer were the new sliders, adjustable levers (more on that later), cramp buster and the Top Saddlery seats. 211 miles on the ODO for the ride home, all back roads with varied gears, speeds and RPMs. Time for an oil change and a HUGE mod-fest! Three FZ1's to tear apart and work on!

Michele was my navigator riding ahead of me with the car and GPS. She did a great job getting us home and varying the speeds. She also bought me new waterproof FirstGear riding boots. I'll get some pics of those tomorrow. She got new boots too but those had to be ordered and will be shipped to us.

Great day, great ride, great bike and an AWESOME wife!

 

[FZ1riderNY]

Congrats Eric! The bike looks awesome. Glad you had a safe trip.

 

[ballmead]

Well done Eric. So how does it compare to your modded FZ1?

 

[FZ1inTX]

Well done Eric. So how does it compare to your modded FZ1?

In a word.... Lacking!

And I'm being dead serious. Without the mods and Ivan's flash, the performance is just not there and being in a break-in period, I can get it "there" in RPMs yet. Before Ivan, I never noticed the fuel-cut that much, but after riding without one and then popping on a new one, it's bad. The mid-range is lacking without the complete exhaust to scavenge what it can, it just feels lacking, that's all I can say. It's still a smooth running bike and was without issue for the trip home but I'm used to so much more potential. Ivan took out the fuel-cut and made the bike run much smoother, shifting differences are noticeable as well as how hot the OEM bike runs compared to Ivan's early-on fan control. I'm going to begin the transformation today!

 

[FZ1inTX]

Levers

Some of you may recall the issue I had with my asian knock-off levers where I had to grind off where it contacts the switch for the brake light. That worked great for the 2009. I put these on the new bike at the dealer for a more comfortable ride home. Somewhere up in VT, a guy pulls up beside me and yells that my brake light is stuck on and only goes off once in a while. I thanked him and flagged my wife to pull over. Investigating turns out that on the 2013, the amount I ground off will not contact the switch quite enough to shut off the brake light, so a couple minutes later, the stock lever is back on the bike and we're off and running. First thing I did when I got home was order new FP levers. We bought these for Michele's bike and they are awesome. I got Navy Blue levers with a brighter blue adjuster. Motomummy to the rescue!

 

[Hellgate]

Is that Penske on there yet???

Yes mods make a huge difference for the better on the FZ. As I'm sure many of us on the forum lament, "Why doesn't Yamaha do it right to begin with?" Or we can all learn to ride it better like Ken Hill and Nick Ienatsch.

 

[Lonney]

Congrads Eric !!! The bike looks great and i love how yammi blacked out the tail section and peg holders looks perfect with the blue. What a difference in ride thats gonna be. Good luck

 

[FZ1inTX]

Is that Penske on there yet???

Yes mods make a huge difference for the better on the FZ. As I'm sure many of us on the forum lament, "Why doesn't Yamaha do it right to begin with?" Or we can all learn to ride it better like Ken Hill and Nick Ienatsch.

Getting there. The 2009 is in the Busted Knuckle and is almost fully demodded. 2 hrs and I have only the brake lines and tires to remove. I'll have some pics up later. But yes, the Penske was carefully removed and will be one of the first additions to the new bike! Lovin' this! LOTS of wrenching!

 

[FZ1riderNY]

Getting there. The 2009 is in the Busted Knuckle and is almost fully demodded. 2 hrs and I have only the brake lines and tires to remove. I'll have some pics up later. But yes, the Penske was carefully removed and will be one of the first additions to the new bike! Lovin' this! LOTS of wrenching!

Man! Would have been fun to be there wrenching at the B.K.G. again!

 

[FZ1inTX]

Man! Would have been fun to be there wrenching at the B.K.G. again!

And oh boy, I could have used your help! What a day!!! I just came in and have been out there for 12 hours working on three bikes. I'm nowhere near done but got a lot of the important bits on.

The 2009 is totally demodded and in various stages of going back to stock. AIS is reinstalled, OEM airbox, stacks and filter, . Michele's bike is done for now. I removed her AIS and install block-off plates, gave her the 2013 rear shock, cleaned and installed her K&N air filter.

The 2013 got the AIS completely removed, my LARS airbox, Graves stacks and K&N filter, Rad Armor radiator guard, Arrow headers, Two Bros Can, Penske shock, PCV with O2 delete, Battery Tender lead with 24" extension run to the dash and the Ivanized ECU.

I've still got quite a bit to go... no more time today..... tired and need a shower. G'Nite all!

Here's the FZ1 family before I started today. The '09 is well on the way back to stock already here. The other two are my scavenged booty from the 2009.

 

[FZ1riderNY]

Wow! That was a massive undertaking for a mere mortal! LOL! Nice job Eric. I like the way everything is laid out for the photo. It gives a better perspective on how much the bike is modded that way. Lots o' goodies!!!

 

[FZ1inTX]

Thanks Billy!

I'd forgotten about the fuel line mod until almost last minute. I swapped the 2013 fuel line for my modded one before putting the new one back together.

FYI... the 2013 has the fairing vent buzz! Yamaha did not fix that yet... I'll need to sort that out with one of the methods we've used in the past.

I still have to do the brake lines, CD screen (I want to modify this a bit because it chaffed the 2009 fairing in a few spots), GPR, horns, tires and Evotech FE kit. I did put the blue CD Strike cowl on and will snap some pics if I can tonight. Like someone said in the other thread, it might look OK carrying the blue over black theme. I'll put up with it for now as it may grow on me. I'm indifferent about it but it was dark, late and I was grumpy and tired. Raining today so I did not even get to enjoy my spoils and ride it on.

Michele wants to keep the 2009 bronze wheels so instead of swapping wheels AND tires, I now need to spoon off all three sets to swap them around. UGH! Can I? Yes. Do I like to? NO!

CD blinkers are not an option. While they are awesome to look at and function perfectly, I think they are not nearly durable enough for the cost. Two are damaged anyway and I'd have to replace them, plus the rear is no longer blue.

Still going to be a busy week with the bikes. I had WAY too much to do to get these three to this point so there's not a lot of pics. Most of what I've done was already written up in the 2009 build with a ton of pics so it would be redundant to post all new ones. I'll get some pics of the new bike though as it sits and with the changes still to come.

 

[FZ1inTX]

As she sits today... I need opinions on the CD Strike cowl. Blue over black as it sits or try and match the tail and paint it black? Thoughts? The darker photo is from last night in the garage. Levers are supposed to be here tomorrow.