“Anyway I bought the bike and took
it home for some TLC. I stripped it down completely
and cleaned the hell out of it, then, to dust off
the cobwebs, I jumped on and did a 10,000km round
trip to Queensland and beyond.” But Wolf admits, “They
were my cobwebs, not the bike’s. I hadn’t ridden for
15 years so I had some catching up to do!”
The trip gave Wolf plenty of miles to get to know
the R1 and by the time he got home he knew he was
in for the long haul. Says Wolf, “I could see what
I wanted but I wasn’t in any rush. I felt the bike
was a keeper and therefore I decided to bide my time
and get things right. I started with an Over Racing
exhaust, Micron muffler and Cataloonya Splash paint
job at first and went up from there over a period
of two or so years.”
When the time came to get serious about modifications
Wolf stripped the bike again and started going to
town. The frame, swingarm, triple clamps, calipers,
wave rotors, front and rear master cylinders and levers,
clutch lever, wheels, aircraft-style fuel filler cap,
engine covers and a host of other parts were sent
to Martin Cook at Electromold for Nicoshine coating.
The results speak for themselves but there’s always
more to a story than meets the eye. Wolf sighs, “You
know, I polished all the alloy bits myself before I
had the Nicoshine done. I did all of it with just a
drill. My whole garage was black, I’ll tell you, and
trying to maintain the shine I wanted was a nightmare.
Every time I went for a ride I had to polish it all
so after a few months I stripped the bike again and
sent it all to Martin!”
The chassis went back together with the addition
of an Ohlins steering damper, re-valved and rebuilt
forks, Goodridge brake lines and a set of sticky Michelin
Pilot Sports – a fat 200-section rear offering the
tough look that Wolf was after. “I like the look of
the 200-section rear hoop but to counteract its affect
on the steering I had to raise the ride-height up
quite a lot. I did that with a set of custom 25mm-lift
linkages.”
Wolf had the linkages blue-anodised, along with the
custom billet rearsets, ‘pegs, pillion ‘pegs, fairing
fasteners and anything else that is blue.
With
all the chassis components sorted Wolf turned
his attention to the bodywork. The front and
lower sections were to remain 1999 R1 but Wolf
wanted a custom seat cowl with custom leather
seats. “I put the task in the hands of Custom
Bike Repairs in Dandenong and they did a great
job, cutting and shutting a 2002 R1 tail unit
to suite. It is exactly what I wanted – subtle
yet effective.” Vince at AMT Motor Trimmers
sorted out the seat, which also looks great. |
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The next step was the artwork. Wolf wanted something
that would reflect his personality and offer him a
bit of individuality. A wolf theme was the obvious
choice. “I must have consulted at least eight artists
but none of them struck me as dedicated enough to
do the job right. Then, by chance, I met Lynette from
AirFX. She immediately started looking over the bike
and sketching a rough plan. In the end she did a brilliant
job and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
With everything in place back at home in the garage
Wolf started the careful process of assembling the
bike. The chassis went together without a hitch, the
addition of anodised handlebars topping off an already
impressive set up. The bodywork, however, was still
not quite right. So to help show off the artwork Wolf
fitted an iridium screen, White Diamond headlight
covers, flush-mount indicators and LED show lights.
He also fitted carbon-fibre guards both front and
rear – the former copping a heap of cutting and some
plated stainless grill. Nice.
“So by now I’m happy with the finish of the bike
but I’m thinking that it needs to go as well as it
looks,” Wolf grins, “So I dropped her off to Pete
at Pete’s Pitstop in Narrawarren and told him to put
her on the happy gas!”
Pete, who has 20 years experience working on performance
bikes, had just finished his own NOS project Hayabusa
so was well up to speed on the ins’ and outs’ of it
all. “Being a carb’d bike Wolf’s R1 was only suitable
for a full wet NOS set up, which is the way to go
anyway,” Says Pete, “So I went about putting it all
together, paying particular attention to appearance
and discretion in terms of all the plumbing and wiring.
Wolf’s bike is so immaculate that I had a hard time.
I must have spent four hours on the bottle mounting
alone. It had to be just right.”
The bottle is a two-pounder and in its current set-up
the kit is flowing around 60-horsepower through the
NOS foggers. “There is a separate fuel system for
the nitrous so the bike is running an auxiliary fuel
pump,” Pete adds, “I made up a wide-open-throttle
switch and Wolf arms the system by flicking a switch
on the left-hand panel and hitting the horn button.
It’s a straight 60-horsepower hit, there’s no progressive
controller, just one big hit.”
All the gauges are NOS and Wolf runs a single bottle
heater that, as Pete points out, is a crucial tool
in NOS. “The heater really is very important as it
helps to regulate the pressure and therefore the jetting.
It’s fine if the pressure rises in the heat because
that’ll only cause some rich running, but let it drop
and things lean right out – melting pistons in a flash.”
|
All
up Wolf rates the NOS highly, but warns others
of its inherent dangers. “It’s addictive to
say the least. My bottle is always empty because
I just can’t help myself!”
Yep. You guessed it. Wolf has
done his licence since the NOS went on. Painful?
Hell yeah – but nowhere near as tough as watching
his ex ride the bike for our photo shoot. Now
that’s harsh! Wolf, mate, you’re one tough dude. |
WET AND DRY NOS
A wet NOS set-up is suitable for carburetion
or fuel injection and comprises of two foggers – one
for fuel and one for nitrous – and an injector nozzle
for each cylinder. The nitrous is injected directly
into each port and is very accurate in terms of distribution.
It is also possible to flow high horsepower due to
the multiple nozzles. Benefits include high horsepower,
accuracy and therefore engine reliability. Bad points
include cost and complicated fitting procedures.
A dry NOS set-up is only suitable for injected bikes
because it uses the fuel regulator to increase supply
during nitrous injection. A dry system is not as accurate
as a wet system because it uses a spray bar to flow
the nitrous and fuel into the airbox so port shape
and design ultimately determine distribution. A dry
system can’t flow as much horsepower as a wet system
because it only has one outlet. Benefits include affordability
and ease of installation. Bad points include limited
horsepower increases, inaccurate metering and more
chance of engine failure as a result.
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE 1999 Yamaha R1, Over Racing full system,
Micron muffler, Dyno Jet kit, K&N filter, NOS
full wet system flowing 60-horsepower CHASSIS 1999
Yamaha R1, Nicoshine frame, swingarm, triple clamps,
calipers, wave rotors, front and rear master cylinders
and levers, clutch lever, wheels and aircraft-style
fuel filler cap. Anodised custom billet rear-sets,
anodised fasteners, ride-height linkages, re-valved
forks, Ohlins steering damper, Goodridge brake lines,
custom 2002 R1 seat cowl, custom leather seats, custom
paint and airbrush artwork, iridium screen, carbon-fibre
front and rear guards, White Diamond headlight covers,
flush-mount indicators, custom mirrors, LED show lights,
custom fuel cap, NOS gauges, Michelin Pilot Sport
radials 120/70 – 17in (f), 200/55 – 17in (r) HORSEPOWER
190 at the wheel SPECIAL THANKS Natalie Choveaux,
Electromold, Custom Bike Repairs, Road Rocket, AMT
Motor Trimmers, Power Bronze, AirFX Studio, Pete’s
Pitstop
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