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I'm back... my 6th R1... an old school joy :)

2K views 19 replies 11 participants last post by  Weeksy 
#1 ·
Well... OK, just 1 more... just one last R1 hey.
I was looking over R1's, mostly 5VY's for Mrs Weeksy recently for her track bike and my garage beauty. But to be honest, despite the fact I love the looks, I never really got on with the last one as well as the earlier models. Add to this the fact that the older ones are more 'me' and the 5VY's are £4000, the decision was made to purchase an older model.
After an extensive search and a few decisions, chats and ideas... I've bought this....
The kind and ace Mr OCD is going in tomorrow to give it a once over and pay the remainder of the cash.
It needs a valet, but as you know, that's my thing anyway, so I'm not worried about that.
Have to say, it's properly exciting to again be having the old school R1... I really shouldn't have flogged the last one I bought from Couchie.
Due to the crashing at Wales yesterday I won't be picking it up for a while, but i'll be really interested to hear what OCD thinks of it when he collects and test rides it :)



 
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#6 ·
Hmmmm. I need some clarification from OCD who's it seems away from internet connection as he's not replying lol.

Got a load of pics from him and it looks exactly as I expected, a tatty in need of some TLC R1.

The one bit I don't like is here...



Which appears to show some frame repair/welding around the mount point ?

If you look at the other side, it looks far cleaner and neater



the rest of the pics show what I expected really











 
#7 ·
Really nice bike there. What are you looking to upgrade?
 
#8 ·
WEll, it all went a bit pear shaped... then sorted itself out :)

basically he called me back (which I like as many dealers don't) and started going through it in full detail.

He then noticed a crack in frame around the shock area (pics to follow later when he sends), he basically said "we can't sell a bike like that, here's your deposit back, sorry"

Very nice, very good guy... it could easily have been missed and the bike sold on... but he's good to his word and the game is now over.

It appears we were all a little premature with this one.


(20 mins later )

Thanks to our favourite auction site I've just jumped on this. Collect it on Saturday.

Full history, all good etc. (Well, hopefully).





 
#10 ·
So yesterday evening came some insanity...

There was another R1 that I was watching on Ebay, much closer driving distance, MUCH lower miles at 14,000 miles on the clocks. All the MOT's, history etc checked out well, but the bike had been on since Tues and not had any pictures on there at all. But last night they appeared and what came up was apparently a very nice silver one the same as the one I was buying. However, as stated, much less miles. Now you may think that the difference between a 14,000 mile bike and a 26,000 mile bike is insignificant, but you know what... to me, it's quite important.

So I rang the bloke, struck a deal and then bailed on the other bike we've been discussing all well.

Apart from the service history, there is a standard tail unit, with standard lights, indicators and number plate hanger, standard mirrors on there too, standard front indicators etc. All of these things moved it up and past the other silver one. It has a set of 100 mile old Supercorsa rubber front and rear, which saved me £200 as the other bike had squared of rubbish on it.

We arrived to view the bike and were met by a bloke who seems to be a restoration expert with an RD200 and a GT750 both full bolt restoration and both truly astounding condition. He's an ex-Suzuki mechanic and has I guess 8-10 bikes between his garage and workshop. Nice fella.. brief chat and the bike was loaded and on it's way back on the trailer thanks to Giantpygmy.

Got it home, gave it a check over, wipe over and it's as good as I hoped. The bloke told me about some fairing scuffs from a garage wall interface in his workshop which were admittedly worse than I hoped, but hey, if it had 1 scuff on there or 10, the panel is being replaced anyway... so it has some on the mid black panel, a couple on the lower and a couple on the side of the headlight fairing... None of which have any effect on things other than the minor irritation to myself. But they will be replaced over time as and when I find them on ebay

It comes with an aftermarket exhaust which is some unknown mate similar shape to a Yoshimura Tri-Oval, but it does come with a baffle as it's a little loud as it is. However I do have a completely standard and unmarked exhaust sitting in GiantPygmys place, which I think is off a 4XV model, but I think it may fit.... Will check that in time.

At the end of the day it's a 13-14 year old bike, you can't expect it to be perfect... but you know what.. it's not a million miles away

So, here's the piccys...











 
#12 ·
Nothing terribly exciting today I'm afraid, although that depends on whether you class some cleaning as exciting at the best of times. I've now done everything possible within the realms of managing with a broken arm and bolloxed shoulder. Also thrown in a few shots of the damaged parts.

p.s. What's this about flogging in 2 months... I'll take £20 bets off anyone here it lasts a year minimum :)















 
#13 ·
Nice find, my 02 was one of the best bikes I've ever owned. I'd like to get another one that's how much I loved that bike. What year is that, not that it matters, 02 or 03? Looks like it's in great shape. For the few small scratches Yamaha sells a paint pen that matches every years color. I think it's called color-rite, I have a few for the different year R1's that I've owned. They match the stock paint very nicely. Good luck with the new machine!!!!!!
 
#17 ·
OK, so here's the boring parts now. The exciting bit of the will he won't he, is it right, is it wrong are all done and we're now down to what we like, cleaning and making right.

As you've seen the panels are away being painted by Mr Magoo, which is fine as long as he does a decent job, it also means that with a panel being picked up today by Legion748 and a brand new panel coming from Holland the bike will still be 100% 2002 Yamaha. Which is where I wanted to be with the build anyway. My whole intention was to make a genuine bike and as nice as possible. Whether it was a 1999-2000, a 2000-2001 or this 2002-2003 model wasn't the major priority, the major priority was having a lovely and genuine bike.

does the 2002-3 come in the category of a classic... Well, that of course is open to debate and interpretation, but it's hard to argue that as sportsbikes go, it's a lovely thing... So in my eyes at least, it's right up there in the classic status. We'll see over time what the rest of the biking society make of it.

Today and last night were getting a few things removed, getting the hugger polished, cleaned on the underside, then the swingarm cleaned where the hugger was, getting the undertray polished up (minor fail there as the broken arm won't let me get the wheel out so can't do it fully until then. Removing the plate hanger, getting the seat unit and tank polished up with a first going over.

Overall, I'm absolutely impressed with the level of detail, someone has spent either some time or some effort keeping this standard, all the hugger bolts are correct, the number plate hanger bolts are correct etc etc. I did find one on the fairing that was wrong, but I've ordered a new one of them anyway.









 
#19 ·
Well the paintwork came back after 10 days and he's done a great job on it.

The top fairing is 10/10 the lower panel is 9/10. Reason is because of a slight laquer line due to not being able to blend it in lower because of the decals. We could have sanded it back below the decals, painted the whole panel and re-decaled it, but the cost was prohibitive for that really.

So it's a minor compromise, but in honesty, not much of one. It's a 14 year old bike and i think i'd struggle to find a better/cleaner/nicer one than mine is now.

Whipped off the footpegs etc to get some more cleaning done, still need the rear wheel out when my arm is up to it fully, will get that done next weekend. Also need 1 bolt buying from Yamaha but that's it.









 
#20 ·
Just so you know, i'm not just all about the cleaning.. i'm about the functionality too.

Thought i'd take a look and check the front pads... whilst there's a lot of meat on the pads, shit there's a lot of other 'stuff' too. The pads and calipers are just covered in a thick impossible to remove grime. I've given all the components a decent clean, but i need to wait for a set of caliper piston pliers as a can only reach 75% of the piston on a couple of them, so they're mostly cleaned up now, but just need a finishing touch before first being used on track.

I'll likely replace the pads and fit a set Brembo SA pads
Which at £51 a set isn't ridiculously cheap, but then again, isn't insanely expensive either considering the Ducati ones were more than £160 for a set of fronts.

I'll be happy using on the road for a test for now, but for full track use i will get the Brembos on there.

I've also added an oil filter and oil to the Ebay watch list for payday, so it will get nice new oil in there.
 
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