Headlight halos set the tone...
Headlight halos set the tone for a light show of 300+ blue LEDs hidden throughout. 3D strips of dark texture create a marble slab effect. Dual D&D pipes won’t help add many neighborhood freinds to your Facebook account.
From a mechanical standpoint, there are two kinds of people: the doers and those who pass the wrench to a more skilled hand. There is nothing wrong with the latter, but being hands-on teaches things missed when taking a back seat to maintenance. Korey Chick may not be an engineer but he gladly dove into the intricate business of disassembling his R1 for the sheer experience. Without onsite help, he devised a plan to tear down his ’05 Yamaha, mend the 17K miles worth of wear and then rebuild it: “I’m the kind of person who takes something apart to learn how it functions before putting it back together. The bike build was one of those types of situations. I tore it apart, looked at it and figured since it was apart I might as well play with it. It was an educational thing to me too. I wanted to understand the bike I was riding. My overwhelming thought through the whole process was how someone could create so much power, so much acceleration and speed in such a compact package. It’s ridiculous.”
With confidence in his abilities, Korey waged a two-year battle, working long hours for parts money and finding the time to rebuild from the block up. It is one thing to tear a bike down, but reassembling a motorcycle stripped to the engine for the first time is nearly impossible without reference. Forward thinking, detailed records and occasional advice from pros kept the custom restoration moving smoothly: “Bolt by bolt I made an assembly line of parts so I wouldn’t mess something up when I put it back together. I took a bunch of pictures and occasionally called a dealership to ask about a part’s purpose or how to get it off.”
Headlight halos set the tone...
Headlight halos set the tone for a light show of 300+ blue LEDs hidden throughout. 3D strips of dark texture create a marble slab effect. Dual D&D pipes won’t help add many neighborhood freinds to your Facebook account.
As the motor rested on a stand, boxes of parts shipped out for a bling bath at Gorilla’s Polishing. With hard parts away at chrome, the bodywork and various components went for paint. Kelly Lemon with Hot House Custom Paint took an idea Korey conjured up to the next level by layering various coats of House of Kolor oriental blue over the abstract graphic motif. With each new layer of candy blue the shade became darker. The shapes were also pinstriped and airbrushed with drop shadows for a multidimensional effect. Numerous layers of clearcoat were then applied and polished by Choate Paint & Body for a mirror finish.
While plastics were being sprayed, Korey returned to getting his R1 road worthy. Money spent on aesthetics left little for power adders—a minor detail for a guy happy with the Yamaha’s natural giddy up. D&D slip-ons with polished piping and a K&N air filter were it for motor mods. A nitrous system sits stagnant however, because prior to completion, a friend crashed while spraying the juice and that left Korey gun shy about sucking off the bottle. Realizing instant HP wasn’t something he qualified for at the moment, he attacked the final task—wiring. Electrical work proved his last but largest headache: “Electronics are really tough on these things because it’s a nightmare if you mess up one little thing. The hardest part of electronics is pinpointing the issue.”
Power properly pulsing through the system, the end sat only a few fairing screws away. It had been a very long time coming and all the hours invested both at work and in the garage had finally paid off, twice. On one hand, he had a show bike that turned out unexpectedly well for a first time attempt. On the other, the expertise he gained from ripping a ride down to the block was invaluable. Deciding which is worth more is pointless when at the end of the day he came away with both a cool bike and an intimate understanding for what he was riding. ssb
Headlight halos set the tone...
Headlight halos set the tone for a light show of 300 blue LEDs hidden throughout. 3D strips of dark texture create a marble slab effect. Dual D&D pipes won’t help add many neighborhood freinds to your Facebook account.
Dual D&D pipes won't help...
Dual D&D pipes won't help add many neighborhood friends to your Facebook account.
Headlight halos set the tone...
Headlight halos set the tone for a light show of 300 blue LEDs hidden throughout. 3D strips of dark texture create a marble slab effect. Dual D&D pipes won’t help add many neighborhood freinds to your Facebook account.
Motor: D&D exhaust, K&N air filter, nitrous purge system
Chrome/Polish: Gorilla’s Polishing Corp.
Paint: Choate Paint & Body, Hot House Custom Paint
Accessories: Volar Motorsport swingarm spools, chrome components, frame sliders, D&D slip-on, polished pipe, blue LED cluster kit, headlight and intake angel eyes, HID conversion kit, Stingerz level 2 LED lights, Black Magic light controller, custom solo seat cowl, integrated taillight, mirror block-offs
Owner/Builder: Korey Chick