The Black Rat.

[Tony Nitrous]

WARNING: Look away now if your of a delicate nature, easily offended or think a 14 is the Holy Grail of motorcycles.


A new thread in an attempt to get motivated and actually do something on / to / with my long suffering 1400.

The Story so far: I bought it on 29-3-2012.  It's a late model 9/08 AU bike, bought from a guy I already knew, both as a old  .Org member and an Aussie Streetfighter forum member.  I was after a project 14 and had been bidding on a few at the auctions when he offered me his.  I paid $2500, and got it through an MOT / Safety Cert for another $125 plus a few bits I got for Xmas. Cost on the road was $2625 / £1471.

The bike had been ridden hard, but had some tasty extra's and was well set up, but he had thrown it up the road, and it had then been parked up for a while.

The original plan was it would be a cheap tourer, and a sensible bike to take my wife on, as she wasn't keen on my B-King, GSXR seat Hayabusa or my wheelie-keen Bandit.

The Good:
It came with a Fork brace, Mini indicators Pazzo levers, aftermarket handlebar clamp, Yoshimura Cyclone full system, PC111, it's been dyno mapped, has PAIR blanks, came with a rack and top box, it had a rad guard.

The Bad:
The clocks were smashed and damp had got into them. The tank is heavily dented, pegs / lever / cases / headlight etc had bad gravel rash.   I added to the damage when tired and pissed off I had the headlight pulled out and resting on the front guard as I sorted the electrics, the headlight melted a dent in the front guard... Dhoo!!! It's still has the original rubber brake lines and 6-plops. The chain guard was bent but I hammered it flat, OK but not pretty. Hardest thing to fix will probably be the VERY LOUD 3rd gear.

6 years later I've done nothing to it other than a cam chain, oil and filter, rear chain and several tyres and a 30mm jack-up kit.    It does regular 1000k / 600 mile weekends all year round, Macksville, Agnes Waters, The Oxley etc. It gets a LOT of use.

It got a pair of Renthal 789 bars (same as all my bikes get) a set of KOSO clocks from the wife as a wedding present, and pair of mirrors nicked off my Bandit. The square headlight was a spare that came off my 1980 ET, it had been modded and holes filled in and I had a stock one I wanted to use instead.

Today...

[Tony Nitrous]

Today:

[Tony Nitrous]

Apart from the loud 3rd gear it works very well. I've ridden quite a few 14's and this one has a strong motor compared to others with similar mods.

It's never going to a money pit as I have other bikes and projects, but looking at what it could use to put it back how it should be or to fix some issues....

Tank.
Clocks.
left engine Case.
Levers.
3rd gear fixing.
Alloy cases / fork legs polishing.
Maybe a headlight (but I don't mind the one that's now on it)
Forks could do with a rebuild, slightly soft for my taste, although I am a fan of shorter travel USD front ends / radial calipers.
Braided lines.
New chain guard.
4 pot calipers or radials on adapters.
Steering damper to regain a slight loss of top speed stability from raising the rear (which I don't want to change)

In reality, it's very useable and I'd travel anywhere on it as it is.

[ARH]

Tony... are you running a shorter chain?  Just fitted a new chain to mine and I'm only showing 4 adjustment bars on the swing arm....
Barmy's gonna cringe when he sees that pic 

[Hooli]

I'm not often a fan of different lights but that square one looks good on there.

[T250]

I'm not often a fan of different lights but that square one looks good on there.

Yeah I agree, it looks different but does suit the bike, harks back to the old Yams and Suzy's, I'll go and grab my flame proof coat now 

[seth]

@Blubber had the same style of headlight and it looked great .

[shanered6]

Is the 14's name Jeckle and Hide ?.... on the right side its all serenity and nice looking ! ...... then on the left side its all narly and grizzly ! ..... but i think it will not take to much to tidy Hide up