| ICENI MOTOCYCLES |

Project Aim

Increase Power (it only has 100bhp)

Increase Torque

Lose some excess weight

Change its centre of gravity

Change its looks, but try to keep it a practical (ish) road bike

Done so Far

When I First bought the bike, I rode it around for a couple of months so I could get a feel for what I wanted from the finished project. And also because I wouldnt get to ride it for some time once the project began bearing in mind that due to this being my own personal bike, other workshop work would take priority, meaning I could not fix a finish date to this project as the majority of the work will take place after hours in my own time.

So the first thing we did was to run the bike on a Dyno to check the overall health of the bike (see graphs below). We also found the overall weight to give us an idea of what weight we can lose, and found the centre of gravity and weight bias to aid us in improving the handling of the bike. We then stripped the bike and began the long task of polishing the frame , swing arm and wheels and removing fairing mounting brackets and lugs from the frame and swing arm (as we wont be needing them) which is now complete.

I have completely stripped and rebuilt the engine checking absolutely everything for wear and replacing parts including the gearbox bearings and bottom-end bearings to ensure everything is at top spec.

I have given the cylinder heads a mild porting as well as matching the ports, Re-seating the valves and replacing the cam-chains.

The engine has been rebuilt and painted pearlescent black and placed back into the frame along with the fuel tank and wheels.

I have bought a very nice LCD unit that I will mount on the tank to remove the need for big, bulky clocks And a set of gold Gilles Variobars which are fully adjustable meaning I can set them to suit my riding position brilliantly.
I have also mounted a steering damper across the front of the forks making use of the existing headlight sub frame mounting lug which since the removal of the headlights and fairing has no other use.

The LCD and Variobars are now fitted and functional and I have managed to acquire the seat unit for a GSXR 1000 K4 which after repositioning a few mounting points, and reshaping it fits nicely onto the original TL sub frame (which also required some modification) aswell as the original TL front seat. I have also started cutting away the wiring loom and have striped it down to lose approximately 1 kilo just in wires, and have also fitted a Dynojet Power commander and multi function hub which will allow me to add more toys to it in the future.

After removing the standard airbox I have built a base plate to sit across the top of the injector bodies, this will form the bottom of the airbox with a couple of power filters on the injector bodies and the bottom of the tank acting as the top of the airbox.
this has also allowed me to mount the power commander and CDI unit to the underside of the tank aswell as constructing a battery shaped box to sit below the airbox base meaning there is nothing at all in the tail unit or under the seat.

More toys installed. first on the list, Exhaust. I decided to run with Hindle pipes, which I then modified to fit a pair of GSXR Akrapovic Cans, combined with the aggressive induction noise the bike now sounds like a true V-twin should. I then fitted new Hardened anodized Renthal sprockets to compliment the new gold chain.
Now for a little Technological Advancement, I could decide what to do about mirrors, the obvious answer was to go without, however, I do like to see behind me so I have taken delivery of a rear view camera with night vision and an LCD screen with wireless connection between the two.

Now that the TL is almost ridable I can now focus my attention on the styling and looks of the bike, I have purchased a headlight unit, which I would struggle to describe, so unfortunately you will have to wait for the pictures. As well as the headlight unit I have started design and production of the radiator side covers, which, wrapped around a stainless radiator cover from Beowulf look fantastic.
Now I just need to produce a surround for the LCD dash unit.

The wheels have been painted and as usual Breckland Body Centre (01760 339803) have done a fantastic job, and just in time to have the discs mounted, I have decided to use wavy contour discs that fill the wheel nicely and add a little more detail.
Now that I have completely re-built all the calipers (which are now six pot calipers at the front instead of the standard four pot) they are ready to be bolted back on.
The bodywork is getting closer to the finished artical and I have fitted the braided brake lines, I have also mounted some indicators to temporary brackets to enable me to road test.

ROAD TEST!!!

As this is the first time I have rode the bike since the project began I am pleased to report that all is well, everything that has been fitted to the bike (such as the rear view camera) works brilliantly, The brakes are fantastic and the bike is beautifully agile showing that the changes we made to the weight bias and centre of gravity have been a success, some issues have been highlighted such as the LCD I mounted to the tank is slightly out of view and the variobars are not quite in the right position for road riding, but a few adjustments here and there will soon sort this out.

DYNO TEST!!!

This Dyno test was simply a power run as I did not want to set up the fueling just yet, instead I wanted to ensure that the modifications that have been made did not adversely affect the general running of the bike and to check that the bike was not running dangerously lean throughout the continued research and development.
The results from the Dyno test (see Dyno graphs below) show that even though the fueling has not been set up, we have made good improvements throughout the rev range giving us a baseline to show that the modifications to the airbox and the mild porting of the cylinder head have been successful, although the graphs also show that power stays constant after about 8,000rpm compared to other TLs that continue to build power though to the redline, leading us to believe our TL may be restricted, and of course, "This just wont do" so an investigation has been launched to find the cause of this frankly rather rude and unneccissary capping of power. (I suspect the TL may be an Import with a restricted CDI unit.)

***Latest News***

Well the TL project is coming towards its end, The body panels have been made and after playing around with a few ideas for the number plate hanger ive settled on a design that i think works very well with the rest of the bike and ive also managed to incorperate the rear view camara into it.
The front indicators are now set into the side fairing panels and with a bit of careful modification and the adding of some interesting details the original front mudguard is in position and almost unrecognisable.
In terms of paint i decided to go for a gloss black with a gold pearl finish which adds to the mean and moody look of the bike, also because ive always wanted a black bike.
From a riding point of view the bike is finished and it has been out and about, the next thing for me to do is develop a short single seat unit and cut off at the heals exhaust pipes.

Click here to see more pictures

Things To Do Next

once all that is taken care of, its back to the dyno room to set up the fueling, so keep checking us out and following the TL progress. and remember anything you have seen or read about in this project could be done to your bike, just pop into the shop or give us a call to discuss your winter project.

WATCH THIS SPACE!!