| Lee's
7/11
Hi...
this is the story of how my 7/11 was built...
I'd always fancied building a 7/11 , and I had a bandit 12 motor
that I bought ( cuz it was cheap ) sitting in my garage doing nothing
. I was offered this 1989 GSXR750K for only £700. - it was
a bit of a dog , and second gear was knackered . I also had a Yamaha
R1 swingarm lying around , that I fancied fitting into summat also.
This was how it started, a 750K with an R1 swinger
and forks
A plan formed in my mind , of how I perceived the bike should look
, so I took the engine out and advertised it - when the buyer came
to collect the engine , he told me it was for his GS750 project
bike , and would I sell him the front end ? - I ended up selling
him the engine and front / back ends for £900 ! , I sold loads
of other stuff that I had no intention of using - and ended up with
a pile of cash& not much left of the original bike !
Polished frame, engine on a jig
First thing to go in , was the R1 swingarm -
the R1 swinger was a bloody nightmare to fit ! - I only did it ,
cuz I had one lying around , and I'd never seen it done before !!
it needed the R1 pivot tube shortening and re machining to accept
the original GSXR spindle and new Suzuki bearings.
then it needed the 'suspension linkage mounting' ( kinda like a
'horshoe' shaped casting) cut out of a GSXR swingarm , jigged into
position in the r1 swingarm , and welded up. this meant I could
use my existing GSXR shock ( I ended up using a rebuilt / re valved
1100N unit ) and GSXR linkage , and all the geometry and stuff is
exactly the same as stock GSXR ( which means it still handles -
as well as looking cool ! ) then the stock chain ( 532 ) fouled
the box section bracing on the R1 'arm , BUT if I spaced the sprocket
out to clear it , it fouled on the frame - so I went to 520 race
chain which is about 6mm slimmer and shit loads lighter, and it
gave me just enough clearance .
GSX-R1000 subframe fitted
The
front sprocket is of a h***a 650 dominator ( same No. of teeth(
15) & same splines as GSXR but 520 pitch ) , and the rear sprocket
off a Jap spec only Kawa ZZR250 -, same PCD / fitting as R1 and
same teeth as GSXR (48) , but again in a 520 pitch.I then needed
to shave about 6mm off the R1 cush drive to get the chain alignment
'spot on' . Phew !
It was definitely worth the hassle though , as the new set up now
uses an R1 6" rear wheel ( compared to the puny 4" jobbie
on the 750K ) & the swingarm is loads stiffer than the original
one.The rear brake is miles better too - and unbelievably the new
set up ( swinger/wheel/disc/calliper/carrier etc ) is significantly
lighter than the skinny / bendy components that were originally
fitted ! ( I know cuz I weighed 'em )
Then
I needed a front end - I spoke to K Tech suspension ( they look
after alot of the W.S.B. and B.S.B bikes ) and asked them for their
recommendations , they suggested Yamaha R1 forks , saying that they
were technically far superior to most other production motorcycle
forks , and certainly much lighted and stiffer than the old GSXR
slingshot USD forks. Also they only needed some minor fettling before
they were as good as pukka Ohlins race forks ! - so my mind was
made up , and I bought a set from ebay - for less than the price
of what I sold the old 750K forks ! . I then found out by accident
that they fitted straight into some 750M yokes that I had lying
around - bonus ! , after sourcing some R1 callipers and discs and
a thunderace front wheel ( I originally intended to run GSXR clocks
, and hence needed a wheel with a speedo drive - the thunderace
wheel fits straight in , and accepts the R1 discs , callipers etc
!) - so my front and rear ends were sorted.
Very nice carbon undertray with a piece of the nitrous
bottle sticking out
At this time , someone made me an offer for my existing GSXR streetfighter
( an 1100M featured in SF105) following it's appearance at the NEC
show, but he didn't want the tuned engine - so I knocked £500
off the price and fitted the stock b12 engine I had that was meant
for my 7/11 project. This left me with an engine that already had
about £2000 of trick bits in it for my 7/11 . whilst it was
out , I sent the head off for further porting and the fitment of
some oversize stainless steel valves . I swapped the old 750K carbs
for a set of RS38's , but the turned out to be fairly worn. I sold
these on and bought a brand new set !. I scored an extremely rare
Full Yoshimura Stainless Duplex system on the American ebay site
shortly after - so my running gear was pretty much sorted !
A very tight fit it is!
Part of the masterplan was to fit the seat unit and subframe from
a gsxr 1000 , I got hold of these parts by chance , through a friend
- and soon realised it wasn't that much of a tough job. I removed
the old subframe , jigged the new unit into position , made up some
alloy tabs , and got them welded them on , I also had the frame
braced at the same time - sorted !, I then modified the tank so
that it , blended in with the seat unit , and modified the top of
the tank so it'd accept a large bore / high volume tank breather,
and modified the existing GSXR Y2K seat base & foam to fit my
750K fuel tank , then I re covered it in black leather. the R1 front
mudguard and hugger bolted straight on to their original fixings
. all that was left was the headlamp assy. I had a damaged Kawasaki
KLE 500 fairing that I wanted to use - so repaired it & cut
it down Too many 'fighters have the headlamp / fairing mounted too
high up on the forks in my opinion , and I really wanted to keep
the lines & 'profile' of the bike 'right' . it took many hours
of messing about with brackets etc - to get the 'look' I wanted
to achieve - but I got there in the end ! . I made up a new dash
out of carbon fibre and put all the original instruments in there
, the old 750 gauges looked shite - so I binned it and started again
! - this time is used an ultra cool SPA stepper motor driven tacho
/ combined digital speedo , a race tech oil pressure gauge ( now
to be replaced with a trick SPA digital oil pressure / temp unit
) and I mounted the original idiot lights , flush with the carbon
dash. I re made the loom from scratch , and incorporated a 'sub
harness' for the NOS and the alarm system.
From left to right... Oil catch tank, nitrous solenoids
and Mikuni RS flatslides.
then the whole lot came apart again , and whilst my mate did the
paint & the air brushing , I set to work on all the detail stuff
, like brackets , polishing , making the braided hoses etc etc.
then the final build up ,I ironed out a few bugs , and every fastener
was replaced with either stainless or alloy .it all went together
pretty well.
The cockpit
New version of the cockpit
So there you go ! - the bike is very light , much lighter than a
stock 1100 . it's also much more powerful ( 161bhp at the wheel
on the local dyno - then there's the NOS ! ) - but ( apart from
the looks - in my eye's ) the best bit about the bike , is the way
it handles - it's awesome ! - the brakes are amazing as well
Finished and sparkling in the sunshine
Specifications
ENGINE
1998 Bandit 1200 , wiseco R1216 kit , Upperton flowed head with
big valves , orient express springs , Kent cams , ape sprockets
, H/D studs & nuts , RS38 carbs , K&N's , adjustable advancer
, GSXR clutch with coil spring conversion and MRE lock up , Dyna
coils , Magnecore leads , modified clutch cover for breathers ,
factory billet cases , 19 row extra wide cooler ,goodridge hoses
for cooler , breathers , head feed , cam feed kit etc , full Yoshimura
Duplex system , NOS Nitrous Oxide Injection kit
POWER
OUTPUT
161bhp at the wheel + 50 bhp of gas
FRAME
1989 750K , braced headstock , lower cooler mounts removed , subframe
removed , new mountings fitted to accept stock 2001 GSXR 1000 sub
frame. Stainless tray for NOS hardware mounting.
FRONT END
Yamaha R1 USD forks, anodised black , re valved by Revs Racing with
uprated Ohlins Spring , R1 Discs & callipers , Thunderace front
wheel , '90 GSXR750M yokes with welded risers.Kawasaki ZX 7RR remote
reservoir master cylinders, Renthal MX 'bars , GSXR750G push / pull
throttle.
REAR END
heavily modified R1 swingarm , R1 wheel with modded cush drive ,
one off rear sprocket , 520 Race Spec chain , R1 Disc & calliper
, Re Valved GSXR1100M remote reservoir shock
ELECTRICS
heavily modified 750K loom , SPA Design stepper motor tacho / digital
speedo , oil pressure gauge , o.e warning lights , and NOS switch
housing in one off carbon fibre dash
BODYWORK
750K fuel tank , modded to accept Mocal 'high flow' breather &
Pingel dual outlet tap ,Kawasaki KLE 500 headlamp fairing , Yamaha
R1 front and rear guards , GSXR 1000 seat unit , All custom painted
in silver over black , custom made chrome decals .GSXR 1000 seat
modified and re covered in leather ,2.5 lbs NOS bottle hidden under
pillion hump.ART Carbon fibre GSXR1000 under tray and R1 chain guard.
Perfect lines
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