CBR1000RR Mods

I am sure there are many different types of modification that you can do to a Blade, some worth the money and some not. The CBR1000RR is an extremely well tuned bike as standard, so don't be under the impression that modifications will produce large BHP gains. From articles that I have read, even after spending a fortune you may only get a handful of extra horses. I have listed some of the common modifications below and will discuss the merits of each one. Where I have done the modification to my bike, I will document what was done and add some pictures.

Air Filters

This is a relatively simple Mod and can almost be classed as routine maintenance / servicing. There are lots of aftermarket filter available which all make claims about improving airflow etc. etc. With this in mind I did look to buy a replacement filter but thought that it merited some investigation. Move over retail hype bring on Google.

There are quite a few forums where people are happy to spend all their spare time arguing about this (get a life please). After spending an hour or so reading through all this chaf I stumbled upon a few posts from race tuning dudes in America. The company actually Dyno tested the same 2007 Blade with a standard filter and then with a well known after market filter (sure you can guess which one). The incredible thing is that the aftermarket filter actually resulted in a drop of 1.5 BHP. Seems that Honda really have thought of everything here so save yourself some cash, it does not seem to be worth the effort. I guess you could argue that such a small variance could have been brought about by a change in air pressure/temperature between dyno runs but even if this is the case the differences are so marginal you would be better spending cash elsewhere. After all you cannot even see a filter!

Having said this I am sure there are some pure race filters that may be better. However, these filters are not generally designed to cope with the amount of shit you find on public roads in the UK. When was the last time you sat behind a truck kicking out more smoke that a cola fired power station. Don't see many of these on the track. The race filters usually have two layers of mesh whereas road filters would have 4, so you have to think about the health of your engine here.

Levers

Stubby levers look really cool! OK, I have said it, but would I actually put them on my bike?

This is another area where there are lots of manufacturers offering all sorts of designs / colours and sizes. Whether you add some of these really comes down to cosmetic preference. If you Bike already has adjustable levers then adding some aftermarket ones is not going to give you any benefits here.

Some people seem to prefer the short levers and will tell you that they only use two fingers anyway. If this is you then great, they also look good so it is worth doing. The downside is that some people report that loosing leverage through shorter levers, means you also need the finger muscles of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Lots of clutch action in traffic can lead to fatigue.

The best way to gauge if a mod is worth doing is to look at what they use in MotoGP. Here you will see that they all use standard length levers.

Flapper Mod

First time I read a forum post, which mentioned the flapper mod, I though this was some kind of underwear adjustment. Actually they were not talking bullshit and this turned out to be the best and cheapest modification that I have made to date.

So what is a "Flapper"?

Well, for Honda to get the Blade through some stringent noise and emission regulations, they have actually restricted the air intake at lower rpm. When you start your bike the vents on the front of air-box are wide open, to allow easy starting, but as soon as the engine starts they are shut. This leaves two tiny openings for air to get into your engine, not at all what we want. When you accelerate the flaps remain closed right up to 5,000-6,000 rpm when they re-open. Apparently, measurements are not taken at higher rpm when considering if the regulations have been met. Bizarre but works in our favour, so "well done" government officials.

What the flapper mod does, is disable the mechanism that shuts the flaps at the front of the airbox.

How do you make the modification?

This is so easy it is ridiculous! All you have to do is pull off one vacuum tube and your done. Flap now stays open all the time. You should really plug up the pipe you have disconnected and tape up the unit it fits to so dust does not get in but this takes five minutes.

Some people go one step further with this and dismantle the airbox, so that the flaps can be completely removed. This is a lot of extra work and in my opinion unnecessary.

So What are the Benefits?

The Bike is considerable louder at lower rpm. Nice!
There is much more torque at lower rpm
Increased performance. Cannot measure this but it feels more responsive.
If you have added an aftermarket exhaust which removed the exhaust valve the engine can run a bit lumpy at low rpm. This mod actually seems rebalances things.

Are there any disadvantages?

No, just go out to the garage and do it now. You will have finished before the kettle has boiled.

I will add some pictures from my bike when I get a chance but in the meantime you can find further detail, including pictures at Rogue Racings website.

After Market Exhaust

Power Commanders

Rear End Tidy Up / Integrated indicator tail light

The Tail Tidy's that are available for the 2006/2007 CBR 1000 are not great looking. They also have large indicator brackets which i was trying to loose, as I have fitted an integrated tail light. The only option was a visit to B&Q to buy some aluminum strip and make one.