Category Archives: Bike

Gush….. what a write-up! This guy so knows more about bikes than I do! I’m honored to have my Paino featured up on Cycle EXIF. Visit: http://www.cycleexif.com/paino-strada

After weeks of doing my head in I’ve decided I can’t stand the gold (hey I tried to add a little colour, but I always tend to go back to subtle/less is more). I’ve found myself googling around desperately for an all black ATR shock, but there are none left anywhere. I’ve even considered dropping $200 or so on a new black shock, which would be silly as the ATR shock works so well.

After a little bit of test sanding I realised the anodizing on the shock wasn’t that hard to remove. I headed to the local bunnings and bought some Easy-Off brand heavy duty oven cleaner, as well as some rubber gloves + steel wool. I sprayed heaps of the stuff on and within seconds there was a chemical reaction. I left the stuff on for 45 minutes and after a rinse with water this is what everything looked like.

It cleaned up really nicely on the flat surfaces, but damn the harder to get to edges were a pain in the ass! Never again! Ultimately I’m very happy with the end result though :)

Got my new billet grips in the mail today so I’ve fitted them up with the 2inch CRG Blindsight bar end mirror I bought earlier. Old grips vs. new grip + CRG mirror + bar end kit.

I could have bought a bicycle mirror but I went for top shelf stuff instead. I figure if it’s good enough for Ducati’s it’s good enough for my Zoomer! HAHA.

Throttle side grip.

Really happy with the fatty set-up. Will wrap up the exhaust header soon. Still thinking about tiny old school brake lights and turn signals and shaving off the tabs that used to hold the stock blinkers.

I’ve been riding around without a rear view mirror, it’s pretty freaky. After today’s ride I’ve decided to keep one. If you look at the goodies picture in my previous post you’ll spot a bar-end mounted round mirror which I’ll get on the bike soon (waiting on new grips first). Still tempted to try an HID style headlight to eliminate the round headlights, not sure I’d like it though and also HATE the gold forks and very long brake and speedo cable. Hate the speedo too but I look at it lots so it’s got to stay.

Again, hate the gold forks and rear shock. Love the functionality of the ATR rear shock so I might try to strip the gold anodizing with oven cleaner, or something. Front forks are too high, need to be an inch lower so I’m looking into lower forks (not gold next time) and also a front disc brake set-up and gloss black alloy wheel (front wheel is matte grey and steel) which will brake better, look nicer and also eliminate the long drum brake cable.

The ugly old standard gas cap had to go. I had to grind down the 2 tabs (used a dremel) to mount the new cap on top of it.

New KCP cap mounted up. Made by a guy in Holland who designs makes and sells his own parts.

More goodies came in the mail today, this time from BOWLS LA where I was in fact buying T-Shirts but ended up with a whole lot of Zoomer parts!

New Takegawa radiator cover. Not sure if I like it, kinda like no radiator cover at all to be honest.

K&N filter with shield. Had to shave off some rubber (luckily I’ve got killer sharp blades) to get it to fit right.

Kijima radiator coolant tank replaces the stock plastic tank.

Paino’s all done and I’ve been meaning to shoot her for some time now. Sunny day today so Suga and I went for a ride at Centennial Park. The path was quite wet, so our bikes got a little dirty, didn’t stop me from shooting though, gotta love a bit of dirt!

Plenty more pics here: http://www.bikesmoveus.com.au/showthread.php?t=143

Post man came with a big box from the USA with a massive rip in it. I assume customs went through the goods but failed to do a good job of re-sealing the box. Luckily nothing fell out and everything inside was in ace condition!

Got dish? Ahahahaha. 10×8 baby!

AK GarageWorks header which is designed so my Yoshi exhaust will clear the new fat wheel.

No instructions but I figured everything out. The kit includes an engine mount which offsets the engine, you can see how much it does so by checking out how far the rear wheel is on the non-drive side.

AK GarageWorks shock mount vs. stock mount.

Check the AK GarageWorks exhaust mount, very nice. Hardest part of the install was taking the rear wheel off! I had to drop into the local auto shop to get a breaker bar to get the damn nut off.

Exhaust installed, stiff pipe!

Hahaha yup.

Stretched out even more now.

A sincere thanks to Alex from AK GarageWorks for bothering to pack and send the kit to me in Sydney AUSTRALIA (first!). All his communications were awesome, he’s a top guy and his gear is top shelf too.

Stripped the bike, prepped and painted the front frame black with engine enamel.

Also installed a stainless steel gas tank cover.

Using Christina’s little Canon Ixus…gahhhh so crap! Back on a Lumix GF1 very soon, hopefully any day now.