,
 |
| Moving upwards, we have one of the air scoops feeding the airbox of the engine; one is located under each headlight. Notice the air guides in the black scoop used to help direct the flow of air into the airbox. To the bottom right of the black scoop is another smaller air scoop. I do not now the purpose of it, but it does direct air down the side of the bike underneath the fairing. There is one located on each side also, so maybe it’s just to help cool other components such as electronics, or maybe it’s used to help suck air out of the radiator through a venturi type effect. Or maybe it’s just there too look cool. |
 |
| This is the clutch lever assembly on the left side handlebar. The little knob should be for adjusting the reach I think. The really cool feature that I like is the bleed valve at the top; it’s been a while since I’ve looked at new Japanese sport bikes up close. |
 |
| The right side handlebar has the front brake lever and assembly. Again, there is a nice bleed valve at the top (something my CBR lacks). Looking over at the brake fluid reservoir, it is mounted with rubber isolators. I’m guessing they prevent failure of the plastic reservoir mounting tabs. |
 |
| Here you can see the triple clamp (clamps the two fork tubes and the steering axle thingamajig) and steering damper. On the tops of the fork tubes are the rebound adjusters. To adjust ride height, just raise or lower the fork tube heights relative to the triple clamp. What do I see that’s cool? Check out the weight reduction! A lot of material is removed from the triple clamps reducing weight. The tops of the forks are machined out to reduce weight. The steering axle has eight bores drilled which shave grams; the holes’ primary function is for a tool to remove the steering stem nut (thanks Crarrs for the tip). Even the round thing under the triple clamp has grooves machined into it to reduce weight. You might not think it is much weight removed, but a little bit of weight removed from a lot of components adds up. Also, this weight is at the top of the bike where you least want it. You can just see in this picture the mounting bracket for the clutch fluid reservoir which has a groove machined out of the middle to cut weight. Looking back at the right handlebar picture, you can see the brake fluid reservoir mounting bracket also has a groove machined down the middle to reduce weight. Every little bit counts! |
