Hi guys! It’s Paul here with my turn on Project Shadowblade. Today, we finally got the Cbr frame back from the painters. An unfortunate delay was caused by someone dripping paint thinner on part of the frame and burned off some of the paint. Therefore, we had to get the frame repainted. Check out the video.

As you saw from our short video, we went with Honda Accord silver to keep with the Honda family theme. Next up, we’ll be sourcing an engine from a junk yard, eBay or Craigslist. Let us know if you happen across a good deal!

As always, be sure to check out CBR Boards for more Honda Cbr fun! Stay tuned!

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Please Note: if I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times. Get a bud to help you on this. You can’t possibly have enough hands.

First, take stock of your turn signal situation. Are they mounted to the saddlebag brackets? If not, high five! A couple monkeys could this job in five minutes, so I won’t bother telling you how. If they are mounted to the saddlebag brackets, take a stiff drink. Then remove the VT750’s seat and uncouple the turn signals and the rear brake light.

Soon, you’ll need to remove the rear fender so you can proceed to rewiring your turn signals to their original hardpoints. This process involves the wiring for your taillight, too. Alternatively you could just pull off the signals, cut the wires and install new couplings. Seriously, send a diagram to andrew@inlineperformancemag.com to show me how.

Next, we remove the four bolts that connect the saddlebag brackets, frame, and fender (and sissy bar). Try not to lose all the bolts’ washers in the process.

Flip the fender and work the wiring out of the fender’s frame so that you can then remove the wiring from the saddlebag brackets, after you’ve pulled off the turn signals. Go ahead and reattach the turn signals to the fender’s hardpoints, and work all that wiring back through the fender’s frame. You may want to test your signals and taillight before you do this (read: Murphy’s Law).

Reattach the fender (and sissy bar, if you have one) to the motorcycle frame. Here’s where your bud – or spare monkey – comes in handy, because it’s hard to line up that fender, the frame, and those stupid tiny washers by yourself. Everything fits together very snugly, and on top of that, you don’t want to scratch the fender’s fine paint job.

Make sure everything works, then reattach the seat. Congratulations! You now know the back end of your Shadow like only an owner should. And you’ll be sure to bring some help. Did I mention bringing help? It’s probably a good idea to have some help.

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The IPM team is proud to present its newest endeavor, Project Shadowblade. We will, over the course of the next few months, replicate a 2009 Honda CBR1000RR from the bottom up. It’s a feat we’ve already accomplished with the building of Project Daytona 675. With Project Shadowblade, we’re looking forward to even better results.

Last weekend we received the first part of the new bike: a donated CBR1000RR chassis. It took a good twenty minutes to strip it down and clean it up (see video above), and now all we have to do is drop it off for a nice paint job. Straying from the traditional blacks, reds and greens, we’ve opted for an eerie bone-white, or Honda silver, something to really set this machine apart.

The other task ahead of us will be sourcing and assembling the remainder of the parts. It’ll take some skillful sleuthing, a little outside help, and a whole lot of funds, but we at IPM are confident we can pull everything together to produce a lean, mean motorcycle worthy of our already-impressive tradition of Triumphs, Suzukis, Ducatis and KTMs. A Honda, you say? It’s about time.

Stay tuned for frequent updates from the IPM garage. As always, your support is appreciated!

Stay tuned for more updates and be sure to check out CBR Boards for more information.

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Hello all! This being my first piece for Inline Performance Magazine, I suppose there are some things that need to be said – how great it is to join the team, the excellent setup IPM has that stable of fine-tuned rocketships that we’ll be taking turns guarding with shotguns every night.

My own experience with motorcycles includes a couple years of travel overseas, a cross-country trip and a whole lot of Eastern Seaboard riding, during which I only rode Hondas and, unfortunately never found anything negative to say about the monolithic Japanese manufacturer. Nothing negative to say, that is, until the IPM team introduced me to the Daytona 675 that I’ll be riding, a machine as exhilarating as it is hopped up on aftermarket tech (you’d need NASA to track it, except a Remus exhaust system pretty much nuls all attempts at stealth).

And now I know what’s been missing from my Honda experience. “I’m sorry, baby, but the emotion is gone…”

Anyway, I’ll be updating twice weekly on the Daytona (with video once a week), and I’ll include the odd word or two about my Honda “Lets-Just-Be-Friends” Shadow as issues arise. In conclusion: it is good to join the team. IPM is looking strong and until we install the incendiaries, I’ll be out front with the shotgun Tuesday nights.

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Alas, it has finally happened. My 2000 Honda Cbr929rr, my first real sportbike, the bike that has taught me the most about motorcycling, has perished.

Not only have I logged the most miles of my young riding career on this thing, but due to its Jekyll and Hyde personality, I have learned much about the finer side of riding through its troubles and problems.

As you may recall, this bike was sold to me through a “friend,” and I use that term loosely (I’ll tell you later). After selling my Zx-6r, and not riding for about a week, I felt like a crack fiend after a binge, and had the itch to get back on a bike ASAP.

The Fireblade had previously been used as a stunt bike, and this should have sent red flags a-waving, but I was still very naive about the mechanics of motorcycles at the time, and did not know a fraction of what I have learned since then.

I was told by this “friend” that it was fully rebuilt and ready to go. It just needed paint and new fairings. I was told this repeatedly and since he worked for a local shop that I trusted, I chose to buy the bike from him. It was a huge mistake in the end, but the amount of knowledge and lessons I have learned from buying/riding/fixing this bike is unparalleled.

The Fireblade, or The Beast as I call it, started me off with a very steep learning curve. Not only was I still very new to riding, but this bike also had a lot of quirks and issues from being so badly abused by the previous owner. I bought the bike in the winter time and soon had to learn how to handle this large excess of power on very wet and slippery roads. This took a lot of time and a lot of near misses, but I now have no problem riding in the rain, through the hills, on any bike. I have also started learning how to work on bikes because of this thing constantly breaking down.

Most people would not ride this bike, or deem me crazy for doings the things I do on it, but it is mine and I loved it no matter how bad of shape it was in. It was like having an ugly child, it’s still your kid and you love it no matter what.

A few weeks back, the fuel injection system started going haywire. It would randomly shut off. It was extremely unnerving and very dangerous. It happened many times at freeway speed and also in the middle of turns up in the mountains. When the fuel would cut out, the bike would lunge forward then back as the rear wheel began to lock.

I took it back to the “friend’s” shop to have it fixed, but they said they rode it and felt no problems. This was laughable but it seemed the only one who knew how bad it was, was me. I rode it for a few weeks in this shape which was scary to say the least.

Finally, I took it for one last ride in the mountains despite reasonable concerns for safety. I found that if I never used the brakes, thus not having to use throttle as much I was able to keep it from cutting out a bit longer. I used the brakes a handful of times on 20 miles through the mountains, kept my cornering speeds very high and used only minimal throttle. The bike only died out 4 times on the way back but one was mid turn as I decided to give it a touch more throttle than usual. It cut out then came back on hard causing the rear tire to slip then regain traction fast also known as a high-side.

The bike tried to catapult me over the side and into a mountain, but despite having one leg in the air, I managed to keep the other planted on the inside foot peg. This was the closest I have came to crashing in a long time and it turns out my excess weight might have saved me from a horrible crash in this situation.

I made it back the rest of the way without issue from the bike. The best part was coming through a high speed left hand sweeper going down hill, where a HUGE deer with a GIANT set of antlers was posing majestically in front of the backdrop overlooking the valley. As I came into the turn, I looked straight into the deer’s eyes and he looked back at me. An eerie calmness took over me, like I knew everything was going to be fine. By the time I arrived in the town of Saratoga, I hopped off my bike to take a breather. I looked over my bike and laughed when I checked the tires. The sides were shredded as if I had gone to a track day. Normally I would not brag about this, as this meant I was being completely stupid and unsafe, but not this time. This ride, I knew, was going to be my last on my bike. I knew it was never going to see a track day now, but maybe, just maybe, it got to taste a little of the track on its last mountain ride.

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