InfiniteReality
Registered
FINALLY installed. It was freaking HOT, geez... I'm picking up a big evap cooler this week, would have been nice to have it while installing them, but I wasn't going to wait any longer.
The bike got some TLC with new mirrors, Galfer SS clutch line, new air filter, oil/filter change, matching rear brake rotor, new front/rear tires, some re-wiring, new front/rear signals, new tail light, new windscreen, new fairings. Chain and sprocket were changed out a few months ago as well.
I've had this busa for over 6 years now and bought it new. As of now I pushing 10k miles and so far it's been Plasti-Dipped 3 times. Kind of crazy that for $650 shipped for them with the inner plastics, heat guard, new wind screen and fairing bolts. I had high hopes, mainly because of spending the cash for them.....but by the same token I wasn't exactly sure how well they would fit and how good the paint would be. They fit way better than I anticipated. After several eBay messages, I decided to take the plunge and did a Photoshop and sent it to them for them to "custom" paint them. There was no extra charge for this which was really cool. I based my graphic scheme off 2016 OEM with my own color choices. Turn around time was just what they quoted me, 15-30 days. I can't recall exactly how long it took, but I think it was 4-5 weeks from the time I purchased to the time I received them.
PAINT QUALITY:
I didn't expect them to come out perfect, hell for the price you can't expect it. I meant to take pictures of the few spots where it wasn't perfect, but forgot. I'd give it a 8.5 out of 10. Better than I could have done. I chose to not use metallic or pearls with my colors, but it was definitely an option for no charge. They damn near did a perfect match to my Photoshop, even down to a silver pin stripe that unintentionally showed up on my Photoshop. I also told them to leave off the Kanji's. I wasn't exactly confident that they would put them where I wanted them or have them orientated to my preference. My wife has a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter and from the past Plasti-Dips I already have them drawn up in CAD and imported into the program.
They did mess up and painted the belly pan charcoal where it should have been orange. By no means a deal breaker, still debating if I should complain or not. I probably won't because it doesn't really look out of place. Thoughts?
FITMENT:
Again they ended up fitting way better than I anticipated. There is on spot on side fairing where the 2 parts of it don't meet up perfectly. My OEM fairings have this same issue, so can't fault them. When I pull them off again, I'll take that side back apart and put back together and see if I can fix it. Where the nose meets each of the side fairings on the very front, the side fairings are pushed in a bit. When I pull the nose back off to install the new retrofit, I'll see if I can fix it. I may have not screwed the air ducts in all the way. On the belly pan, I couldn't get it to stay attached to the side fairing. Ended up clamping it together and JB welded them together. I'm honestly not sure why it doesn't stay, but again my OEM fairings had this same issue at some point and had to epoxy it as well. The fairings came with new bolts, but I already had black Pro-Bolt replacement so I just re-used them. For where you connect the 2 side fairings on the bottom, the OEM fasteners or the ones that came with the fairings wouldn't fit. I considered drilling the holes out more, but instead used a big zip tie through both holes and easily as secure as fasteners.
EXTRAS:
When the bike was new, I had the OEM headlight professionally tinted. I wasn't completely happy with how it didn't match the new paint and had some headlight tint laying around so I put it on. I could have used a 2nd set of hands as it didn't come out perfect, but it's only temporary till I get my second retrofit done and overlaying real carbon fiber inside it so it'll hopefully match pretty well to the charcoal paint.
Since I was updating everything, my clear alternative signals have seen better days. Hell, comparing the new vs old, they looked horrible. The aftermarket 100 LED tail light I had on the bike had seen better days too and was cracked on the bottom so got a new one. The signals and tail light all came from China and match great against the charcoal paint. I'm glad I got new ones. I plan to retrofit my own LED board in the tail light, I really don't know why they mount the board at a 45 degree angle so you have to be almost above it to get the full brightness. My rear signals operate as running and brake lights, so that makes me feel better.
While everything was apart, I already had purchased 4 new 1157 sockets. I modified the OEM sockets 6yrs ago, but should have just bought new sockets back then. Everything was soldered, electrical tape and heat shrinked. While I was at it, I turned my front signals to running lights too, just to be different.
Instead of re-using my OEM mirrors with the Kanji Mirror Mod I found some eBay one's and took a gamble. I wanted some with signals incorporated into them, whether it be on outside or mirror part, these have both. They ended up fitting with a little modification for the signal wire to feed through. No one will ever notice but they're actually mounted upside down. I tried all different ways and to me this just looked better on the busa, I think it's because the top is rounded. I'd consider these mirrors an actual upgrade compared to the OEM mirrors. You don't see you elbows anymore, but you do see your wrists. My elbows would block 50% of the OEM mirrors, where as with these my wrist block about 20% of them. I haven't ridden with them yet so not sure how well they'll work on the road, time will tell.
I got the bike washed and dried off after the install. Now the only thing that's left is to install the nitrous bottle, cutout/add Kanji's and add some orange wheel stripes. I'm really dreading going back out there when it's 95-100 degree in the shop, but hopefully that evap cooler will work good. It's supposed to rain all week so even though I could ride, I likely won't. Louisiana weather changes by the day so who knows. I'll reserve the post below this one for more pictures when it's 100% completed.
The charcoal color is weird. The pictures is completely opposite of what it looks like in person. In the sunlight, charcoal is very dark. But under the shop lights it a good bit lighter. Very odd considering no metallic or pearl is in it, but just something I've noticed. After I get it 100% done I'll try and get a photoshoot of sorts and get my DSLR adjusted to accurately show the colors.
Together before wash
After washed
My new virgin concrete, lol. Even spinning the 250 tire and stock gearing, the busa is a beast!
The bike got some TLC with new mirrors, Galfer SS clutch line, new air filter, oil/filter change, matching rear brake rotor, new front/rear tires, some re-wiring, new front/rear signals, new tail light, new windscreen, new fairings. Chain and sprocket were changed out a few months ago as well.
I've had this busa for over 6 years now and bought it new. As of now I pushing 10k miles and so far it's been Plasti-Dipped 3 times. Kind of crazy that for $650 shipped for them with the inner plastics, heat guard, new wind screen and fairing bolts. I had high hopes, mainly because of spending the cash for them.....but by the same token I wasn't exactly sure how well they would fit and how good the paint would be. They fit way better than I anticipated. After several eBay messages, I decided to take the plunge and did a Photoshop and sent it to them for them to "custom" paint them. There was no extra charge for this which was really cool. I based my graphic scheme off 2016 OEM with my own color choices. Turn around time was just what they quoted me, 15-30 days. I can't recall exactly how long it took, but I think it was 4-5 weeks from the time I purchased to the time I received them.
PAINT QUALITY:
I didn't expect them to come out perfect, hell for the price you can't expect it. I meant to take pictures of the few spots where it wasn't perfect, but forgot. I'd give it a 8.5 out of 10. Better than I could have done. I chose to not use metallic or pearls with my colors, but it was definitely an option for no charge. They damn near did a perfect match to my Photoshop, even down to a silver pin stripe that unintentionally showed up on my Photoshop. I also told them to leave off the Kanji's. I wasn't exactly confident that they would put them where I wanted them or have them orientated to my preference. My wife has a Silhouette Cameo vinyl cutter and from the past Plasti-Dips I already have them drawn up in CAD and imported into the program.
They did mess up and painted the belly pan charcoal where it should have been orange. By no means a deal breaker, still debating if I should complain or not. I probably won't because it doesn't really look out of place. Thoughts?
FITMENT:
Again they ended up fitting way better than I anticipated. There is on spot on side fairing where the 2 parts of it don't meet up perfectly. My OEM fairings have this same issue, so can't fault them. When I pull them off again, I'll take that side back apart and put back together and see if I can fix it. Where the nose meets each of the side fairings on the very front, the side fairings are pushed in a bit. When I pull the nose back off to install the new retrofit, I'll see if I can fix it. I may have not screwed the air ducts in all the way. On the belly pan, I couldn't get it to stay attached to the side fairing. Ended up clamping it together and JB welded them together. I'm honestly not sure why it doesn't stay, but again my OEM fairings had this same issue at some point and had to epoxy it as well. The fairings came with new bolts, but I already had black Pro-Bolt replacement so I just re-used them. For where you connect the 2 side fairings on the bottom, the OEM fasteners or the ones that came with the fairings wouldn't fit. I considered drilling the holes out more, but instead used a big zip tie through both holes and easily as secure as fasteners.
EXTRAS:
When the bike was new, I had the OEM headlight professionally tinted. I wasn't completely happy with how it didn't match the new paint and had some headlight tint laying around so I put it on. I could have used a 2nd set of hands as it didn't come out perfect, but it's only temporary till I get my second retrofit done and overlaying real carbon fiber inside it so it'll hopefully match pretty well to the charcoal paint.
Since I was updating everything, my clear alternative signals have seen better days. Hell, comparing the new vs old, they looked horrible. The aftermarket 100 LED tail light I had on the bike had seen better days too and was cracked on the bottom so got a new one. The signals and tail light all came from China and match great against the charcoal paint. I'm glad I got new ones. I plan to retrofit my own LED board in the tail light, I really don't know why they mount the board at a 45 degree angle so you have to be almost above it to get the full brightness. My rear signals operate as running and brake lights, so that makes me feel better.
While everything was apart, I already had purchased 4 new 1157 sockets. I modified the OEM sockets 6yrs ago, but should have just bought new sockets back then. Everything was soldered, electrical tape and heat shrinked. While I was at it, I turned my front signals to running lights too, just to be different.
Instead of re-using my OEM mirrors with the Kanji Mirror Mod I found some eBay one's and took a gamble. I wanted some with signals incorporated into them, whether it be on outside or mirror part, these have both. They ended up fitting with a little modification for the signal wire to feed through. No one will ever notice but they're actually mounted upside down. I tried all different ways and to me this just looked better on the busa, I think it's because the top is rounded. I'd consider these mirrors an actual upgrade compared to the OEM mirrors. You don't see you elbows anymore, but you do see your wrists. My elbows would block 50% of the OEM mirrors, where as with these my wrist block about 20% of them. I haven't ridden with them yet so not sure how well they'll work on the road, time will tell.
I got the bike washed and dried off after the install. Now the only thing that's left is to install the nitrous bottle, cutout/add Kanji's and add some orange wheel stripes. I'm really dreading going back out there when it's 95-100 degree in the shop, but hopefully that evap cooler will work good. It's supposed to rain all week so even though I could ride, I likely won't. Louisiana weather changes by the day so who knows. I'll reserve the post below this one for more pictures when it's 100% completed.
The charcoal color is weird. The pictures is completely opposite of what it looks like in person. In the sunlight, charcoal is very dark. But under the shop lights it a good bit lighter. Very odd considering no metallic or pearl is in it, but just something I've noticed. After I get it 100% done I'll try and get a photoshoot of sorts and get my DSLR adjusted to accurately show the colors.
Together before wash
After washed
My new virgin concrete, lol. Even spinning the 250 tire and stock gearing, the busa is a beast!
