2006 Hornet

[Gareth]

Around early September last year I got to chatting to a mate who's basically given up on biking and had pretty much abandoned his 2006 600 Hornet to the elements for about 2 or 3 years. It lay up, under a cover, on the street, outside his house. The fella was never sympathetic towards his bikes in the past and one way or another, his bikes usually ended up at mine for a full service and a rake of new parts every other year, so, I actually know the bike very well.

Picked it up at the end of September and went about identifying any major work the bike needed. Mechanically, the bike is sound, cosmetically, it's bad. Parts have furred up and/or rusted. The chain only ever got lube on top of lube and never cleaned. Knowing what all was needed for the bike, we agreed on a price and I loaded it up and heading to it's new home.

It is very low mileage for the age,

But condition isn't great,

 

[Gareth]

Further assessment and strip down ensued. Chain cleaned up very well, as did some other grubby looking bits,

Swingarm cleaned,

Then the rest of the bike stripped and the carbs cleaned and float heights checked and reset,

Snapped throttle cable removed and both replaced,

 

[Gareth]

Caliper pulled off, stripped and cleaned and pistons tidied up too. Might need to replace the pistons, but I'll try this first,

Carbs rebuilt and bike rebuilt and tried to get the bike up and running. The battery is dead, it'll be replaced and hopefully that's all that's wrong, don't really fancy replacing the reg/rec and/or stator. Bike ran well, but the fuel must be dead and didn't take the battery long to expire.

 

[Gareth]

Now that's it's in a better place, I went about tackling the years of dirt,

Exhaust tidied up a bit, still more to do,

I parked the bike up then for a few months, until I got back at it this week,

 

[Gareth]

This week I've bought a new rear disc, pads all round, new lower and wider bars, the forks are going off to PLR to be refreshed and I still need a battery and fresh fuel. Last night I stripped out the headlight and clocks to find what had taken residence up in there. A lovely Spider family have now been evicted. I've tried to tidy the paint up a little too.

And it sat against the MSX for comedy value,

 

[Chris666]

Awesome

 

[Gareth]

Aim is to get it back to standard, maybe a slip on and get the wheels blasted and powder coated, but no major plans.

 

[Gavlar]

Looking brilliant!

 

[Gareth]

Hopefully have it sorted by the end of the month

 

[DaddyCC]

Jesus you're making this look easy! Brillaint effort rescuing this bike and thankfully it looks to be going to plan

Love that colour of blue Honda did, really metallicy and always wanted it on a car lol. Oh what black magic is this using Harpic on the exhaust? Never heard that one before lol.

 

[Gareth]

Oh what black magic is this using Harpic on the exhaust? Never heard that one before lol.

Haha, not a big secret, but it really strips a load of crap from stainless. Not very labour intensive and it eats away years of dirt and grime. Just whack it on, leave for a few minutes and wipe it off. You can polish the stainless up afterwards if you like, but I'm not gonna go that far, I just needed the bad look off it.

 

[hannakournikova]

Looking great. Nice shape hornet with the USD forks to get.

 

[Chris666]

Oh what black magic is this using Harpic on the exhaust? Never heard that one before lol.

10% hydrochloric acid, brush onto pipes and leave for 10 mins or so

*** wear gloves!

 

[Gareth]

*** wear gloves!

^^^^^^^^^^
100% this

 

[Gareth]

Trying to get it as close to this as possible, but without wingmirrors. I hate the bloody things.

 

[mikey]

Loved my 2003 Hornet. Colour is called Candy Xenon Blue! Highly recommend an MIVV can as fitted to mine, really tidies them up and excellent quality.

 

[bif1k]

me too

 

[DriftnSlide]

With so many trick aftermarket parts for them, it will be a challenge to keep it standard and not drag a lot more power and handling out of it. lol
Nice work so far.

 

[Gareth]

Slip-on maybe, but not much else. Forks are heading off to be rebuilt and refreshed and the wheels getting dropped off to be coated on Thursday. The rear shock is in a terrible shape and will be replaced. An Ohlins would be nice, but out of budget.

 

[Gareth]

All ready for a rebuild and repaint. Gonna fit new bearing wheel I'm putting the wheels back together.

 

[DriftnSlide]

Slip-on maybe, but not much else..

For about 3 months, until enough CBRs have went past you on the straight bits. LOL

 

[NotKG]

lovely,
i just sprayed a divvy set about 3 yrs back with rattle cans,, and it lasted very well.

 

[Gareth]

For about 3 months, until enough CBRs have went past you on the straight bits. LOL

I've a CBR there too

 

[Scuba Steve]

outstanding work my friend! keep it up!

 

[Gareth]

Parts starting to arrive