The 919 Transalp Project

As I mentioned in another thread, I had test ridden several bikes, mentally recording their respective handling characteristics until one bike up and pegged my fun meter. The 1050 Tiger has torque by the ton, acceleration, totally nimble road manners and an upright adventure touring rider position. The 2007 Tiger however, was not in the budget. It wasn't until I rode that first 919 that I knew this balance of power and handling I loved about the Tiger could be had for a price I could afford.

So here's what I've been up to. The first bit of mods are complete. I raised the stock suspension as much as I dared, 38mm front/close to 50mm rear, added a set of Dunlop D616, the gnarliest tires I could find in a 180'55/70 and moved the grips up and out with Tusk Raptor bars.










First test ride today - so far so good. I'm very pleased There's plenty more to do. The Moose Racing oversized hand guards will go on this week. Pipes, crash bars, skid plate, and hard bags are also in the works.

Stay tuned.

more pics

Likey!

Very nice. Start thinking about fabricating a skid-plate. SW-motech makes bag mounts and adaptors for different bags. Givi, Hepco&Becker, Trax, or Pelican cases. I always thought 919 was a good platform for sport touring never thought about making a dual sport out of it. Great idea.

Whats the big round thing on the left handlebar with the wires going to it? looking again the wires might not be going to it, they might be going to the clutch switch.. Would still like to know what the round thing is.

Gary

Let me know how the crash bars go on. I've seen them and thought about adding them on mine.

Thrasherg said:

Whats the big round thing on the left handlebar with the wires going to it? looking again the wires might not be going to it, they might be going to the clutch switch.. Would still like to know what the round thing is.

Gary

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Oh that's just my shield wipe cup so's I can clean our Texas sized bugs off my visor without stopping.

Thanks Ken, I ride a wing so the bugs never get past my barn door windscreen to hit my visor!! Nice idea to have some wipes to hand when riding..

Gary

Cool. Keep going.

I don't know if it'll help, but here's a guy who did what you are looking at and perhaps so much more, with an FZ1. He's also got this posted over at advrider as well. Might be worth looking through for some ideas.

http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113304

gixxerjasen said:

I don't know if it'll help, but here's a guy who did what you are looking at and perhaps so much more, with an FZ1. He's also got this posted over at advrider as well. Might be worth looking through for some ideas.

http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113304

Click to expand...

No that is just COOL!!!!

gixxerjasen said:

I don't know if it'll help, but here's a guy who did what you are looking at and perhaps so much more, with an FZ1. He's also got this posted over at advrider as well. Might be worth looking through for some ideas.

http://www.yamahafz1oa.com/forum/showthread.php?t=113304

Click to expand...

Yes, there are several such conversions in this thread on ADV too.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=330726

This project will be tamer than some. I have no plans to do river crossings, single track or hit the whoops at 60mph.
The goal is to have the 919 set up for touring with the ability to do a little dirt and gravel work once in a while.

So far I'm very pleased with the bike's highway manners and the new bars put the grips almost up and back enough. Any more would involve new cables. She'll see no real dual sport use until fitted with crash bars and skid plate but at least the 919 Transalp project is off to a flying start.

Here's an update. I've been stealing garage time here and there when I can.

I got rid of the #2 pine puck. I modified a sidestand from an unidentified donor. Heat (acetylene) is a wonderful thing.



I drilled holes in the back of the stand and in a washer to accommodate the Bike's rotary safety switch.



And lastly, I welded tabs to the stand and cut a piece of aluminum in an oval to make a permanent puck.



I adjusted the bar position hoping to avoid shelling out for custom cables and added the Moose Racing hand guards. The mods required for the hand guards made it easy to mount my heated gear controllers.

I got the chance to throw the switch on the old stick welder - and that's usually a sign of a pretty good day. The plan is to adapt my old homemade Seahorse case rig to the 919.
I got off to a pretty good start.




Days later, I worked on the side case install. I'm trying desperately to make this rig job of a rig job not look like a rig job. The only place to hang a bracket on the 919 is the muffler mounts inside the tail plastic. Here's what I came up with.


This made replacing the tail section a little tricky.


I needed to make new rear top case supports but found myself short on material. What to do? Oh, this'll work.


Perfect.

I've never been much for naming bikes but I've been pressed to come up with one for the red beast. Since this project was inspired by the 1050 Tiger . . . .


. . . . . I thought it fitting to call her "The Tigress."

Progress is slow. Work gets in the way. Some or all of the major mods I have slated for this bike might have to wait until after the big trip next month. But those protruding top case bracket bolt heads had to go - especially before I throw a dry bag across the pillion.


The only flat head cap screws I could find were barely long enough and didn't quite work. So here I go head long into the man cave short on time with limited tools. I ground about 1/4" off the spacers that go between the grab bar and the top case mounting bracket and then drilled into said bracket to countersink the bolt heads.


Now the new bolts will be long enough but the heads are still too big. Not for long . . . .



Voila! Close enough for rock 'n roll.


As always, I filed this rig job under "Desperation is the Mother of Invention."

UPDATE:

I put the Tigress through a bit of a road test - 4,000 miles worth. I started off with a BB1500 and touched 19 states in 13 days.



RIDE REPORT

I learned a few things. The bike's performance was absolutely flawless. The CB900F has a huge power band - plenty of grunt in any gear - more juice than I'll ever need. My minor suspension mods proved comfortable enough on long distance runs. The ergos need work: The bars need to go up another inch so I'll be ordering motionpro cables. The peg placement is a tad high on the 919 which wouldn't have been a problem if I'd had time to build the engine guards and added some highway pegs. My old knees were sufferin' the last few days on the road. The lack of the guards precluded much off road testing. I will say this smooth nimble tourer became a heavy beast in a hurry on fresh 1.5" limestone. Most importantly, I have some decision making to do regarding tires. The Dunlop D616 is a fantastic pavement tire - superb in the wet. However, I have already gone through 2 rears so the most I can expect is around 4500 miles. The front tire is pressure sensitive and @ 40psi can make the bike pretty twitchy and 80mph in the wind. Dropping it to 37psi made a huge improvement. Front tire tread is virtually unscathed @ 9k. The D616 will never inspire confidence, in me at least, off road. I'm not ready for the new fatboy TKC80 - especially @ $250 a copy. I don't expect to ever do more than 20% off road with this machine. I could throw in the towel and go back to the Storm St or Pilot Road and be happy. Or I can keep feeding this beast D616 rubber at least while looking for wheels suitable for a set of Anakee's, etc. Conclusion: I will need 2 sets of tires and wheels.



So it's a work in progress but she's an absolute blast to ride. Stay tuned.

Try some Heideau K60 sport tires if they have your size. Loving my front with a T63 Michelin on the rear. Woo hoo... and great on the pavement .
Frank

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

Nice project. How does it handle with the suspension changes?

Ken, I really like what you've done with the 900. I see that you don't have crash bars installed yet. Maybe fab a set up and add highways pegs for comfort. I run the Dunlop 616s on our Hypermotard. Not a bad tire. Glad to see your reports. Keep up the good work. Subscribed!!

fboldcrow said:

Try some Heideau K60 sport tires if they have your size. Loving my front with a T63 Michelin on the rear. Woo hoo... and great on the pavement .
Frank

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Thanks Frank. I'm hoping more tire makers will follow Conti's lead by offering the TKC80 in 180/55 and 120/70 sizes for 17" wheels. They're just a bit too aggressive for my riding style and wallet. I want something "middle-of-the-dirt-road" such as the Anakee or Tourance but their size chart stops at 150/70 - not enough girth for my 6" wide wheel. Currently, the only other 180/55 offerings I've seen are the Trail Attack and the D616. I really need to build those engine/tank guards and then get more comfortable playing on some dirt roads. Then I'll have a better idea how far I want to go with the tire/wheel swap thing.

Thanks Eric & RedPill. The 919's in stock trim have a tendency to buck a little. I backed off on dampening and rebound up front and raising the rear changed the shock angle a bit - both soften and smooth out the ride. It handles like a dream - think-and-go effortless - no pressure on the bars required - ever. It can get a bit twitchy at high speed in high wind though. Adjusting down a couple of psi in the front tire solves that. It's just enough to keep me reminded that this beast started out as a 428 pound muscle bike. Twisting the right drip still induces that same deep belly laugh. Now if I could just get those highway pegs on, I could ride pain-free for days and days.

Very Nicely Done. How were you able to raise the front and rear suspension?

Buellboy said:

Very Nicely Done. How were you able to raise the front and rear suspension?

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Thanks. Sorry my electric and internet have been down all day.
I can't post pics now but they're in my smugmug.
The rear was ridiculously easy. I drilled one hole to relocate the top shock mount. Up front I made 38mm spacers to go under the fork cartridges.

Ok here's pics. This little fork mod gives me 38mm lift. I removed the fork cartridges and dropped in a pair of 5/8" impact sockets fitted with 1/2" OD steel spacers to maintain alignment. A 60mm bolt holds the assembly in place. I had to grind a little off the bolt head on the left fork leg for axle clearance.


Before & after:


If I want more I'll have to go shopping for a dirt bike front end.

I stressed over the rear too until I saw how easy it was. One hole.


Slightly changing the shock angle softened the ride a bit which for my purpose is a good thing.

Thank you. I have owned two of these 919's, one silver, one candy red like yours.
The second one I traded for a Buell Ulyseys because it was an "adventure sport"
bike and I like the high riding position. Your mods could have saved me the trade.
You made this whole process so easy. If you open up your intake (remove backfire
screen on filter and flap in box) and have the insides removed from your exhaust's,
it really wakes the bike up. Maybe, off-road you really do not need the power/noise.

Buellboy said:

Thank you. I have owned two of these 919's, one silver, one candy red like yours.
The second one I traded for a Buell Ulyseys because it was an "adventure sport"
bike and I like the high riding position. Your mods could have saved me the trade.
You made this whole process so easy. If you open up your intake (remove backfire
screen on filter and flap in box) and have the insides removed from your exhaust's,
it really wakes the bike up. Maybe, off-road you really do not need the power/noise.

Click to expand...

Fortunately, the previous owner did the airbox flap mod. He also had a sweet sounding Two Brothers single can on the bike. It was a hard choice but I like the look of the factory pipes better and the tone produced by the Two Brothers unit would surely have gotten me into trouble.

I hope you're happy with the Uly - not the first time I heard this. I recently noticed a man eyeballing the bike in front of my shop. he appeared to be kicking himself. I stepped outside and greeted him. He told me he just sold his beloved 919 to buy a dual-sport.
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