Hey everyone. Just thought I'd post this up as I haven't said anything for a while mainly just been lurking. I picked up one of Kiffsta's Gumtree bargains as I thought it was time for another small project. As far as projects go this bike doesn't need much. Although its had a couple of falls and the fairings aren't perfect it's a solid little bike. My to do list was as follows: - Headlights not working - New Fr LH indicator - Find a quieter exhaust to get it past roadworthy - New tyres - Service First off was to sort out the headlight problem. Symptoms are the low beam and high beam don't come on except if the pass button is pressed.The previous owner (before Kiffsta) had done a dodgy and shorted the pass button wires together so the low beam was always on. Kiffsta threw in a new (used) left switch block so I was fairly sure that should be good. After a lot of Googling and looking at wiring diagrams I found the headlight switch is actually connected to the starter switch/ignition. Kind of makes sense when you remember that the light should always be on as soon as the key is turned on. So I opened up the right switch block and sure enough there was a desoldered wire floating around. After burning my finger on the soldering iron and trying to avoid past mishaps (melting the starter button on the CBX) I finally got it soldered back to the pad, turned the key, and there was light... Next up I pulled the fairings off to remove the front left indicator. I've bought an OEM unit off ebay as I kind of like the chunky stock look. Also easier to see and I don't have to worry about LED flashers etc. While the fairings were off I gave it a good check over and can't see any leaks or anything else to worry about. At this stage I decided to take it for a ride around the carpark where I live just to see what it was like. It rode alright but when straightening from a slow turn it seemed to be extremely hard to push the bars back straight again. I parked it up and had a think about it and decided to check the air pressure in the tyres... about 10psi low both front and back. Pumped them up and it's a lot better but still a bit hard to turn straight. I'm hoping at this point I'm just not used to a heavier bike and the rear tyre has a bit of a flat spot so when I get new tyres it should hopefully sort this problem out. I didn't want to ride it around too much as the Two Brothers exhaust on it is pretty loud and didn't want to get noise complaints from the neighbours by doing laps around the carpark. Which leads me to the next part. There was a stock F4 exhaust on ebay from an 01(?) model that looked in good condition so I picked that up for $100 thinking it should fit no problems. It arrived today and after trying to fit it turns out the bracket for the foot peg is slightly further back (55mm) on the F4 exhaust as compared to the F4i. The F4 exhaust is in really good condition with no scratches and only a small dent on the bottom so I'd like to use this if I can. So my ideas at this point are: - Cut the bracket off, shift 55mm forward and weld back on - Cut the bracket off and find a strap that goes around the exhaust (like on the two brothers) - Or I could drill another hole and make a custom bracket Which would be the best option? That's about where I'm up to now. Just waiting for the last few bits to arrive and I'll try to get it in for a RWC next week.
Can't trim anything off the header pipe. I thought about trimming the mid pipe but after measuring, the flared end to slip on the headers would end up in the bend of the pipe. Haven't checked the head stem bearings yet.
Nice bike. I would make the small bracket from alloy/stainless. Head stem bearings could be too tight/stuffed.
I ended up buying a 3mm flat bar of aluminium and making a small bracket. It's pretty rough but does the job and will get the bike through roadworthy. Sooo much quieter with the stock exhaust.
I've been a bit slack with this and still haven't managed to get the bike on the road. I went a bit crazy and bought some adjustable levers, rearsets, frame sliders, and a new fairing kit just to tidy up the few cracks and scratches. So she's sitting there a bit naked at the moment waiting for fairings to arrive in the next week or so. Although the rearsets are adjustable there's really only one position they'll work in without modifying brake hoses and linkages. The only other thing I've done is give the frame a light sand where it had quite a few scratches. Looks like it has had a slide in gravel at some point. I didn't think to take a before pic but this is a lot better than it was, only the deep scratches are still visible. I was thinking of polishing that front section of frame on both sides. I'm aiming to have it on the road by the end of the month but we'll see how that goes. Anniversary this weekend and garage sale the weekend after so it'll be hard to find a few spare hours.
Just a quick final update on this. Bike is finally registered and back on the road. New tyres fixed the hard steering issue and it now handles like it should. I purchased the fairings from monsterfairings.com so just wanted to do a quick review on those as well for anyone who may consider ordering from them. Price: Slightly more expensive than the cheap Ebay fairings but I went with them because I found a couple of good reviews. Ended up about $950 delivered. Packaging: I thought the packaging could have been better. The cardboard box they shipped in was decent quality and fairly thick. The fairing pieces themselves were individually wrapped in that thin foam wrap and kind of just sticky taped together. There wasn't any additional packaging in the box so they could move around a bit. Thankfully the only thing that broke was a small tab off one of the black plastic vents that goes in the front cowling. I just re-used the ones I had as they were fine. Quality/Fit: The quality of the plastic is very good. Thick and strong and comparable to the original fairings. Everything fit back on the bike with no modification and lined up with all the mounting holes. The paint is good quality and survived the trip from China with only a couple of little scuffs and scratches. We'll see how it holds up in the long term. Paint colour match is slightly off and the red seems a bit more orange compared to the tank. Accessories: Plastic parts such as vents and ducts that are included with the fairings are extremely good quality. I have a feeling these are OEM parts as the serial numbers have been removed. DO NOT use the cheap set of mounting bolts they provide with the kit. You can instantly feel how light they are compared to the original bolts and just feel like a bit of aluminium foil scrunched together in the shape of a bolt. The head will strip out as soon as you put any torque on the end. Communication: Communication was lacking. On their website they state fairings may not be in stock and they may have to make them. The whole process from manufacture to delivery should take a max of 3-4 weeks. These took just over 2 months to arrive. When trying to contact them about where the order is up to you just get some generic email most likely with a tracking number attached that doesn't work. Overall I'm impressed with the quality but would probably try somewhere else next time I need fairings just due to the lack of communication and amount of time it took for them to be shipped. One final note. It pays to shop around for insurance. Any 600cc super sport is going to cost a bit to insure but you should be able to find a decent deal by getting multiple quotes. I was looking for $5500 agreed value with a $500 excess and wanted my gear covered as well. I've had all my other bikes insured with NRMA as they have looked after me in the past and usually quote a reasonable price. For the CBR600 they want nearly $1000 for 12 months. Checked with Shannons as I've got my RX7 with them, they still want $680. Ended up going with Swanns for just over $400 which was comparable to my Street Triple.
