The long-gone Performance Bikes magazine has a lot to answer for, providing ideas and laughs for years.
Like this idea: a CBR400/600 hybrid.
It was built 1996/97 after we read about Fireblade 900s being poked into Honda CBR400 chassis, and FZR400s getting Yamaha 600 motors. This all sounded fun. And easy. We convinced ourselves it wouldn't take long and wouldn't cost much.
Sometimes the universe helps push these ideas into reality. A cousin in Southland had a crappy old CBR400RR sitting in his shed. He’d painted it with garage roof paint and a broom. Green roof paint of course.
$600 changed hands, and we were both happy.
A Honda NZ demonstrator CBR600 donated its motor after a test rider barrel rolled that bike. The 600cc head was then sent to Aussie and did some time on a race bike there with Ray Clee.
With the help of the late Paul Nixon in Invercargill, the 400 motor was biffed and the CBR600 donk squeezed in. It involved hacksawing off the right-hand engine frame spar, and welding on a new one.
It got a TZ 250 radiator and was sprinkled with Honda RS250GP parts from a local bike being parted out. Wheels, discs, throttle, and lots of little HRC lightweight parts went on.
Then a big box of CBR600F3 ex-race bike stuff landed. A full Arrow pipe, Ohlins, HRC cdi and billet triple clamps to make it steer better.
It was raced locally in Southland and scored a podium (aka upturned beer crate) at the Greymouth Street Race, way back when.
It did 1.05.5 at Teretonga when the new 1999 model CBR 600s were doing 1.04.5s. Not bad for a home brewed "Bitsa", put together with enthusiasm and some grainy pics from that Performance Bikes magazine.
Other laughs along the way, like discovering the Greymouth Street Race was more like a tar sealed moto-x track, and a 12-hour trip there (one way) in a Datsun flat deck ute.
Then there was that awkward day when it broke a conrod and fired part of it out the front of the motor and through the water-cooled oil cooler. It was the Sunday morning round of the NZ National Road Race Champs. Oil slick 200m long around the fastest part of the track + A Dead Bike.
Awkward.
Turns out the bloke who’d used the head in Aussie had removed 1mm of it with a view to having more grunt out of corners. Add to that the bloke that rebuilt the CBR motor, who also took 1mm off the head.
They hadn't spoken to each other.
Oh, we laughed.
It was rebuilt with a CBR600F2 motor, then sat in a shed till 2011 until it was sold off and got raced again - with some fast lap times and some spectacular crashes.
Then it sat in another shed till 2024.
Enter Jordan Leslie of Two Wheels Only, in Christchurch.
He liked the history and sound of the bike. Brought it from a cell phone pic. Says he’d been drinking at the time. Lucky he wasn't looking at Russian Brides.
Here’s Jordan's story...
Like the sinking feeling of unpacking those Temu products, this was just as ugly. 10 cracks in the alloy frame, gearbox that jumped out of gear, forks that topped out, 10 yr old tyres, swingarm loose, and looking very sorry for itself.
It got a budget rebuild; stripped to bare frame, gearbox undercut, head refreshed, new zx10r radiator squeezed in, and the frame was welded on lunchbreaks.
Temu parts went in the bin. It was painted in the backyard with a rattle can, and topped off with some quality graphics from Bruce @ Creative Addiction.
It returned to the Greymouth Street Race in 2024, where it won its pre-95 class and tickled the lap record @50.1 sec.
Another upturned beer box!
The good thing about rebuilding and fettling bikes now is that stuff is so readily available and so much better quality.
We were able to biff the recently fitted Chinese slippery brake discs, bolt on some Made in Italy Newfren brake discs, and Newfren Race brake pads. Brilliant upgrade - it stops 20 metres earlier now. Added in some new Metzeler race tires and a Newfren clutch pack. And now the suspension is better than the 20w oil and 50c pieces used to preload the fork springs back in 1997.
A fancy light-as-air Lithium battery went in to replace the lead-filled boat anchor battery, and a decent DID 520 race chain, all for not too much money.
“This bike shouldn’t be this good”.
Next outing: BURT 2025. A homecoming for the bike, back in Southland nearly 30 years later.
Entered in Bluff Hill Climb. Due to a “mix up” (being too tight to pay the extra $50 entry fee) the bike ran in the “Up to 600” class, and “Pre-89” class, setting a time of 48.067. 
NOTE: If I’d paid the $50 the times were quick enough to win the Up to 600cc NZ Hill climb title.
A NZ Title. Doh! 
After the Burt it was off to CAMS Round 4 at Ruapuna, with some fresh Metzeler’s. In qualifying the bike went under the existing Pre95 F2 class lap record (held by the Ducatispares 748SP WTF! ) @1.38.026.
The bike upgrades continued:
VTR1000 forks and brake calipers giving a nice front end upgrade.
Ducatispares located a whole new Arrow exhaust system, a new race spec radiator, new chain and sprockets, and some new Metzelers for summer.
Some pretty flash computer and machining gear added, so the right-hand engine spar was re-invented and upgraded.
TYGA supplied NSR 250 bodywork, and a HRC race tacho installed and HRC cams.
Next outing was the Southern Classic Festival at Levels raceway, November 2025. It’s a great event, where everyone brings their favourite toy. You’ll see Suzuki GS1000s, old Yamahas, and even BSA, Triumphs and BMWs bikes - all lapping faster than they should be. In an event with nearly 200 riders, the CBR600 won its class.
The bike’s even ended up here on the TYGA Performance website. World Famous!
What’s Next?
With a house build on the horizon, the original CBR600RR is now for sale!
If you fancy a Ready To Ride race bike with a great history, a tonne of HRC parts and some race potential, give Jordan a call on (021) 0242 3543.
"This bike shouldn't be this good".
