1125CR Overhaul and Carbon Fiber Vinyl Wrap

[JeepinBueller]

I took the engine out of the frame over the winter and did some major overhaul maintenance items:

• 3M CF vinyl wrapped flyscreen, front fender, radiator covers, and rear fender
• New oil/filter
• Cleaned bottom oil screen
• Adjusted valves
• Recharged K&N air filter
• New brake and clutch fluid all around
• Barkers ECM tune loaded via Buelltooth and ECMDroid
• New coolant - distilled water + Red Line Water Wetter
• New brake pads front/rear
• Replaced broken instrument cluster
• New tires - Pirelli Angel GT
• New horn - Stebel Nautilus mini compact air horn (if I can figure out how to mount this thing)
• LED headlights

All in all, it was a learning experience removing the frame from the engine for the first time, adjusting the valves for the first time myself. Wasn't too bad—just followed the tech manual and took my time. I think the vinyl turned out really sharp for a fraction of the price of real CF bodywork ... I'll replace it with real stuff in the future, maybe.

See the full album of pictures here: http://imgur.com/a/tUNjd

 

[Cooter]

Slick. Nice job:up:

 

[Outlaw]

Very sharp bike. Nice job

 

[JeepinBueller]

Thanks guys.

I would say that the LED headlight upgrade was a great move. I was on the fence for a while, but seeing how far LED lighting has come in the past couple of years, it was worth a shot. The HID kit I had in before drew quite a few amps, especially with the high beam on. Waiting for the high beam bulb to ignite and warm up to maximum brightness sure wasn't fun, either—borderline unsafe. The LED bulbs barely make the Voltmeter on the IC move, even with both on and engine hot. On top of that, I have immediate high beam and these bulbs put out a good amount of light.

If you're going to go to LED and you have a CR you need to get the bulbs that use a ribbon heat sink off the back of the bulb so the ring adapter the Buell uses to secure one of the bulbs can fit around the bulb housing. I still had to modify the metal spring clip inside the bulb holder for it to work, but it works just fine (I had to snip it in one place, bend it around the bulb housing, then bend it back into a circular shape and place it into the bulb holder correctly.

There's also no spare real estate behind the CR headlight housing for the LED bulbs with the fans built into the backside of the bulb for cooling. I think the passive heat sinks will work just fine especially considering how much air moves around the front of the bike.

The Pirelli GTs are fantastic tires—really happy with the switch from the Michelin Pilot Road 4 I had on before, not that there was anything wrong with those at all. Just wanted to change it up and see what else was out there. I've been on the Michelin train for a while now ... I think I've tried all of the Power series and most of the Road series. I'm definitely a sport touring tire kind of guy: I want to get the miles out of them, and I'm not Ricky Bobby on the street. Still have fun, though.

I will probably never try to change a motorcycle tire by hand (tire irons) again, though. What a ****ing mess I was doing that, haha. So much so I didn't even use the tire balancer and wheel weights I bought ... I was just excited to finally get those tires on and get the bike back on the road! Haven't felt any vibrations up to about 110 mph, though.

Any recommendations on a economical but useful tire changing machine? Harbor Freight, maybe? I got my hydraulic motorcycle engine jack stand from there and I'm happy with it.

By running distilled water and Water Wetter in the cooling system, I've lowered my coolant temperature by at least 15°F at the hottest times. We had a heat wave in MD the past couple of days—really high humidity and highs in the mid to upper 90s—and she didn't break 195° one time on my evening (6pm) commute home, the hottest time I ride. Now, I haven't had to sit in heat-baked traffic for more than 10 mins yet, so that'll really be the test. So far, though, I think it's a necessary summer time item on the bike list. The 1125 just runs so hot ... I recall 220° on hot rides in the past! The new heat shielding I installed on the inside of the frame is hopefully helping a bit, too. I need to put some under the rider seat.

The EBC HH brake pads all around feel great on the street. No complaints—great feel, moderate initial bite whether hot or cold.

 

[BambamXB12r]

I need to look into the distilled water wetter because sitting in 117° Vegas heat on the 1125 sucks. Especially with all the stop and go because of massive amounts of construction. My bike got all the way up to 223° while sitting in traffic yesterday.

 

[JeepinBueller]

It's really worth it especially if you're in Vegas. I would say that for less than $75, performing these tasks made a difference in cooling:

• distilled water + Red Line Water Wetter
• replacing the frame insulation (whenever you rotate the engine next)
• buying a Buelltooth and loading a richer tune (I have a modded stock exhaust and loaded the Barkers exhaust map on mine), plus more POWA!
• take both pods off (might as well since you have to take the right one off to replace the coolant anyways) and clean out the fins real good, compressed air helps especially the far rear where things get caught

When October/November rolls around I'll replace it with standard coolant since it gets real cold here.

 

[HMP]

• Replaced broken instrument cluster

What was wrong with your original cluster?
I might be interested in buying

 

[JeepinBueller]

The clear plastic lens on the face has a crack in the lower right corner (that doesn't affect visibility and doesn't seem to let water in, but it bothered me) and the tach needle disengaged and doesn't move—it just sits there at 0.

Just sitting on my desk if you want it. $20.

 

[Howfast]

Nice bike man I miss my cr. It was red with black scoops like yours... couldn't get the rotor modified by Buell at the time as they were outta business so bye bye 1125. I would've loved to keep it if I coulda solved the issues... so much smoother/better motor than my SV1000. people look at you like you're riding an alien spaceship ha