Raptor Chapter

Fitted these today, slightly modded shorter link pipe, just need to finish off. Huge weight gain over stock and can feel the difference when riding. These are the street legal homologated version in case i need to use the db killlers . Went for a short run through the twisties , all i can say is WOW ,the bike has really come to life the way a tl engine should be.

Very nice! Yeah ditching the OEM cams for Akras was the best mod I did - losing over 10kg (I think) really lowered the centre of gravity. Your pipes look heaps better too - but I had the same wee "issue" with the hangers going over the logos and looking a wee bit crappy, I ended up ordering slightly smaller Akra heatproof stickers off fleabay and sticking them on instead. Yeah I know that's probably a bit anal, but once I spot something that bothers me slightly it keeps jumping to my attention, so I've learned it's easier just to do something about it than be pissed off every time I look at my bike! But now I'm thinking about taking the stickers off anyway, my pipes are pretty noisy, and with the stickers on they definitely don't look OEM, but would pass for OEM if they were sticker-free. Not sure what your popo are like over there, but over here they can be picky little PITAs to bikers.

Can you remove/change your stickers? Just to have it as "clean" looking as possible, if it were my bike I'd be taking those superfluous warning stickers off the tank too, it looks like you still have the 3 "motorbikes are dangerous, mmkay?" etc stickers on the tank between the Cagiva celtic roundel and the tank protector, a wee bit of eucalyptus oil to get the icky goo off and Robert's your mother's brother, polish the area very lightly with Mothers plastic polish if there's any slight colour fading around where the stickers have been.

Edit: Just noticed your rear mudguard, looks wrong to me, didn't all the Xtras get the dinky little carbon fibre mudguard that's much hotter than the plastic slab? I couldn't see that part on the fiches on OEM, but if you have a look at the other Xtra on bikepoint (which is hardly run in either! ) you can look at photos 1 and 7 and see what I think it's supposed to look like, or look at http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... 043#p29107 to see mine.

Thanks for the good info spyke, the stickers under the rear clamps are just stick on and i think you are right they dont look the best so will be taking them off . They are not really sticking too well anyway . I have the carbon bit, was on the bike when i purchased but had to remove because bike has to go for inspection to re-register here. All the stickers are still on the tank, will look into that later but for now just need to get her on the road. Steering damper is shyte and mount cracked so thats now gone, may replace with aftermarket but see how it goes without, definitely would not have been without one on the tl. Have a sticky front brake master so that will have to be looked but no real biggy. one things really pissed me off is these cans are shyte Firstly the link pipes were ridiculously long and the exhaust didnt look right , stupid is a better word , actually ordered the high rise pipe so i got away with that and modified them , secondly the packing in the right side is spewing out from the inner lining , and third the sticky GPS didnt stick very well . Another little gripe is the clamp that supplied to go to header pipe was way oversized and sort of distorted by the time it got to tightening up . I think it was a "friday" exhaust day before holidays .

Phew, glad to hear you've got the carbon bit, I was mildly concerned she might have been rear-ended at some point! Yeah the carbon bit looks trick I think, much nicer than shovel-sized plastic bit, pretty enough to save me from doing a fender eliminator. The OEM steering damper seems to work well enough, but I agree the mounts are shite, I believe they crack from over-enthusiastic fitment, not use, though. I actually have a spare "new style" mounting bracket in the garage somewhere if you're interested? The new style ones have thicker straps, less prone to cracking.

It does sound like you got Friday arvo cans, sorry to hear, can you send pics of the packing to GPR and get a partial refund? If you want to cheer yourself up go back to bikesales and have a look at the cans on the other Xtra - - then you'll realise yours could be a lot worse!

Anyway have a peek at http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... =11&t=4043 too, I've just thrown up some more pics of wee odds and ends I've done, will really need to start looking for employment soon, I'm running out of shed projects!

Edit: ditch your GPR stickers, buy a pair of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181236796246, and your cans will look much better! Then play the "see if anybody notices" game, for shits n' giggles!

Great , those akro stickers will work, while i am at i think i will throw some marchesini stickers on as well , actually i noticed at least the rims are brembos I sent GPR a photo, will have to wait and see, cant afford another set of cans and i sort of like these, they go with the bike and at least they are titanium . Back to the steering damper issue, it certainly does look like someone put the mounts back together wrong as there were pieces missing , the important ones like the bearing part, no wonder why it was out of shape and cracked the fork mount! I would certainly be interested in your mount . steve

Spyke wrote:55 years agoPhew, glad to hear you've got the carbon bit, I was mildly concerned she might have been rear-ended at some point! Yeah the carbon bit looks trick I think, much nicer than shovel-sized plastic bit, pretty enough to save me from doing a fender eliminator. The OEM steering damper seems to work well enough, but I agree the mounts are shite, I believe they crack from over-enthusiastic fitment, not use, though. I actually have a spare "new style" mounting bracket in the garage somewhere if you're interested? The new style ones have thicker straps, less prone to cracking.

It does sound like you got Friday arvo cans, sorry to hear, can you send pics of the packing to GPR and get a partial refund? If you want to cheer yourself up go back to bikesales and have a look at the cans on the other Xtra - - then you'll realise yours could be a lot worse!

Anyway have a peek at http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... =11&t=4043 too, I've just thrown up some more pics of wee odds and ends I've done, will really need to start looking for employment soon, I'm running out of shed projects!

Edit: ditch your GPR stickers, buy a pair of these http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/181236796246, and your cans will look much better! Then play the "see if anybody notices" game, for shits n' giggles!

Spyke ,i would be interested in the mounts, did you get my pm

Your wheels are actually Marchesini - I tried to find a reference for this, but all I could find was pod stating the same at http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... t=15#p2192.

Marchesini is a Brembo company, as per http://www.marchesiniwheels.com/

Actually had a guy show up on a Duke recently say to me "They're Marchesini, aren't they? I just put the same ones on my other bike!"

Edit: yes, I got your PM and responded, will hopefully dig it out tomorrow....

Spyke wrote:55 years agoYour wheels are actually Marchesini - I tried to find a reference for this, but all I could find was pod stating the same at http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... t=15#p2192.

Marchesini is a Brembo company, as per http://www.marchesiniwheels.com/

Actually had a guy show up on a Duke recently say to me "They're Marchesini, aren't they? I just put the same ones on my other bike!"

Edit: yes, I got your PM and responded, will hopefully dig it out tomorrow....

Gives me a reason now to put on some nice marchesini rim stickers. Well i got in touch with GPR exhausts and they are sending me another can under warranty. I have my link pipes back from the welder after shortening about 3". Will take the link pipes in to to ceramic coaters tomorrow. Ordered a set of V tech levers, cannot live without those
By the way nice work on the mods you have done, rear tail light gone looks much cleaner. Did you notice any difference with air intake noise after you removed the snorkel and any subtle differences in throttle response ?

Good news about your can - nice to see somebody does take their customer service seriously.

Thanks for the kind words, yes I'm happy with my tidy tail now. Didn't notice a significant difference with the snorkel mod, but I did it early during her running-in period - you can easily put them back on again if you want to, but looking at the tiny air intakes the snorkels have you can't help but think "that can't be right"!

I took the snorkels off today and now i see what you mean those intakes together are smaller than the sv1000 snorkel and even smaller since they have that small screen fitted . That would surely be choking at full throttle

Here's my attempt at a partial snorkelectomy with screen added.

Ooh, neat looking job, nice work!

I didn't even consider modding them, just threw them into the garage somewhere, in case I ever want to try and sell her in standard trim. I suppose having the air intake pointing backwards like that means less chance of nasties getting in.

Spyke wrote:55 years agoOoh, neat looking job, nice work!

I didn't even consider modding them, just threw them into the garage somewhere, in case I ever want to try and sell her in standard trim. I suppose having the air intake pointing backwards like that means less chance of nasties getting in.

it wasnt how i intended but just turned out that way,they are facing forward , thats the left side but i might try something else but have more important things to tend to

With replacement can fitted and finished

That really is lovely!