Something to consider. Anyone who does a cheapie job to streetfight or naked a faired bike states the obvious about that bike.....that it was crashed and they either coudn't be arsed or didn't have the money to fix it up right. This might be irellevant now...but one day you may want to sell this bike on to somebody else, and it will be a very rellevant issue for the potential buyer.

It not so much that you will lose a lot of money on the resale...it's trying to actually get a buyer to begin with, will be the problem. Nobody is enthusiastic in buying a obviously crashed bike....even if it was a low speed crash. The buyer will have only your word for it...nothing else. And most people on the hunt for a Fazer tend to want the real deal anyway...a faired bike.

Of course this is all irrelevant if you plan on keeping it forever, but it is very rare that people keep things forever even if you think you will right now.

As I said in an earlier post, I would ride it until you ironed out your issues on the road. Until such time, you have the threat for another mishap, so I'd sort that issue out first before putting money into the bike.

You have a pretty clean bike. After you sort your driving issues out, I would restore it to its former glory via a good bike spraypainter whose good at plastics. You still have to get the tank sorted anyway and what you will pay on lights, brackets, screen to protect clocks, cost to fit these and sort wiring, to make it naked....well, it will go a fair way towards getting the fairiings sorted IMO. Nobody will know then that it hit the deck so you will sell it on handy enuff down the road.

Domtrails effort may sound attractive. But will you get the parts for the same cost and can you do all the labour yourself including the wiring???....and all for £50??  They don't look like Fazer clocks and if they are, they look like they are housed in a painted biscuit tin to me. No offence here...i'm sure Domtrails think they are great and got him out of a hole at very little cost. But the front of both bikes don't look great to me naked, compared to a faired Fazer.

 
Do Like your half rat thinking for maintenance / appearance, but don't know if I want to go that far since mine is a black bike I think it works with the blue & white.
 

Well just to give you an update....I did the all the levers and footplates and they are holding up well after 2 weeks....no a mark and I expect it to be that way for a long time. I did my brake and clutch lever over 8 weeks ago and they are holding up after constant pulling and rubbing daily. The plus factor is that it only takes one quick blast of the tin of spray to restore any part of the bike. I rather that than the rusty and corroded alloy look. I think your bike will work as well being black.

Why don't you do the gear lever and footplate as a trial for a while. If you don't like it, you can always lash on a bit of Nitromors and get your rust back!! 

Cheers, ye coolants drained, head's already off. I'm also wondering if I should use new o-rings on the pistons? or just lube up the old ones?

Maybe you might ask yourself this.......... "Do I fancy stripping all the engine down and back again if something goes wrong for the sake of £50".

Both of the steering limiters are there on mine but the handle bars go darned close to the tank on both sides.

I think the fall just pushed it that little bit further. If the handlebars had been a bit more upright it wouldn't have happened.  If the steering extender dead-eye had was on it wouldn't have happened either.

It's a but late for me but it might be worth it for others to check how close their bars go to the tank and modify accordingly if they wish to save their tank in the case of a fall.

That was my steering extender or bar risers, Simon. I think you got the jist of what happened and will adjust the bars accordingly. You might have to play around with different positions for comfort. Sometimes it might feel ok intially just sitting on the bike or going for a quick spin, but after a decent long spin you could find your position giving a bit of ache to the wrists. I usually carry the hex key with me to adjust the position if I need during a long spin.

I have used them for years....excellent. But you have to watch them carefully as they can work their way off the glove. I'm not using them at the moment because my latest gloves have something similar built into the thumb of my glove.

Just be careful when buying them as there are different sizes and are color coded. I think large ones are in black and medium size come in red.

If it's running ok, I'd leave it be for now.

Same here...you could bring on more trouble than what it's worth.

I haven't inspected a Fazer with original bars, but there should be clearance there or else its a bad design. The steering lock is ok and you will need all that lock. It's possible though that the design of the bars is not great and they never accounted for that they might flex back into the tank in a crash.

It is also possible that the previous owner might have adjusted the height/angle of the handlebars too which would effect clearance to the tank. Check the handlebars near the clamp. There usually is a punch mark on the handlebars that is meant to be lined up were the clamp joins. If this is not lined up and above the clamp join, then your bars are directed down and closer to the tank. You can always adjust so the the punch is under the clamp join. This will raise the height of the bars and it's clearance from the tank.

On my own bike, the previous owner had wider bars which I can thank him for. What I can't thank him for is the electrical fault he never told me about were the bike would cut out as you were pulling away in 1st gear. It caught me be surprise in my drive and the bike stalled suddenly as she was just pulling off and with my legs just up on the pegs. I lost balance and the bike fell over. The wide bars not alone were miles away as to effect the tank being hit, they also acted like having crash bobbins and kept the front fairing and indicators off the ground. There wasn't a mark on the bike. The only damages was a front brake lever. I'll settle for that...thank you very much!!

So I would recommend that you buy some form of protection on the bike like crash bobbins on the frame or engine crash bars to protect stuff downstairs. I would recommend wider bars also to try and protect the top half of the bike and make sure that if the bars are bent back that they would clear the tank.

@ packie Just out of curiosity, what's the score when you buy a used bike from a dealer, do they just sell you a bike "as seen" and price accordingly, or would they  give it a full going over.
In the UK they'd MOT it for a year before release, but i'm not sure what sort of guarantee you'd get in Ireland?

The norm is that they will sell it "as is" if the bike is a bit rough. They will just do a service and probably give a 3 month warranty on the motor and gearbox.


If the bike is fairly clean, the will put what is needed like brake pads, tyres, full service, and will try and get as high a price for it. Again, you will get a 3 month warranty, but the length of time on a warranty can vary.

Simon wrote:
I appreciate your comments but I'm old enough to know if something is beyond my capabilities or not and riding a bike is not beyond them. 



Fair enuff...but I can't help it if I just didn't pick up on your dogged determination to succeed in your comment below, especially the bit in red....


"I'm a newb and I've come off twice in three months.  Starting to wonder if it's a sign."


....I wish you well and safe riding.

Simon....Glad your ok, man. Just something to consider and I risk getting scorned for this.....

Keep an open mind about the comandarie advice & support to get back in the saddle.

There is great support here for you to carry on. I personally wouldn't offer advice either way. Although the intentions are good, that advice and support  to get back in the saddle has the potential to actually kill you!!.....thats what you need to keep an open mind about.

 
Only you can determine that decision from the bottom of your soul and with all honesty. I know a lot of people who got into bikes (for whatever reasons) and who have since walked away because they just weren't cut out for it.


My bro-in-law walked away after a few falls just like you into corners. He had professional training and everything before and after his spills. He eventually was open and honest with himself and walked away. He just could not get his head around the fear factor of riding....simple as that. It didn't matter even when he was doing things correctly or how much professional biking help he got. His head was not geared for riding a bike. He is very happy now and have no regrets. So am I and his family because I have a gut feeling if he persisted in trying, he would have been killed eventually.


Biking is meant to be a pleasurable experience. On top of that and I can only speak for myself, I also knew instantly (despite the dangers) that "this was for me". I had a sorta inner grin from day one and nothing wouldn't extinguish it. I guess what i'm trying to say is that you either "have it" or you don't. I also have seen through my experiences that not everyone posses "that feeling" and may not acquire that feeling even after some formal professional training or moral support.


Another example of this is when both my bosses bought "his & hers" bikes with this "Route 66-come-easy rider fantasy" that they had in their heads. They had all the training that money could buy and the best of bikes and gear at their disposal. Both their bikes are gathering dust ever since. They rode locally for a day of too and it just wasn't the experience that they had dreamt up in their heads....far from it. They found it to be a frightful, intimidating and dangerous experience. Again...you either "have it" or you don't IMO....and only you know that All the training, talking and well intentioned back slapping won't give it to you....actually, it might have the opposite effect and have the potential to keep you locked into something that shouldn't be in and it could kill you as I said above.

From what i'm hearing from your quote below.....Your experiences have alarm bells written all over it. Hope I haven't offended you or anyone else with my opinions, and apologies in advance if I have. I am just more concerned about your safety.


"I just freaked about the physics and the sharpness of the corner and boom, I'd gone."

"The tyres and tread on a motorbike scare me."

"The road scares me"

Having said that, I don't begrudge the MOT's - I just begrudge the former owners of my vehicles who haven't kept them up to scratch!

Looks like the MOTs work a treat, so.

What paint did you use?
http://rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=112
....or something similar.



How did you pit it on?
Just careful handspraying, no sanding, primer or lacquer used.


And
Can you do mine?

yeeeeeeenoooooooooope! 
 

"..... You still need to make sure your bike is in some way in order, anyway....."


Like the above you mean?   


Having parts falling off your bike is the kind of thing you expect to see on Laurel & Hardy! 

Think again about what you are saying, dude.....


There are lots of threads on this forum in which exhausts went kaput. So they were not anticipated nor prevented by the prior MOT before the failure.


Your subframe could collapse without any outer visible signs tomorrow and no MOT or regular inspection on your behalf might detect or prevent it. Your wheel could collapse without any outer visible signs too. Your linkages to your suspension could collapse without any warning signs just like it did on Cop Bikes (FJR1300s) over here which I heard that they stopped using now.


If you had the same exhaust as on Padraig's cousins bike, your exhaust could collapse too like Padraigs without any visible outward signs or warning. It could just rot from the inside out and get so wafer-like thin (but still not showing any holes or wear signs from the outside), that it just snaps off at a certain breaking point from vibration. So MOTs nor your vigilance can always prevent Laurel & Hardy shit from just happening.