Reassembly

With the frame painted to my satisfaction, the next step was to reassemble the bike for street duty. By this time I had realized that I has missed any reasonable chance to put the bike on the street for th 07 season, so I breathed deeply, slowed down, and set about doing things right. Of the trick race parts, the only thing which remained was the Paoli shock and the slipper clutch, as well as the carbs. The wheels went to help pay for the piano and street parts, and so I had to decide what to do about a tail section and lighting. And I was beginning to realize the underengine exhaust would not look right on the bike...

I was able to find a 5.5" rear SS wheel and a matching SBK front rim off of ebay and ducati.ms. I went in circles trying to find a matching Braking front rotor -- the design changed (the shape of the petals), and I guess the racer had the last of the old style. I was able to sell off what I had, and went with pretty simple stock OEM brake rotors for the front. I splurged on some Nissin 6-piston front calipers... expensive, but pads are a cinch to find (Kawasaki items), and they were a direct bolt on. I picked up a neat carbon-fibre front fairing with "vent screens" (gimmick!), and dealt with the speedo/tacho/oil temp/turn signals/etc. with a electrosport guage package -- pretty simple to install! For lighting, I got a dual headlight kit from a distributor on the net. Decent quality, and has a real cafe-racer look to it. Some fiddiling to get it to work right with the Ducati switchgear, but I sussed it out. The forward tank mount was a bit interesting... had to buy an SBK airbox and cut most of it away, but what I have is a properly-mounted tank. Clip-ons stayed the same, and the ignition/lock bolted right on. Still waiting to get a stock steering damper. Then I found the tail I fell in love with -- a MV Agusta clone to work with the Ducati SBK biposto subframe. This suited my needs perfectly, as I had to put the battery in the tail section of the bike. No room in the front!