New (to me) bike day - 2000 Honda CBR900RR

[Ben17484]

After a year without a bike and a couple without really riding much, I’m back to wanting/needing a bike. The remit was a cheap ish bike that I didn’t mind running through the winter and didn’t worry about leaving at the train station. Most importantly it had to be interesting and fun! So here we are:

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I bought it from the dealer/garage that’s been servicing and MOTing my bikes for a few years, so happy to buy from someone I trust. He was friends with the previous owner (who worked for Triumph) so knows a bit of its history. It came fully serviced with 12 months MOT.

My previous bikes (S1000R, Street Triple, FZ8 and Tracer 09) have all been sports Tourers or naked bikes, so the riding position on the Honda is new to me and will take some getting used to.

So far so good though and I’m looking forward to racking up some miles on it.

[Taipan]

Lovely! My old colleague had nothing but Blades and change them every couple of years for the latest one. That model is his overall favourite! His was in the white and dark blue colours and it was certainly the one he cleaned the most! Enjoy!

[KungFooBob]

Lovely! My old colleague had nothing but Blades and change them every couple of years for the latest one. That model is his overall favourite! His was in the white and dark blue colours and it was certainly the one he cleaned the most! Enjoy!

The dark blue/white one was the 954, that's a 929... quite similar, but different.

[Taipan]

Lovely! My old colleague had nothing but Blades and change them every couple of years for the latest one. That model is his overall favourite! His was in the white and dark blue colours and it was certainly the one he cleaned the most! Enjoy!

The dark blue/white one was the 954, that's a 929... quite similar, but different.

Sportsbikes all look the same to me! But, yes, bang on, his was the 954 as that was what he always (and often) referred to it as.

[v8-powered]

I had a 929 in that colour - probably one of the best all round bikes, other than a 954, even still now......

[Noggin]

I love the look of Blades. My brother had an 'urban tiger' version (I think that's what the colour was called?!!). He took me pillion on it and had told friends he would scare me off bikes - he didn't!!!

I had the one with the odd sized front wheel and, whilst it was great fun, the riding position after the Blackbird killed my back I didn't got for anything more sensible after it tho. Changed it for a TLs, but weirdly, that didn't mess up my back like the Blade did!!

[Ben17484]

Thanks All. I’m really happy with it so far. It was great being back out on a bike albeit in sh*ty road conditions.

[Skub]

The Winter salt will take the shine off that one.

It seems cruel subjecting a clean bike,that's what shitty old scooters are for!

[dern]

I had a 929 for about 8 years. Great bike.

[Noggin]

Thanks All. I’m really happy with it so far. It was great being back out on a bike albeit in sh*ty road conditions.

I did that last year! First time having a bike in a couple of years and I had a course in the valley that started at 9am every day for two weeks! Oops

I'd get up and check the outside temperature (I kinda knew it would be freezing or close!) then head down to the road to see if it was slippy or grippy, then go to the garage to get the bike out

Everyone I met told me I was nuts, but tbf, I didn't have a choice as the course was important and I didn't have a car!! At least I knew the bits of the road down that were likely to be frozen/slippy!! One of the few times I'm glad we didn't have snow early


Have fun - it is a lush bike

[Ben17484]

First ride out last night (other than the 10 min ride back from the dealer). I got a fairly good ride as I went to see a mate who lives about 30 miles away. Took the country roads there and motorway on the way home to try the bike out in different environments. Really enjoyed it. Seems like a really great bike and fun to ride. I’m def still getting used to the sports bike handle bars and sitting slightly more hunched over, but that’ll come.

Other than a mirror that just went floppy and the clock/trip meter resetting every time the bike is stopped/started, the bike seems all good. I will need to get both of those things fixed though.

[mangocrazy]

Other than a mirror that just went floppy and the clock/trip meter resetting every time the bike is stopped/started, the bike seems all good. I will need to get both of those things fixed though.

Mirror should be an easy fix; clocks resetting could be a battery on the way out. I'd check the battery voltage when stopped, at idle and under load.

[Ben17484]

Other than a mirror that just went floppy and the clock/trip meter resetting every time the bike is stopped/started, the bike seems all good. I will need to get both of those things fixed though.

Mirror should be an easy fix; clocks resetting could be a battery on the way out. I'd check the battery voltage when stopped, at idle and under load.

Thanks. I’ll check it out later.

[dern]

Other than a mirror that just went floppy and the clock/trip meter resetting every time the bike is stopped/started, the bike seems all good. I will need to get both of those things fixed though.

Mirror should be an easy fix; clocks resetting could be a battery on the way out. I'd check the battery voltage when stopped, at idle and under load.

Thanks. I’ll check it out later.

You could save yourself a long walk home by fitting a discrete voltmeter to the bike so you can see if/when the stator fails and it's no longer charging.

[Ben17484]

Mirror should be an easy fix; clocks resetting could be a battery on the way out. I'd check the battery voltage when stopped, at idle and under load.

Thanks. I’ll check it out later.

You could save yourself a long walk home by fitting a discrete voltmeter to the bike so you can see if/when the stator fails and it's no longer charging.

Thanks for the tip. Is this a common issue for these bikes?

[Asian Boss]

Don't worry about all that voltmeter bollocks, just gan it up on t'back wheel.

[dern]

Thanks. I’ll check it out later.

You could save yourself a long walk home by fitting a discrete voltmeter to the bike so you can see if/when the stator fails and it's no longer charging.

Thanks for the tip. Is this a common issue for these bikes?

I guess but it’s not a massive deal. I had one from New and it was one of two things that happened in eight years and 40k miles so enjoy.

[Ben17484]

I checked the voltage on the battery today (switched off) and seems fine. I didn’t yet check at idle or under load as mangocrazy suggested. I did another test though and switched the ignition on, set the clock, switched it off and then straight back on and the clock had reset. That seems like it’s not a dodgy connection that causes a lack of power to the cluster, right? Also, if the connection was bad id assume I’d see the clock reset (and trip meter reset) at some point during a ride as well?

On another note - mirror is fixed

[Ben17484]

Heated grips fitted today. Not sure about the placement of the controller. I might move that. I’m not a fan of them on the handle bars though, so I might have to get inventive.

I also stuck my new beeline in place. I’ve always used a Givi bar mounted phone holder for nav in the past, but that doesn’t fit on a sports bike, so it got me looking at other phone holders which in turn led to the beeline. I watched loads of videos and read reviews on it, and though t I’d give it it a shot. Seems to do everything I need it to do , looks nice and discreet and had some really good reviews. I hope it works out well.

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[dern]

I would have thought there would be two power connections to the dash. One with the key on that lights up all the gauges and one that enables it to keep time, remember mph/kph and so on. The latter one sounds duff in your case.