[AtheK]

“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.” – Earl Nightingale

Sometime in late 2002, I was preparing for my second last semester exams of engineering, when I was woken up by friend, with few photos of CBR 954RR. I don’t know, how and where he got them from, but he woke me up saying, you better wake up and study, if you ever want to own something like this, or all we will do is ride our dad’s scooters.

I looked at the bike, it just looked smashing, saw the photos a couple of times, there were no specifications, just a couple of cutouts and then I told him, you better study hard to get this mate, I am going back to sleep, at least let me dream of this.

No way would I have imagined that one day, I would get to ride one of these let alone the thought of owning one of these beauties. So, when an option to buy one actually came on table, I was very interested, but at the same time, had lot of thoughts that did it make sense to buy a 19-year-old bike now. The bike belonged to a fellow Bhpian and a very good friend, he himself did not want to sell it, but he was relocating to US and had to let it go. The bike got posted on OLX and got some low ball offers, which is a trend with OLX, so nothing alarming there.

The bike so happened was parked with me for almost 6 months during covid phase 2, when he was home and I was the caretaker, as such I had got lot of options to ride the bike and feel how it behaved. The bike was parked for some time before it was with me, and hence had a flat patch on front tyre, which made handling a bit bad. Other than that bike needed a lot of TLC, but it worked well without any issues for some 250-300 odd Km’s that I rode it during that time.

Now he was not able to close the deal before flying to US, and bike came back to me, to be taken care of while we found a buyer. He did not want to give it off to anyone just like that and wanted to make sure that the bike is taken care of. Every time I crossed the bike for next few weeks, I will look at it and the thought will cross my mind, should I bite the bullet. My main concern about the bike was that it had UP registration, rest seemed to be all good except the TLC needed (So I thought). So we agreed to a price and I initiated the transfer to my name, and so something that was a dream 19 years back actually turned reality.

Presenting to you Mark 13 – The Blade!

[AtheK]

With the Interceptor and Panigale for company, I was not actually looking to add another bike to my stable. That said there was this itch to get an Inline 4 cylinder bike, but the one that in current state I wanted was S1000RR, but in my current state I was also very well aware that it is a dream financially (I shall keep dreaming, One day for sure). The one's from Kawasaki stable don't excite me too much and I already have a heater from Ducati and V4 was not something that I was considering. CBR 650R though a great looking bike, did not have me excited, though a competent product in itself.

It was during this thought process that my friend told me that he will be moving abroad and is putting both his Daytona and Blade on sale. Since I was caretaking both the bikes I had a fair idea on how both performed, and honestly between the Blade and Daytona, I was initially more interested towards Daytona and secretly interested in buying both. I told him I will pick the daytona for sure, and let me think a bit about the Blade a little bit more. In the mean time in certain change of fortunes, the pervious owner of daytona asked if he can be sold the bike back, my friend told me it was my decision, and seeing the emotional angle involved I agreed.

Below are couple of pics of all four together, when they were with me.





With the daytona out of picture and blade left, it made choice narrower, though decision not that much simpler. I had the bike I knew it ran fine, but it had it's issues, which I thought were not too much, but would need time to fix. That said one good thing was that travel was opening, and with my friend being in US, it becomes easier to source any parts if needed, and probably easier to get back to India in a shorter span of time.

In addition to that there was this itch to get that inline 4, then the college angle as described above and also the fact that it has been sometime I had actually got into a project of restoring a bike. I went ahead with the plan, with the thought of quick in and quick out approach, and complete the bike restoration in a month and ride away to glory.

What fate though have in mind is something totally different, and what happened next kept us invested in this bike for very long, how the story unfolded, well read on!

Trivia

For the uninitiated the 954 is the last bike that was designed by Tadao Baba the founder of FireBlade, as a mark of respect to the man, honda retired the Capital B in blade, and all the bikes from there on use Fireblade instead of FireBlade. History of FireBlade is a long drawn one, but the fact that this bike still holds it's own when standing to modern machines is no mean achievement. 954 was also the last bike to come with Hinged pillion seat, which surprisingly gives you a lot of space to store tid bits.

With that out of the way, this bike is just crazy fast, I will not get into a review, but this bike masks it's speed amazingly well, and can take a new rider by surprise when the torque suddenly kicks in and you are not ready for it, so need to be careful who you let sit on this bike. The bike in itself is without any of gadgets or sensors, and does not even have ABS. Without the ABS also the braking on this bike is pheonmenal. I think only handful of them were imported in India, and this particular one made to our shores from Kuwait in 2007. It has then had a home in mumbai before landing with my friend.

Overall it is a very easy machine to ride if you have control on your wrists, it masks it's weight well and is easy to take in and out of parking. The suspension is a bit stiff but that is fine as it holds it's own in straight lines. I sometime think if I should make this as a track bike. Unlike the smoking hot red bike in my garage this one stays way cooler and I have hardly seen it hit temperatures above 110, while cruising it maintains a decent temperature of 75 degrees. The subframe though can get hot in traffic conditions, but nothing that is not manageable.

Speedometer is run of the mill and shows Speed, Distance travelled and clock, the fuel low indicator was not working on my speedometer when I got the bike. The pillion seat is actually useable and if you are brave enough you can have some one sit back for short distances.

The only gripe I have withe the bike is the missing ABS, this coupled with the speeds it can attain, needs more attention while riding and keeps you on your toes. Also before neil asks me again, it can give you a mileage of anything between 4 Kmpl to 22 Kmpl depending on how you ride, I have constantly seen mine hovering around 15-19 Kmpl.

The bike is a literal head turner both due to it's history and the yellow color. I have seen people right away ignoring the ducati and asking me more about the 954, it just holds it's own with the current urban counterparts. It can pretty much keep up with them as well, as when you gun it when you see an open stretch, it will leave pretty much all of them behind hitting speeds of 2XX easily.

On my instagram ID which is same as my forum ID (Shamelessly promoting own Insta ID), I have been posting pics of this bike from sometime and I get a lot of messages from unknown people if I am interested to sell the bike and the history of the bike, generally nice conversations.

[AtheK]

The Restoration - 17th May 2022!

The Initial Plan was since everything is running fine, let's not touch anything mechanical, and focus on getting the parts that look old and dated repainted. The tires as already told were old and needed replacement, so decided to take care of them as well. By the looks of it the following needed immediate attention.

1. Alloy wheels.
2. Engine Covers.
3. Subframe
4. Handle
5. Tyres (Need to be changed)
6. One set of full servicing, replacing the fluids mainly. Since we will have to open the engine case for repainting, oil anyway needed to be changed.
6. Use WD 40 to clean up some rusted parts and paint what is possible.

The first thing to do was a visual check up and just check on how everything looked on close inspection. So with the above in mind, and trusted mechanic by our side, we started dismantling what was needed, the first lovely surprise was the airfilter, it looked like this!



Called my friend, and we were lucky that he had a spare airfilter at his home, and his wife was still in India. Luck was at our side and the airfilter was with us in next few hours and Installed on bike. He luckily also had few spare parts, like the rear seat cowl, oil filter and rear brake pads. Good Start yeh!!



Next part was to get the bike parts painted, so started dismantling the bike

This is how the engine cases looked, notice the condition of the subframe.





Oil being drained.



Some cleaning in progress.



Removing the tyres



Time for bike to rest while we get the rest of the parts taken care of.



With the first lot of necessary parts dismantled, it was time to call the trusty painter to do his magic on these parts.

Some before and after images.

Alloys Before the painting.



Alloys after painting.









Engine case and fuel cap



After Repainting.







With the above parts back, we installed them back on the bike and it was time for the bike to travel back to painter for completing the painting on Subframe, reservoir and handle.

But before all that we needed tyres for the bike, now my Panigale tyres had atleast 3000 Kms of life left, and I had in stock new Vredestein NS tyres. So we swapped panigale tyres with the one on Blade and Installed the NS on Panigale, which was detailed in my Panigale thread.

The 200 profile tyre went on the CBR, and Panigale got a 190 Profile trye in return. I will soon change these tyres also to NS.



Now with all installed, the bike was ridden back to dear trusted painter to work on subframes and some touch ups.

On the way!



Masking and sanding done and ready to be painted.









Final result!





Handle bar



Out in Sunlight





With this we Installed the fairings back, and bike was sent for detailing to my friend, we did not click many pics while detailing, but couple of them that I have captured are below.





With this my restoration project for the bike was complete, I was clear that I did not want to change anything mechanically upfront, but biking my friends is a rabbit hole, which does not have an end. Read on!

[AtheK]

With this set, it was now time to go for the first ride, it went fine till the point when I was returning, this was the time when the bike jerked and stopped. It was funny as the bike had been running absolutely fine till then and it suddenly jerking to stop was a bit surprising.

Checked the fuel and it seemed to be really really low, now this bike speedometer does not have a fuel gauge, and the low fuel light indicator had also not come up, so I was surprised. Anyway requested my fellow rider to get some fuel for me, we added around a litre worth of fuel, and the bike started in one shot, phew some peace. Since I was very close to house went and parked the bike and decided to explore this a little more later in the night. When I came back later in the night the bike was leaking oil, now I know we had not used a gasket, but instead the paste to seal, but the amount of drip was a little alarming.

Took the bike next day to the mechanic, he checked the fuel pump and saw that instead of filter previously the filter used was Scrotch brite and pump seemed to be failing or not getting enough power.

This is how the pump looked.



My heart sank, mechanic told me that it could also be because we are using Exide Battery and maybe it is not giving enough juice. So we decided that would be a good idea to change the battery, CBR uses Yuaza YTZ 10S as stock battery, so we decided to get Tata Green Battery which is same battery but made by Tata. Since this was an easy fix, we decided to check with this and see if the issue gets resolved.

The new Battery!



With the battery installed, might be a placebo effect but the bike seemed to be cranking better and we took it for a longish run, bike worked flawlessly for sometime and then it stopped again. This was not something that I was expecting, called my mechanic he said probably fuel pump issue and we will need new one. Waiting for 15-20 minutes I started the bike and it started again, we thought maybe fuel pump is overheating and that is the reason for this.

From here on I entered the rabbit hole, the way I did not intend to go, since fuel pump was a must and also oil leaking, I decided to get a new Fuel pump and Gasket set. I had also felt the clutch slip few times during riding, and thought would be a good idea to change the clutch also. Now since we are going to anyway open the bike, let's change fork seals and dust caps also, and since we are heading that way, let's change halogens to LED lights also, and well lets make the indicators also LED, so let's order LED indicators also.

So from a decision of not making any mechanical change, the below was ordered, some from US, some from India and thus began my journey to make the the Japnese bike a truly global bike. Luckily few friends were coming so they got me this stuff.

So Round One

1. All Balls Racing Fuel Pump
2. Gaskets
3. Barnett racing Clutch
4. LED Healights
5. All Balls Racing Fork Seals and Dust Cap
6. LED indicators for Rear
7. Led Sit Flush Indicators for Front.
8. Halogen Philips Diamond Vision Light for the High beam.
9. Tank Grips

Here are the pics for your viewing pleasure

The first 3



LED headlights



LED Indicators



LED sit flush you will see installed on bike

Diamond Vision Headlight for High beam.



Tank Grips



Fork Seals and Dust caps



The first lot of above 9 were installed and we were happy that the bike is now going to be working as expected. There were no oil leaks, the oil was topped up, it guzzled up almost 600 ml, so lot of oil was lost. The bike was starting nicely and was ready for a long run.

Some Pics once the bike returned

With the LED installed



This is how it looked with the old indicators and all halogen bulbs








The bike was ready, but we have hit a snag, the indicators don't blink anymore, and this bike relay is in the speedometer, so it is not an easy fix. Mind starts looking for a fix, but before that we needed to test that is everything working fine now.

The mind has already wandered the rabbit hole, what happens next is anyone guess, read on for next set of updates!!

[AtheK]

The Accessories!!

While the bike was at gargage, there were few things that were catching my attention regularly, and since now I had decided to buy more stuff for bike, I decided that let's go all in. My brother stays in switzerland, and it is easy for me to ship stuff to him and then he can carry it back for me. So I decided to order those parts from Ali express which I thought I will need, and I put a word to him to send the ones marked most important by me as soon as possible in case any of his colleagues was travelling.

So the most important things that I thought I wanted upgraded Immediately was the Headlight dome, the old one with it's life cycle had cracks in it. So I started scouting Aliexpress and ended up ordering the below parts.

10. Headlight Dome
11. Chain Cover
12. Inside Chain Cover
13. Mirror Block Off caps
14. Rear Hugger
15. Clear Windshield
16. Front and Rear brake Clutch Covers with HRC branding
17. 3D tank Pad decal with repsol branding
18. Carbon Fiber Looks Frame Sliders
19. Left and Right Inner Cowl
20. Rearview Winglet Mirrors

Now few of them came early to me, but rest came this month when he came to india, for continuity I will post pics of all of them together in a single shot. These all came from China, so now the bike has parts procured from China, India & USA.



































These since then have been Installed on the bike over the course of when and how I received them.

Also in the mean time I had got in touch with a friend in Japan, and he told me he is travelling to India, and if I needed anything, it is like asking some one thirsty if they needed water.

I ordered the following parts from Japan.

21. New Set of Rotors, this is for safe keeping and to be installed later when needed.
22. Brake pad sets for front and rear, again for safe keeping if needed later.
23. Gear Shift Indicator
24. Smoked tail light with integrated indicators.
25. Front axle sliders.













Remember how I told you that the blinkers had stopped working, so I checked on youtube and found that we can install resistors that will help solve this issue, and so it happens a friend was travelling from US, so I asked him to carry the resistors and couple of extra things.

26. Resistors
27. BMC airfilter (To finish the headache of having to buy an Airfilter again)
28. EBC brake pads
29. Resonator delete.

Here all of them in a single photo!



The stock exhaust was something that I really did not like, it made the bike too muted, so a toss up was done between Dominator and Yoshimura exhahust and Dominator exhaust ordered from Poland. So now we have parts on the bike from Poland, Switzerland, China, USA, India, bike is truly global, and we still have a couple of more countries to be added shortly.

30. The Dominator Exhaust



The red light was on with the previous exhaust that my friend had installed which was a MGP Growler, so I ordered Servo buddy to remove it and along with it a set of new Vortex Gold Chain and Sprocket.

31. Servo Buddy
32. Vortex Gold Chain & Sprocket.







There are some more, that we will talk about later as I have run out of image limit for this post, I told you it is a rabbit hole and best avoided!!

Let's circle back and get back to what happened in the next ride, shall we!!

[AtheK]

So with the phase A of parts installed and a new fuel pump to boot we took off for a long ride, plan was to do around 300 kms and come back. This would have made sure that the bike is running fine and the new clutch can also settle in. The bike started just fine and we did a nice 50-60 kms when I switched on the lights and after 10 kms or so, the bike jerked, sputtered and stopped. Damn it!!!

This was not what we were expecting, my friends caught up and we tried to push start it, it started but after 5 kms stopped again, and my odometer also died. When we tried to push start it again, it refused to start and also stopped taking any sort of self start. It was clear that this is not a mechanical issue but an electrical one. I was thinking if it is the new battery which is not holding charge and probably gave up as soon i switched on the lights, as other then that much was not changed.

I had a friend of mine on his street 675, luckily it uses the same stock battery as Blade, so we decided to swap batteries and see what happens, Voila the bike came back to life in the first crank itself. We installed the dead battery on his bike and push started it, and it started as well. We started riding again and I was thinking is it the battery, the alternator or the rectifier, or some wire has gone bad and something is shorting somewhere. After around 50 kms we stopped to see if the battery on Street has charged, and yes it had, so that meant battery is fine, and we decided to start back home before the battery on blade died again. The whole thought process of buying a japanese bike which are bullet proof when it comes to relaibility was a big question mark in front of me right now.

We reached home swapped batteries and Blade came back to life with it's original battery, atleast I was sure now that this is what needs to be fixed. I was doubting the stator or rectifier, but changing stator would have meant another circus of getting the stator and also a new gasket to stop engine oil from leaking. The rectifier and the wire around it was also getting very hot, and when we were checking the battery power using voltmeter we were hardly able to go over 12.8V. Spoke to yassar from motospark and he advised that since you are too far, you just take out the rectifier and send to me, I will test it and let you know. Sounded fair, and that is when we started to dismantle the rectfier.

This is when we noticed this!!



The wire running from rectifier and stator had a pinch, was shorting and burning out. The moment the load was increasing it probably used to get overloaded and stop the bike. Finally the biggest issue we thought was identified. Our mechanic changed the wire between stator to rectifier and the bike has been running fine since then. I have done close to 600 kms after that and battery has not been charged manually, I would still like to run it for some more time before declaring the issue to be resolved.

This though had another impact, the speedometer conked off, now I only see backlight and no display. Just that when I thought we had fixed everything we were hit with another issue.

The bike back after the rectifier fix and majority of the accessories installed.



So I started hunting for a speedometer, new speedometer are very tough to find, and majority are used one with exobriant pricing. I finally zeroed on one that was available in netherlands, it was then shipped to germany to a friend, who carried it to mumbai and then it reached bangalore. So we can add few more countries to the ever growing list of the global Honda bike that I own.

33. Old Speedometer from Netherland



The part came to me, we went to install it and voila this was a defective speedometer as well. The speedo worked but indicator relay was conked and so was neutral light and tachometer was not working as well. So we had to put the old speedo back as I needed the Indicators to work without fail. The next step was try to get speedo fixed, found a guy who works on pcb level repair we fixed one and it worked for 50 kms before conking off again. He is trying to fix it as I type this, but I am not too hopeful. I have planned another fix and have hence received the odometer. It was received by me yesterday, it works on GPS, and connects to GPS satellite to give you the speed and latest time.

34. New Speedometer



This though will not show tacho, I am fine with it, the only problem, although it shows distance travelled from the time you started, it resets when you turn off the bike. I need this for keeping a tab on when to refuel, now I will need to keep an idea to not get stranded in between without fuel.

Once this is Installed this should complete my project, I will keep you updated.

35. Customized Seat

I did not like the bland look of the seat, so wanted to do something with the seat. I contacted Saddle India and they said they can make the seat more comfortable and design it as per my requirement. That is when we came to a design conclusion and I shipped the seats to them. They did a great work on designing the seat and shipped it back to me. The extra cushion makes the rides much more comfortable, just that I am not very happy with the color, it seems more papaya color then yellow. I might rework on it after sometime just for the color, other then that I am happy with the craftsmanship and work done by them.

From a bland black seat to









Notice the Extra Cushion, boon on longer rides.



The Exhaust

Next up was the Exhaust, this we had a mixed feeling, while few of my friends liked the long swept exhaust, I was not a fan. In addition to that the stock exhaust was absolutely muted and felt like a 250CC bike, it did sound nice on high RPMS, but i don't ride that way to keep my bike at higher RPM to enjoy the aural experience. So I was planning to order the Yoshi but that was also long and again needed to be carried from US. That is when I came across Dominator exhaust which is a Polish company, and decided to go ahead with them after listening the sound on Youtube.

I ordered it with Baffle and once you put in the baffle it sounds just like stock, it is when you take the baffle out that it comes in it's own and sounds absolutely brilliant and makes you realise that yes it is indeed an Inline 4 bike that you are riding.

Pic with the Exhaust Installed.



The size of the baffle.



Couple of Videos for your listening pleasure, these are both witout the baffle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Kh7gC8_HSs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhIHyjnbNbw

Next up were the mirrors, I did not like the old mirrors and wanted to give the bike a little more modern look, this is the reason I had procured the winglet mirrors and went about installing them.

Front end with the stock mirrors!



Front end with Winglet mirrors!



This does give it a very very mean look, though can't say the same about the rear visibility, let's just say it gets the job done.

As the bike neared completion, one thing I really like is matching gear, so I decided to get a matching helmet and riding jacket. Dainese is my weapon of choice when it comes to riding gear, and luckily they had one in flourscent yellow for sale, same was procured.

Wolverine Graphics HJC ST 70 Helmet.







Dainese Hydro Flux jacket with back and chest protectors.





Last was to add some stickers and the reservoir sleeve, some more stickers need to be procured.











I also smoked out the front light, one to save the lights from dome to get scratched as it is Aliexpress stuff.



Secondly just to match the smoked look of the rear tail light, a video of the same in action, look mama they blink!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmm1Mw3SWvo

The Chain Guard and rear hugger installed!



As we near the end of this long write up, I would like to really thank lot of my friends who carried all this stuff from abroad for me and made this restoration complete. It would have been impossible to reach where I am today without there help and impossible to do anything if covid was still on, so all of you, few of you who are also a part of Team Bhp, Thank You!!

One person who though really stands out is my friend Ravi, he was pillar of strength in this restoration, and did a lot of work single handedly. The bike was parked at his place more then mine in last 6 months while we were getting this done.

Here he is on a bike that belongs to him as much as it belongs to me!! He still has to hear it roar on the Dominator though!



I am almost done with my complete restoration, and the below three are the pending items to all it a day!!

1. Fix Speedometer
2. Get Braided Brake Lines
3. Maybe wrap the bike or get a new body kit from AliExpress
4. My current mechcani was not able to install the Gear Indicator, so that needs to be installed.

It's six months and counting when I started this, I am hoping to close it out by end of this year, Will keep this thread updated.

So In the end when I did not want to go the rabbit hole route initially I ended up procuring and changing 36 Parts for the bike, we can make it 38 if I add the helmet and the jacket. Somethings can only be explained to self!!

[AtheK]

Thank you if you read it till this far, it was a pleasure typing this, I started this thread a week back but then did not get time to update. Today I spent the entire day penning this down as it was just an experience to walk down the memory lane.

Leaving you with some clicks of Mark 13 - The Blade for your viewing pleasure.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[no_fear]

I had the pleasure of meeting Athek in Bangalore this year when I went down for work. A man with a voracious zeal for life and fun, he is the biker friend you need and want for your long rides and bike related gossip that can last for hours.

He told me and my brother about his 954 and the commitment it needs to be brought to the level needed. Now, I must confess, as an Italian exotica lover, I did not quite get the hoo haa about the 954, but what I really liked is Athek's zeal in working on the bike.

Anyone who works and cares for bikes earns big kudos. The fact that he used so many resources and channels to get the parts for this bike speaks volumes of his dedication and commitment. The 954 has gone to the right hands and I hope it lives the rest of its life with the RE and the 959 heater.

Ride long and prosper brother. I am very excited and delighted to see gearheads like Krishnaprasadgg and Athek demonstrate what we can do with our bikes, in-spite of draconian Indian customs rules, bureaucracy, lack of parts, high taxes, and general apathy.

This line has hit home - “Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway.”

Life throws us many challenges and deviations. Family, kids, job, boss, mother in law, relatives, tv programs, big boss, bollywood, tollywood and a bunch of other stuff take away that little time we have for our own selves. It is never too late to believe in your dreams.

[KarthikK]

Let me be among the first to congratulate you on your latest acquisition!
What a lovely bike from a bygone era! The entire thread is written very well, and details exactly what one can and should expect from acquiring and trying to own an old superbike from the early 2000s. It was particularly interesting to note all the nitty gritties of your restoration stages and how you debugged everything to arrive at the final product.

Great thread AtheK, congratulations once again and keep us updated on this thread with all the work done on the Blade.

OT - did you source the Dainese gear from the Bangalore store or directly from abroad? The Bangalore Dainese store seems to be in limbo with most gear of common sizes sold out and with no plan to import fresh stocks.

[dreamseller]

Amazingly well penned, Aman. Got reminded of all the WhatsApp conversations we had at each of those issues, most of which is a factor of the vintage of the motorcycle and my sheer negligence in the last couple of years (post pandemic) - other unavoidable priorities taking precedence.

They say, you never forget some firsts - the first kiss, the first ODI double ton by Sachin, the first super-bike ownership. This bike was and will always hold a special place in my heart - I wanted my first big bike to tug at my heart strings than be a practical workhorse. And I've not only had fun, but literally toured around East and South India with it (until I was not fit enough), grinning at every ride. So, when it was time to sell it off after almost 8 years of ownership, I couldn't think of just giving it away to anyone. And when you'd showed the slightest interest, I was secretly hoping that you pick it up. That way I can still get to live it through your garage.

I hope these teething issues are over soon and you get to enjoy what the motorcycle has to offer, for years to come. (Now, back to eBay to look for a part-out speedo for you )

[Xaos636]

Oh Aman, you got a beauty in there. Glad to see this Blade running in her full glory. Kudos for the work done and keeping her shiny as a brand new bike.
One question, where did you get the handlebar painted? I too want to do it on my '13 Blade if possible and do source me that Repsol tank cap sticker

[GTO]

Beautiful motorcycle, big congrats & do ride safe . I have ridden Manson's Fireblade on occasion and what amazes me is just how well it has aged. The styling still looks fantastic, as does your bike. And the performance, man, it's scary fast. Nothing like revving it in 1st & 2nd gears.

[krishnaprasadgg]

@AtheK

Congrats again on this beast of a machine and kudos to the long path you took to bring it back to full health. Like no_fear said, it's not easy going down this path and only true blue enthusiasts endure the pain of it.

I have to say even though I have had the opportunity to see the behind the scene updates reading post after post in detail really blew my mind away on how much was done, in the bigger picture it really throws you off.

Cheers again to the effort put and hopefully let's get to ride together soon. And yeah keep updating the thread, I can't get enough of these old-school blades.

Cheers
Krishna

[AtheK]

Originally Posted by no_fear

I had the pleasure of meeting Athek in Bangalore this year when I went down for work.

He told me and my brother about his 954 and the commitment it needs to be brought to the level needed. Now, I must confess, as an Italian exotica lover, I did not quite get the hoo haa about the 954, but what I really liked is Athek's zeal in working on the bike.

Pleasue was all mine brother, it indeed was a great evening and time just flew by! I remember the day we met, the bike was actually getting the new battery installed.

Yes Once you go Italian, it is tough to understand the hoopla around Japanese, but then there are certain things in which it's just the heart which rules the rooster. Looking forward to come visit you in Delhi soon.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Let me be among the first to congratulate you on your latest acquisition!.

Great thread AtheK, congratulations once again and keep us updated on this thread with all the work done on the Blade.

Thank you Karthik sir, always a pleasure to hear from you. Our long due meet is still pending.

Originally Posted by KarthikK

OT - did you source the Dainese gear from the Bangalore store or directly from abroad? The Bangalore Dainese store seems to be in limbo with most gear of common sizes sold out and with no plan to import fresh stocks.

Both the jacket and helmet are from abroad, I prefer getting it directly from abroad, as we have limited choices here, and as for Dainese store in Bangalore, funny as it may sound, I have never ever visited them!

Originally Posted by dreamseller

They say, you never forget some firsts - the first kiss, the first ODI double ton by Sachin, the first super-bike ownership. This bike was and will always hold a special place in my heart - I wanted my first big bike to tug at my heart strings than be a practical workhorse. And I've not only had fun, but literally toured around East and South India with it (until I was not fit enough), grinning at every ride. So, when it was time to sell it off after almost 8 years of ownership, I couldn't think of just giving it away to anyone. And when you'd showed the slightest interest, I was secretly hoping that you pick it up. That way I can still get to live it through your garage.

I hope these teething issues are over soon and you get to enjoy what the motorcycle has to offer, for years to come. (Now, back to eBay to look for a part-out speedo for you )

Thanks Sourav, and yes you did live upto your handle of dream seller. To be fair many of the issues that we faced, you might not have been able to get to them as well, until you went that route. Good that we had you sitting in US, and thanks for ordering those parts. Speedo remains the last piece of puzzle and I am sure we will solve it sooner rather then later.

The bike stays as much yours as it is mine, and you know you can ride it or keep it with you when you are in India.

Originally Posted by Xaos636

Oh Aman, you got a beauty in there. Glad to see this Blade running in her full glory. Kudos for the work done and keeping her shiny as a brand new bike.
One question, where did you get the handlebar painted? I too want to do it on my '13 Blade if possible and do source me that Repsol tank cap sticker

Thanks a lot, our meet is pending too, would be good to get both the japanese together. It was painted by a painter in Kalyan Nagar, so If you stay somewhere close i can pass you his number. The fuel cap sticker was sourced from AliExpress, I can definitely source it for you, but will just take time, as I am not sure when my brother will come back or any of his colleague would. That said if you can wait, I will have it done!

Originally Posted by GTO

Beautiful motorcycle, big congrats & do ride safe . I have ridden Manson's Fireblade on occasion and what amazes me is just how well it has aged. The styling still looks fantastic, as does your bike. And the performance, man, it's scary fast. Nothing like revving it in 1st & 2nd gears.

Thanks GTO, you are right about the timeless look and also the power in 1st and 2nd Gear, need to really have a control on our wrists while riding them!

Originally Posted by krishnaprasadgg

@AtheK

Congrats again on this beast of a machine and kudos to the long path you took to bring it back to full health. Like no_fear said, it's not easy going down this path and only true blue enthusiasts endure the pain of it.

I have to say even though I have had the opportunity to see the behind the scene updates reading post after post in detail really blew my mind away on how much was done, in the bigger picture it really throws you off.

Cheers again to the effort put and hopefully let's get to ride together soon. And yeah keep updating the thread, I can't get enough of these old-school blades.

Cheers
Krishna

Thanks krishna, inspiration flows directly from your thread. You are also right that once you start adding up things, you realise how much you have actually changed/added, that said it was all worth it as you mentioned.

Yes Yes we need to meet soon, I can't wait to hear the R1 singing on an open stretch and just catch up on a coffee.