New CBR600rr - Daily/Project bike - Not sure yet!!

[Malt_Vinegar]

After selling a couple of bikes:
My original Hornet: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/now-i-bought-a-japanese-600.18855452/#post-32759480
and my CBR600F2: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/cbr600f2-another-project.18927745/
I decided to go bike hunting - but I had some things I wanted to do differently this time.


I wanted something Post 2000, under £3000, that was fully road-worthy this time, so no wrecks (still working on my basket case Ninja). I wanted something fuel injected, as I had only ever owned a 125 with this before. It should be more reliable, ULEZ compliant (or capable of being so) for occasional trips to my work offices in the big smoke. It had to be a Honda (naturally), with more than 100BHP.


I toyed with looking at a couple of Fireblades that were local, but quickly decided that although appealing, I am not really experienced enough to start chucking a litre bike around, so decided on a 600cc, and as Fireblades were out, I started looking at CBR600F from 2010+ but struggled to find many in budget, but then I stumbled across a CBR600RR from 2005. It ticked all the boxes, and was up at £3000 about an hour away in Salisbury.

I posed a few questions to some bike mates, and no one mentioned any serious issues to think about with this rather short-lived model, so I grabbed the van, and went to go have a look.


Had a nosey around, lots of missing fairing bolts, some scrappy wiring, terrible Chinese copy exhaust, and a faulty rear indicator(+hyperflashing!). So I did an HPI check, came up fine, and then had a little ride around for about 15 minutes, and was quite happy it would do the business.
Stuck it in the van, no pics of this as I had a strap break on me during the drive home!! The damn thing tipped over in the back. Smashing a mirror, and cracking the fairing around the mirror mount... VERY annoying, so I doubled up on straps in a random layby. Lesson learnt here for sure. I have transferred many bikes this way by now, so I guess I was a little complacent about the skinny little straps I was using

So, she was home, just a little bruised!

I whipped off the broken mirror, ordered in replacements, and had a little mooch about in the more familiar setting.

This will not do:

Yeah, too loud, too stubby, and looks wrong for me. Off it comes!

Quickly had a look at the dodgy indicator. Swapped it over to the working rear, and it still was dead, so I whipped it open, and found the positive lead was loose and rattling about, so a quick solder job:

Bang on!

Whilst I was down here, found a few other little bodges, stuff like this:

Just generally a bit poorly executed, but nothing disastrous really.

This will not do though. Its on the list of things to finesse. I insulated and wrapped it all up neatly for now, and tucked it up out of sight with some zip ties to keep it secure.

This hole will need filling, don't want something too short, so will get a longer pipe, and cut it back to a custom length I reckon!

Replaced the flasher unit to sort hyper-flashing indicators

These keys are not going to cut it (hah!):

So I have ordered a couple of new un-cut keys. This bike has HISS, so I will need to swap over the chips to get them working once cut, but I am not confident this original working key would be worth relying on.

Yeah, so this arrived, and was clearly too long. Not a problem, its much quieter!

I will use it for now, and I plan to cut off about 10/15 centimetres depending on how far out I want it to sit.

The new mirrors arrived - Damn! I rounded off one of the bolts, and no matter what I did, I would not budge. I used heat, extractors, mole grips, dremelled a slot, etc... Nothing would shift it..

I was reluctant to strip all the fairings off to weld a nut on, as it was getting late. So I got a couple of drying towels, got them damp, and made a hole in one. Wrapped up the front of the bike, stuck another bolt into the other side of the mount, to give me a decent and close earthing point (last thing I wanted to do was blow something up in the bike)

Mid Welding

She's ugly, but she worked!

Out!

New mirrors on - No harm done!

No one will ever know!

Did some boring replacement/correction of the fairing fixings:

Lots of these little bits were missing or using the wrong bolts/screws:

So I just worked my way around, and put in the correct bits all over:

Found this under the seat:

Rewarded myself with a late night shakedown

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

I dont ride or have a bike but I keep reading your threads.

Haha, brilliant Maybe it will spark something!

Not sure what my plans are going forward with this (Other than just riding the thing!). Perhaps just some cleaning up/ and cosmetic/corrective stuff going forward, but you never know!!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Little update!

Had a little issue where the fuel gauge was not working, had a poke about, and checked the float was moving, and contacts all clean, nothing doing. I did need fuel anyway, so took it out to garage and filled it up. Went to start it, and it came on, then died straight away. Hmmm. Would not re-start and the dials were coming off and on (usually a low battery sign) and fuel pump was not priming. Had a good poke about, could not find anything. Very much felt like an electrical issue. So I asked a fellow biker for a push, and bumped it without issue, and rode it home to see if I could work it out

So, I pulled off the cowl, and front fairings, checking fuses/relays/etc. I found the clock connector was not 100% plugged in, so pushed that in, no change. I also noticed that the lights plastics have seen better days, so I have ordered a new set to swap out, also the little extra light at the top of the headlights was dead, likely a bulb, not got around to it yet.

After not seeing anything clearly wrong, I did a little googling, and found a few people mentioning that an earthing block around the seat was often the culprit of similar issues. So I took a look, and clearly it's been messed with before!

I turned on the bike and just moving it about had the clocks going off and on, and I heard the fuel pump prime - ah hah!!

I whipped off the connector, which was badly butchered:

Looks a little messy in here. This need some contact cleaner as a bare minimum.
The cooked part is likely from heating up from the poor connection. As it tested fine, and was not shorted or anything.

This is the bar that fits in the connector, sadly its plastic case was beyond repair. So I have removed it totally. I cleaned up one pin slightly, you can see how dirty it is.

Bit of sanding it all back for better contact

After using some contact cleaner, putting it in and out a few times, it felt a lot better!

Now, I could just leave this, and tape it up, but that's not how we do things

3d printed a little test cover for now. Friction fit, but nice and tight.

All tucked away and the bike is working great again!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

How many bikes do you have and do you just sell one and then buy another project?

Down to 4 at the moment. As we are planning to move house at some point soon.
RE: Selling/Buying. That's kind of the idea. I like to have a couple of things on the go at any one time. But I think I will try to stay at 4 bikes going forward. I can't see myself selling the CBR400rr, or Z50a. The Ninja is due a thread update soon, it's getting closer to road-worthy. Not sure how long I will hold on to that one, as it's something of a duplicate of the CBR600rr.

I am not in it for the money, and usually I don't make much "profit" on any bikes, especially if you take into account my time. Anything I get over and above what I paid for a bike outright, just goes back into the "bike fund" when I flog one. If you do too much selling, HMRC can start sniffing about, and claim you are "trading".

Specifically I enjoy putting things right on them as much as anything else. Learning as I go, and taking the skills into the next project

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Lets get this thing chopped down

Never done it before, so i measured where I wanted to cut:

Then decided top have a go at a bit that was destined to be chucked away with the angle grinder to see how that went, and what I would find inside...

Got the end off - will need to drill out the rivets, and remove the end to be used again later..

This is what I am left with, clearly the angle grinder was a tad optimitisic

So, I removed a load of the wadding with a blade, and then had to get on with a more delicate method for the proper cut, using a hacksaw would be slower, but likely a lot neater!

Took a little break to drill and tap out the end.

Got through it, took about 30 mins of hacksawing! I used a little wrap of duct tape to act as a little physical guide to help create a tidy cut

Cut through the middle section, much more quickly

Then bash it all back together!

Refit!

Little bit louder, but looks a lot nicer in my opinion

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Right, this light unit was not doing it for me...

It has seen better days!

Strip off the tilt sensor and rubbers

OOh, these look a little better - Brand spanking new!

Should be fairly simple swap in, hopefully!

I then went looking to the fairing cowling, and checking all the fixings, and one was missing:

There should be one of these:

The standard ones I had did not fit - So out came the dremel for a little bit of "shaping".

Mocking up

Bit of fettling, and its in

Whilst they were off, I wanted to get rid of the bullet connectors on the indicators:

Quick snip/solder/wrap, and we have this!

Did the same to the other side, and they are now much neater, shorter, and no extra dodgy connectors!

Mostly just putting it back together now, got to do the same sort of fettling to the rear indicators. I also have the oil filter in stock, so want to drop the oil and check that, and perhaps get a manual cam chain tensioner fitted in the near future

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Little update!

Went for a ride the other day, and found that the bike was running poorly, like it was noisy and missing, and picking up again.
So, limped it home, and decided to take it off the road and do some tinkering.

I had oil change parts/spark plugs and some other maintenance bits, arrive. My initial thought was that it was an exhaust issue, but as it got worse and louder, I thought it must be electrical in nature also, so likely more than 1 issue.
Slightly annoying, but as I was going to taking off the fairings for the servicing, I figured it was a good time to check over some more stuff, and I am glad I did...

So, firstly, removed the fairings and had a poke about - Errm, wtf is this?

That explains a few things... These wires are holding on by a thread... Luckily, they are in the quick-shift wiring loom. So, this has to come out, as its missing its sensor anyway! Basically the loom for the aftermarket kit was touching the fan, and it has slowly eaten away the wires, and killing the connections to the spark plugs slowly. Whipped it out:

Looks a little neater in here now:

I always hate seeing my bikes in bits, but its needed

Whipped off the exhaust manifold:

Somewhat crusty, ordered a new one. Didnt break a single stud!! All the nuts and studs came out quite easily.

New one arrived

Annoyingly, I am held up on fitting this with some gaskets yet to turn up (Royal Fail strikerelated, as I understand it)


Whilst waiting for a few other bits to come in, i cut and spliced/soldered/heatwrapped in some wire to fix the quickshift kit, so I can sell it on later:

Whipped out the spark plugs, with a brilliant little tool that I inherited from a load of tools I sold on for someone. I kept a few little parts as payment, and WOW did it make getting the plugs out of the little space above MUCH easier. Did the first 2 without it, and the second two with, and it was significantly easier.

Plugs all done - same model as last time it would seem

Whipped out the K+N filter I found, and stuck in a standard panel filter for the moment. Whilst I work out if its worth cleaning/re-using the K+N.

Had to find some custom washers, as the K+N seems to use some proprietary screws to hold it in.

Airbox back on:

Found another little bodge - Ordered a Haynes manual for a nice wiring diagram to work out what they have done here, as it is well wrapped up in the loom:

I think I found a missing air-duct on the right side:

Will see if I can get this from somewhere!

Dropped the oil, swapped out the filter:

No major surprises in there, some flecks/magnetic bits but nothing big, but seems pretty standard.

Lastly, and the main reason why I am glad I decided to investigate further...

It seems two engine mount bolts/spacers/washers are missing completely.

I suspect this had frame sliders fitted before the new fairings were fitted. They were removed when the new fairings went on, and the guy just decided to cover it up, and sell on the bike.

I removed this from the right side, as it does not match up with any of the parts fiche parts for this bike, and must be from some third part frame sliders:

I am almost certain the bike has been down the road at least once on the back of this, but I suppose this is not unusual with a bike like this.

I have managed to track down the parts I need, and put in a little order, and will get them re-installed ASAP...

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Thank you for taking the time to post these updates - that alone must be a job and a half!

No worries, its quite cathartic, and helps me keep a log of what I have done to the bikes I have owned. I like having a record of all the little jobs, and helps me when I am selling the bikes, and can help me show how "honest" they are

Great thread mate, you little tinkerer.

Cheer chap

In related news... All my outstanding bits arrived today! Should be on the road by the Weekend, just as it enters the 30 days where it needs it's MOT doing

Will try to get everything up here by then!

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

So, some lovely new parts turned up! Now I have all I need:

These were the engine mounts that were missing, so lets unwrap them...

Sorted, slotted into place:

And the other (these were just roughly fitted here, not nipped up yet):

Little bit happier to ride the thing again now! - More parts to go on, new exhaust studs and bolts, here are the very pretty new Honda ones, they all came individually wrapped, like little sweets

New Studs fitted in nicely.

I ran out of copper grease in a tin, so had to spray some of the aerosol stuff into a lid so I could coat the studs with a little toothbrush:

Then used a couple of dabs of normal LM grease on the new exhaust seals, to help hold them into place in the head whilst I try to install the manifold.

This stuff melts off and away very quickly once the bike is running.

All in, and the studs copper greased up. Should make removal easier next time its needed!

Getting everything lined up before torqueing it all down:

Now that's all in place, its time to give her a drink after her oil change!

All back together, ready for a shakedown:

Back from a (slightly damp) ride, checking everything over:

Once again, she's ready to rumble!!

She is riding beautifully now, and the works completed have really brought the performance back, and I realise now just how down on power it was...

 

[Malt_Vinegar]

Top work and a lovely bike - wonder if you'll keep this one

So far it is working out fine

I discovered that the fairings were missing almost all the air intake ducting, after looking through the manual.
Turns out they were very expensive to replace, but I found a full set on a Chinese parts site for a much more reasonable cost.
They took about a month to arrive, and needed a little fettling to get fitted under the aftermarket fairings (which I think is why they never bothered to refit the originals) but now the intakes under the nose do actually feed the airbox of the bike and I have noticed smoother running, better throttle response and cooler running temperatures.
I also fitted some rim decals, just because I found some on the same Chinese site