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I find the 860 to be a little heavy for me. Would love to shed some pounds off this beast. Any ideas out there?

confusa,

Lighten for what purpose ? IE : Racing or Track work ect ? because the possibilities are endless as long as you have an unlimited budget.
Frame mods, lightened engine components, magnesium wheels ect are all possible at a price, but to what end ?

If it's just general day to day use, you could start by getting rid of the electric start if it has one, but no one single change will make much difference to the feel whilst riding, so a series of changes would need to be undertaken, and you would need to be prepared to possibly devalue what may be an original bike ?
Sorry to sound negative, but the 860 will never be a 996 SPS, so ultimately you may have to ask yourself, do I own the right bike ?

All the best
Rick

Just for general use really. If I could shed 20-30 pounds somehow I think it would be a far more nimble ride. Just feels a bit lumbering if that makes any sense.

rwhc80 wrote:confusa,

Lighten for what purpose ? IE : Racing or Track work ect ? because the possibilities are endless as long as you have an unlimited budget.
Frame mods, lightened engine components, magnesium wheels ect are all possible at a price, but to what end ?

If it's just general day to day use, you could start by getting rid of the electric start if it has one, but no one single change will make much difference to the feel whilst riding, so a series of changes would need to be undertaken, and you would need to be prepared to possibly devalue what may be an original bike ?
Sorry to sound negative, but the 860 will never be a 996 SPS, so ultimately you may have to ask yourself, do I own the right bike ?

All the best
Rick

OK confusa,

Assuming you are trying to do this with minimum spend, there is not much you can simply unbolt and take off that is not needed, and will make much significant difference to the ride.
Not having seen a picture, or had a description of your bike, maybe upgrading your suspension instead might be the way to go.
IE : Steve can supply some upgraded fork springs, maybe even some gold valves/emulators. Along with a decent set of rear shocks should give you a better feel. ( Just my opinion of course ) someone else may have further suggestions ?

I should add, If I have incorrectly made an assumption of your budget, please say so, and we can give you a list of good weight saving mods ?


Regards Rick

[quote="confusa"]Just for general use really. If I could shed 20-30 pounds somehow I think it would be a far more nimble ride. Just feels a bit lumbering if that makes any sense.

[quote="rwhc80"]

The easiest and cheapest would be to fit a 2 into 1 exhaust as I did to my 860GT. That will save a couple of pounds. After that its probably fibreglass fenders, alloy tank and rims, remove indicators and side panels, smaller rear light and change to right hand shift. It will never be a nimble bike though.

Bruce

I thought of swapping the air boxes out for pods which would be some weight savings. Doesn't seem like I can get rid of the battery from looking at other posts. I would image a fiberglass tank would be a huge savings but I haven't seen one. I also have Contis on it now, don't know if those are heavier than stock or not?

Wire headlamp mounts, kickstart battery,remove starter,single front disc,go down a size on tyres, alloy tank,side stand only,alloy sprocket,lighter indicators, go on a diet!.

The seat is a tank....and weight up high is the most important. So get a fiberglass seat. Go to an ion battery like the dirt bikes use, a huge difference in weight and you are still running with a proper battery....a guy advertises on ktmtalk.com makes a great one.

As said by others, ditch the electric start. And absolutely on the air boxes, just save them.

Do you have alloy rims? Weight on wheels is magnified in terms of increase in sluggishness.

To quicken it up and make it feel more lively go with longer shocks.

Are you running an oversized front tire? That can cause a huge degree of sluggishness.

I just finished restoring a 75' 860 GT and was surprised how heavy the bare frame is! It would take a serious whack to bend one... I changed the rims to alloy and drilled the axles. The rotors are a bit heavy and can be lightened with the usual hole drilling. I left the side stand off mine since the mount for it is made of angle iron. If you update the ignition to a Sachse, you will loose the rotor hanging off the crank. Without an electric starter, my 860 feels a lot lighter than a Darmah. The next time a fix up an 860, I want to use either an SS frame or one from a 750GT. Or, just make a copy out of thin wall tubing.

These are very comfortable bikes when ridden with sport handle bars and good to use when riding with other vintage bikes. I also agree with the comment about running a large front tire. I have never had a good result from doing that on any bevel.

900SSDesmo wrote: I changed the rims to alloy and drilled the axles.

Curious what kind of rims you put on it? And where did you get them? I know mine are steel and I am sure weigh more than I imagine.

I'm setting up to make some carbon fiber parts for 80's - 90's ducs. A sick part of me wants to make a set of CF bodywork for my 860. Tank would be totally ridiculous, but seat pan and side covers would be cool / stupid / ridiculous / whatever you want to call it...