Out of all the Honda motorcycles I've seen in person and pictures, only one bike has ever got me excited.
The 2007 Honda RC212V:
To complement the lack of real estate in the tail though, the second thing that stands out and really lends itself well to the minimalistic tail is the extended rear hugger, only this one is extended far more than most extended huggers extend to (catch that?). Notice how the tip of the hugger angles up? That's to complement the raked up tail fairing. The larger hugger also allows for an extension of the bike's paint scheme well past the upper, mid, lower, and tail fairings.
Last but not least, the swingarm. I mean, just look at the damn thing. Well before Honda slowly switched to the now-common-on-racebikes underbraced swingarm, they ran one of the beefiest and best looking brushed-aluminum-finished swingarm. Just look at that chamfer at the topside - gorgeous!
What does this have to do with my bike?
Well, I'm never going to be able to make it look like that '07 RC212V, but I've always thought that I should be able to take those three things I've noted about the RC212V, and somehow implement it on my bike. I mean, I've effectively beefed up how my swingarm looks by having it gusseted, and having it finished in polished aluminum is a throwback to works swingarms.
So why not fit an oversized/extended rear hugger on it?
Why not swap the tail and subframe out for one with a smaller profile?
I'm already well on my way with the rear hugger.
For awhile there I've gone back and forth over getting a Magical Racing Extended rear hugger:
It's made to fit my bike, and I've seen it on other 02-03 R1's before. Not to mention that my front fender is already a Magical Racing unit. Stylistically though, despite being an extended hugger it always seemed simple to me, and ultimately, not really lending itself well with the lines of the bike, so I have yet to actually pull the trigger on one.
Instead I pulled the trigger on this:
The swingarm pictured is a Harris Performance Superbike swingarm made for my bike (about $4k made and shipped to me!), and the hugger fitted is also a Harris Performance extended hugger made specifically to fit that swingarm. Well I found that hugger being sold by another R1 owner who bought it to use, but never really did and just decided to unload it. At the price that he sold it to me for, I had no problem going for it to see if I can make it work on my OEM swingarm. See, while the HP Superbike swingarm is made to bolt-on to my bike and the OEM wheels, the actual dimensions and profile of the swingarm is substantially different from the OEM swingarm; the bolt hole locations alone are already different on this hugger than my OEM hugger, so some creativity might be needed in trying to make it work. We'll see...
Now, about that short, raked-up tail...
Well, here's a quick sketch of my bike's lines and profile:
AAAaannnd here's a quick sketch of the same, only with the HP superbike hugger and an alternate tail, like say from an Aprilia RSV4:
If I do this, the swapped tail may have to be raked up a bit more depending on how aggressive I want it to look, but I don't think there's any question it can be done. Subframe and tail swaps are not uncommon, and if subframes won't work as a straight-swap or modified swap, who's to say you can't make your own subframe? It's just a matter of cutting and welding (repeated ad nauseum, maybe) by someone who knows what they're doing. Of course that won't be all there is to it; there's the matter of making an undertray work as well as a cover for it, not to mention cutting the taillight wiring to swap as needed as well. Still, like I said, it wouldn't be anything never been done before.
So.
This is what's been milling in my head a lot recently. I've already talked to Rob about the possibility of the tail swap...
More to come. Maybe?
Definitely tentatively.
Definitely tentatively.
