Paulb5950 MT07 2022 Build

[Paulb5950]

Hello Everyone, 

 New here and new to the MT07 platform, not new to riding. Been riding for about 13 years now, mostly on sport bikes/ supermotos and dirt bikes. Picked this bike up a few months back and it was completely stock with the exception of the TI akrapovic system. Have lusted after the MT/FZ series ever since its release. Finally snagged this one, and hope to add a MT09 to the collection in the coming years. 

I am fairly comfortable wrenching on my own stuff, put my old car on air myself, built a few bikes from frame up. Plan on modding this bike to my tastes. Since ownership I have hard mounted the bar clamps to the triple tree, installed ODI bars, OEM r6 throttle tube, windscreen, CRG bar-end mirrors, TST tail tidy and tail light. 
 

Upcoming plans for it (in no particular order) are:

Impaktech cage and subcage - (no I am not a stunter, but I do hoon around quite a bit on bikes, and get tired of rebuilding them )

DNA stage 2 intake or a Hordpower if I can ever get them while in stock.

Tune 

Change exhaust- leaning towards Akrapovic carbon setup, just hate how much it kicks out past the peg. Might end up cutting down the can length in hopes to cover it more. Arrow pro with the S-bend looks nice, just worried it will lose the bassy tones I am looking for in sound. Also been eying the Yoshi AT2. 

520 chain conversion (keep stock gearing)

CRG shorty levers

Ohlins NIX front cartridges and rear shock  (bit heavy for this bike, about 220lb currently)

Woodcraft rearsets

Steel braided lines front and rear

 

I plan to keep this thread alive and update as I make changes. Feel free to comment with questions, thoughts, concerns or anything else. I enjoy the forum setting, and was a very active member many moons ago on Totalruckus back when I did a ruck build. 

 

 

•Current mods• (updated as I change things)

Akrapovic full carbon race system - shortened can

CRG Blind sight mirrors

ODI schoolboy bars

OEM R6 throttle tube

Hord power intake

Yamaha shorty windscreen

Impaktech Cage

2WDW flash and tune

TST integrated tail light

TST low mount license plate bracket 

Gilles captive chain adjusters/ spools

Evotech radiator guard

RSC clutch lever

CRG shorty brake lever

Woodcraft rearsets

Outlaw triple tree

 

 

 

Edited March 11 by Paulb5950
Mod list update

[AJ07]

i would recommend horde air box and a 525 conversion and definitely get the akro set up best for performance 

[Paulb5950]

2 hours ago, AJ07 said:

i would recommend horde air box and a 525 conversion and definitely get the akro set up best for performance 

So iv heavily considered the Horde- my concern is the exposure to the elements. I recently sold my truck so I'm commuting on the bike, rain or shine. We get caught in some pretty wild rain storms. So that's what's holding me back on horde is worried about potential vapor lock.

As for 525 vs 520, I don't see a reason not to go down to a 520. Good quality 520 (DID) has higher tensile strength then OEM chains. Also less rotational mass and cheaper... 

[Subito]

Don’t forget the ever-popular Evotech radiator guard.

[Paulb5950]

11 hours ago, Subito said:

Don’t forget the ever-popular Evotech radiator guard.

You know, a rad guard probably wouldn't be a bad addition! Thanks  

[AJ07]

20 hours ago, Paulb5950 said:

So iv heavily considered the Horde- my concern is the exposure to the elements. I recently sold my truck so I'm commuting on the bike, rain or shine. We get caught in some pretty wild rain storms. So that's what's holding me back on horde is worried about potential vapor lock.

As for 525 vs 520, I don't see a reason not to go down to a 520. Good quality 520 (DID) has higher tensile strength then OEM chains. Also less rotational mass and cheaper... 

i completely  understand if you deal with heavy rain then maybe the horde box isn’t  for you lol this is completely  random but would you be bale to send me a picture your speedometer i was wondering if it would fit on my 2020 model 

[Paulb5950]

2 hours ago, AJ07 said:

i completely  understand if you deal with heavy rain then maybe the horde box isn’t  for you lol this is completely  random but would you be bale to send me a picture your speedometer i was wondering if it would fit on my 2020 model 

I mean it's kinda few and far between being south Texas, but when we do get the rain, it's heavy and the roads are filled up for awhile. With it being the daily, if it's raining I'm riding regardless, gotta get to work.

Sure I can snap some pictures for you, what all do you need? Like the pin connector, the mount or?

[AJ07]

On 9/6/2023 at 7:52 PM, Paulb5950 said:

I mean it's kinda few and far between being south Texas, but when we do get the rain, it's heavy and the roads are filled up for awhile. With it being the daily, if it's raining I'm riding regardless, gotta get to work.

Sure I can snap some pictures for you, what all do you need? Like the pin connector, the mount or?

Definitely feel you on the riding regardless.

Any and everything you can, please and thank you 

[sweetscience]

Hey, I always wondered if the 2 bushings between the triple tree and bar clamp are rubber or metal.  How did you go about "hard mounting the bar clamps to the triple tree".  Is this mod for a firmer feel at the bars when turning?

[cornerslider]

On 9/5/2023 at 7:48 PM, Paulb5950 said:

So iv heavily considered the Horde- my concern is the exposure to the elements. I recently sold my truck so I'm commuting on the bike, rain or shine. We get caught in some pretty wild rain storms. So that's what's holding me back on horde is worried about potential vapor lock.

As for 525 vs 520, I don't see a reason not to go down to a 520. Good quality 520 (DID) has higher tensile strength then OEM chains. Also less rotational mass and cheaper... 

I was nervous about that as well...... I can tell you first hand, that unless you drive it through a flash-flood (that goes higher than the intake), you can pretty much ride it through a "monsoon"- and not have any problems. I clean & oil it every spring- that's it!!!! . I feel that intake is the best money you can spend on the CP-2 motor 

[Paulb5950]

14 hours ago, cornerslider said:

I was nervous about that as well...... I can tell you first hand, that unless you drive it through a flash-flood (that goes higher than the intake), you can pretty much ride it through a "monsoon"- and not have any problems. I clean & oil it every spring- that's it!!!! . I feel that intake is the best money you can spend on the CP-2 motor 

Dang if that's the case then I'll probably go the route of horde. Looks as though they are currently out of stock sadly.

I appreciate you commenting, because without someone else having tried it long term I probably wouldn't risk it. Iv done runner style intakes on previous builds with minimalist/ foam filters and been alright. 

Thank you!

[Paulb5950]

19 hours ago, AJ07 said:

Definitely feel you on the riding regardless.

Any and everything you can, please and thank you 

I'll try and snap some for you today when I get home from work.

[Paulb5950]

15 hours ago, sweetscience said:

Hey, I always wondered if the 2 bushings between the triple tree and bar clamp are rubber or metal.  How did you go about "hard mounting the bar clamps to the triple tree".  Is this mod for a firmer feel at the bars when turning?

 

Yeah so they are rubber, and it was driving me crazy. At first I thought maybe it was bar flex. I wish this wasn't a thing, but I understand this bike is geared towards a wide stroke of people/ beginners. Most people probably don't need or want the level of feedback that comes from hard mount.

When I changed out my bars I took a closer look and found that they are indeed rubber mounted. I did the "washer" mod that is referenced on here - Jake the garden snake has it in one of his videos as well. This helped but for me was just temporary until hard mount bushings came in. I ordered these ones.

https://stuntsavagecreations.com/products/yamaha-mt-07-solid-bar-mounts

Please note- when going to hard mounted you will definitely get a lot more vibration in the bars. I was surprised how much, as I have done this on multiple bikes (supermotos mostly) and the change was negligible. 

The amount of vibes on here was alot and high frequency right around the 6-7k rpm range. It would give me numb hands in 20-30 seconds. I think this was also exaggerated because the bars I used are much lighter then stock.

I ended up ordering a set of rhino motos universal bar ends and tossing on the CRG blindsights. The combination of those two lowered the frequency enough for me. Now it's in the 4-5k rpm range, doesn't numb my hands and overall am much happier.

Next is the rearsets - because these are also rubber mounted and flex under load.

[AJ07]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:40 AM, Paulb5950 said:

I'll try and snap some for you today when I get home from work.

take your time whenever you can bike is out of commission for a few weeks anyways 

[Paulb5950]

Rough day. On my way home from work I was taking the on ramp to the freeway and noticed a light dusting of what looked to be safety glass scattered across the road way. You know, like a car accident happened and someone's window had shattered. Iv never had issues with this stuff, it didn't even cross my mind. 

Within about 5 miles on the freeway I knew something was wrong and exited, by the time I was at the bottom of the exit my rear tire was shot.

No nails, screws or anything... just a decent hole. I personally don't trust patches/plugged tires on motorcycles. 

Off to the shop for new rubber. I wasn't a fan of the OEM road 5's, but wasn't planning on buying tires today. Rip wallet

Ideally wanted to put on a set of Michelin Power 5s but no one had any in stock today in town. (Time crunch as the bike is my daily).

Settled on the Michelin road 6's. I have heard alot of good things about them. On first impressions riding home they are a very "round" profile. I typically prefer something more "V" shaped with hard dive in. These feel as though they required a considerable amount more effort to get to lay over, but it's very linear in that fall in. Didn't push them hard but the bit I did, they fell like they plant well in the turns. Need to get more miles on them and adjust to the profile. I'm just used to having a nice twitchy dive into corners and the slower dive is definitely throwing me off. Anyone else running road 6's and enjoying them?

Edited September 20, 2023 by Paulb5950
Spelling

[Paulb5950]

Washed the bike today and got some work done on it.

Installed Evotech performance radiator guard, and a set of Gilles captive chain adjusters/ spools and Zeta magnetic drain bolt.

First oil change since iv owned the bike. Always had good luck with Motul oils. Ran 300v in my old track bikes, and 7100 in my Sumo's. Decided to stick with it, opted for 7100 for the MT-07. 

Clean and lubed chain. Felt good to get some work done. 

Edited October 17, 2023 by Paulb5950

[Paulb5950]

Well well got the impaktech main cage installed. Really happy with the way it turned out. 

Bikes been in the rain a lot lately and didn't have time to give her a good wash, so not the best pictures but will update with some better ones.

Install was easy, nothing crazy. Shipping time was about 2 weeks (ordered it raw) and it was during holidays so to be expected.

Definitely adds a bit of weight, but the way it sits on the bike, I didn't notice much/ any real change in handling, weight centers up well on the bike.

[Paulb5950]

Alright well bikes apart again. Did some basic maintenance, flushed and changed out the brake fluid to some motul rbf 600, another oil change, adjusted chain slack and a good wash. 

Ripped out the ECU and it's off to 2WDW for a tune. Hopefully it's not gone for too long. Miss riding her already, but the timing was right. My lady is out of town for a week and some change so I'm able to use her car.

Will update once ECU is back in and I can shake her down.

[Paulb5950]

Bike is back together! 

Got the ECU back from 2WDW same week. Shipped it out on Monday and had it in hand Friday, very impressed with the turn around time.

Guys over at 2WDW where easy to work with, and communication was quick and clear.

Also in the down time was lucky enough to have someone reach out to purchase my old Akrapovic TI system, so I ordered the Akrapovic Carbon Race. 

That showed up yesterday and I was able to get it installed last night. First thoughts on firing it up, she sounds great. Running it with no baffle.

Unfortunately it is about 22° here right now, so to chilly and roads a bit icey for me to give it a proper test ride/ shake down.

Edited January 17 by Paulb5950

[Paulb5950]

When you can't leave well enough alone. Let me start with, this was only supposed to take a week (going on 3 weeks the bike has been down). 

Decided to make some more changes. Finally was able to snag a Hord power intake. So while I had the bike apart to send the ECU off for a re-tune, I figured it was a good time to bang out some other work. 

Coolant flush and replaced with engine ice. Pulled spark plugs and replaced with NGK iridium plugs. Clean and lube the chain. Installed the Hord power intake. Removed the Akrapovic Carbon can, and cut it. I removed 2" for the length in hopes this will help snug it up more. My goal is that if the bike goes down on the right hand side it will hopefully be out of the way. At stock length this was the first thing taking an impact before it transfers over to the cage. Might not be enough, but anything more than 2" and it was just going to be basically defeating the purpose of a can all together. Installed the woodcraft rearsets and the RSC clutch lever. I have larger hands so I went with the 3 finger lever, this is the perfect size for me to run 2 fingers comfortably. The clutch safety switch has now been wired to my high beam flasher switch so I don't have to hunt for neutral to start the bike.

Now the complications. I had previously had done the washer mod to my triple tree. It helped with the squishy rubber mounted clamp feel, but was not the best solution. While I sourced some hard mount bushings I took apart the front end. Since owning the bike my front end has always felt a bit off. I assumed when the previous owner had layed the bike down it had thrown the front of alignment as I couldn't find any real damage. 

So I started with loosening everything up and giving it a few good bumps, and checking alignment with motion pro fork tool. All was good, but bars still askew. Once I pulled the triple apart I checked alignment on the lower bar clamp, it was twisted, by a decent amount. Went to order a new one, and they are backordered out a month. 

Pulled the triple to push out the OEM rubber bushings and this turned out to be a headache and real pain in the ass. Finally got them out, installed the solid mounts. Figured I'd throw the twisted clamp on so I could at least ride while waiting for the new one to arrive. Nope. The rubber bushings has enough give that it would allow for the misaligned clamp to wiggle in, but with the solid bushings no luck.

At this point I was really frustrated with the clamp situation so I started looking at other options. Found the Outlaw triple, really this is a stunt oriented triple but checked all the boxes I was looking for. So I ordered that and it is off at powder coat currently. 

 

Will update once I have everything back together. If you made it this far then thanks for following along, this whole ordeal has just snowballed as I dug into what started out as basic maintenance and a few mods.

Edited April 2 by Paulb5950
spelling

[Paulb5950]

Finally got everything back together. Nothing went as planned and kept having problem after problem, but we made it.

New levers are on, and the RSC lever is fantastic if your looking for a lighter clutch pull. I have already spoken with Josh at RSC and will be exchanging the current one for a black, the blue just didn't match up as well as I had hoped. Highly recommend RSC overall, josh customer service is top tier. 

Woodcraft rearsets are fantastic, love the adjustablity of them. Was very happy to get rid of the rubber mounts on the OEM rearsets. Much more direct feel and no more flex when loading them hard. 

Hord power intake is on and bikes been reflashed for it. This was a very noticeable difference, and really wakes the bike up. During removal of the OEM I managed to pull the wire for the coolant sensor into a bad position. It was wedged between the stock wire bracket and the starter and causing some false readings on the coolant side - if you remove the OEM air box I definitely recommend unplugging this sensor prior. Pulled the starter and was able to salvage the wire, now no issues there.

Ordered the stunt setup from Outlaw Stunts. Great guy, super helpful and parts are made well. But the hardware provided was not the best. Threads where a bit chewed up, this may have been part of my issues.

Once those came in I dropped them off at powder coat, got them back and went to install. Snapped 2 bolts off in the bar clamp. Tried extracting them every way I know. Extractors, welding a nut on, drilling them out.... Nothing worked. Ended up reaching out to outlaw stunts and they where kind enough to sell me another clamp at cost by itself. Sent that back off for powder yet again, and finally got everything back together. Ordered some new hardware at higher grade, and chased all threads before assembly and after powder.

Akrapovic cut down to help tuck it in more, sounds great and I like the look. Had a sticker made up to try and match the color best I could online/ through a monitor. It's not a perfect match, but works well enough. To completely tuck the exhaust I would have to remove more than I was comfortable with. If I lay the bike down it might still get kissed, but let's hope I don't have to test this theory.

Been raining daily so the bike has not been washed up, but here is how she sits currently. Thanks for reading along and until more changes.

Edited April 2 by Paulb5950

[Paulb5950]

Finally got a wash done. Better picture of the triple/ bar clamp combo- dash mount and headlight.

 

Edited April 13 by Paulb5950