Greetings from Eastern Europe

[Krasi]

Hello fellow Raptors,
As my account was finally approved I dare to introduce myself and my ride.

So, I'm Krasi and I'm from Bulgaria. I've been reading this board since last summer when I purchased a 2005 Raptor 1000 with ~12k miles on the clock, imported from Italy (hence the mileage and production year are questionable). The main reasons to make the purchase was so that my wife could also ride the bike, and I'm a exotics fetishist - my offroad ride is a Gas Gas EC300

Here are some pics of the bike when we got it:





Unfortunately little over a month later, my beloved wife went too far out on a left-hand corner and sled on the soft shoulder of the road. Basically we had the front fender, headlight and instrument cluster trashed and a bent gear shift shaft. So, I decided to make a small project out of this situation and here is the result:



The KOSO instrument. I connected one of the reserves and also oil and coolant temperature gauges:





Enduro handle bar and mirrors with integrated turn lights (not LED):




Headlight is from KTM Superduke. Carbon front fender from Scarlatti (thanks to this forum). I also used some carbon-like foil to wrap around the headlight and under seat paniers. If I keep the bike I probably will get these in real carbon fiber also:



My DIY chain oiler (costs about 2 pounds in materials )


I'm really pleased with the result and hope you'll like it too. It's nice to have a distinct bike. Love it when some "PVC big shots", or crotch rockets as you call them, I think, start glazing at the machine trying to figure what the hell it is while I pull away from them (torque, baby, torque is what matters - not bhp!)

As much as I like the bike, I'm thinking of may be selling it. It's awesome, but I found out I'm not really a highway and A-road rider. I prefer twisties and C-roads (don't know if you have these in UK). That's why I'm craving for a supermoto, or streetmoto I should say, for me, and a BMW F650 for the mrs. Like I said I like exotics so I'm after a MZ Baghira or a Husky SM610.

So far I haven't been able to get almost any offer for the Raptor, so most probably I'll just keep it and will focus my effort in persuading my wife that we need yet another bike in the garage

Well, I guess that's more than enough for my first post. I hope you were not bored and actually made it to the end of it. I'll try to be of help if I can.

[snapdragon]

Welcome in Krasi, lovely bike and good pics

Love the bars and lights in particular - and am so glad it's not just me with a curly brake lever

Sorry about the delay, I was sure I'd 'clicked' you in - forgetting with age

[shedmonkey]

welcome aboard .nice bike

[Red Mist]

Hi Krasi.

I like what you've done with the bike (I don't mean dropping it, I mean the mods you've done since!). We have lots of twisty little roads here too, and these would be great to ride around on a super-moto. We have lots of good flowing roads as well, and these would be good on a race-rep. But I can only afford the one bike and the Raptor goes anywhere there's a road and feels good doing it.

Hope you keep the bike for a bit longer.

[shedmonkey]

the new scott oiler looks good when will we see it in the shops?

[Krasi]

Thanks for the welcoming.

The brake lever got bent on the first ride after the make over. I started up the bike to warm it up and while putting my helmet I noticed with the corner of my eye how it fell down. Needles to say my hart fell into my heels! The good bit was I had the crash mushrooms (or whatever the name is) installed and didn't even damage the newly painted gas tank.

Red Mist, like I said, I love the bike, and if I manage to share some cash on the side for a sumo, it's not going anywhere.

As for the chain oiler, it's not the best in the world as it makes a mess and sometimes I forget to turn it off when stopped, but being an offroad rider I don't get particularly impressed by oil or mud stains on the bike. But the bottle holder is carbon-look-like . Plus, I get to fill it up with whatever oil I have left in the cans in the garage And it still is better than my garage roommate who's on chain sprays.

Recently I came across this video for a DIY budget oiler:
[youtube][/youtube]

[weirdo]

Hi Krasi, welcome to the site, mate.

Good post with the chain oiler vid ... Nice one!

[Jethro]

Welcome Krasi!

Nice job you did with the new headlight!
But are you goint to spray it in the original colour too?
I think it will integrate in the Raptor-design even more

[Krasi]

Actually it has a carbon-fiber look, to match the front fender.

[Jethro]

Ah, sorry.. I thought it was matt black, didn't notice it yet.
But now that i take a closer look, you're right..