The Fireblade

[red]

Mileage now at around 17,200 - took it for a 580 mile round trip from Hertfordshire up to Cumbria and back over last weekend (travelled up Friday evening and returned Monday morning)

Please to say the bike was excellent, not sure I'd want to be doing trips like that all too often but it's good to know it's fine.

New chain should arrive tomorrow as the current one is past it's best now.

 

[red]

Mileage 17,650 - New chain and rear sprocket fitted over the weekend

Interestingly the sprocket I took off was a tooth smaller 40 vs the stock 41, can't imagine it would have made much difference but it was a fair bit smaller.

This was the first of two reasons for bringing the bike off of the road for a few days, the second was a suspected front wheel bearing failure. After taking the wheel off of the bike, it was clear this was the case.

This is the old one, you could literally push the inner race up and down (very bad)

Had to man handle the dust seals out by literally knocking them away from the hub with a screw driver and hammer (hitting only the seal!!)

Knocked both bearings out evenly by tapping around from the inside.

Cleaned up the messy recess so that I wasn't putting nice new bearing in to muck

Squarely knocked in the new bearings, remembering to replace the space tube in the middle of the wheel, the typical recommendation seemed to be to use the old bearing over the new bearing, I opted for a piece of wood followed by a large socket instead.

And finally... all done with new seals (definitely use new seals even if the old ones came out ok)

I re-greased the axle prior to refitting, torqued everything up to recommended specs and out for a test ride.

Wow is all I can say, I had so much vibration through the handlebars before and a slight judder under heavy braking. Well that's all gone, braking is now smooth and confidence inspiring, needless to say I'm very pleased with the outcome.

 

[DOH]

Hi Red
The difference of 1 tooth on the sprocket will change the overall gearing. Although the 40 tooth may have given you a higher top speed ,the 41 tooth will give better acceleration.

 

[red]

:? Well it seems I'm going from one thing to another, I thought I had a flat battery last week, so I jumped the bike and it started no bother, 32 mile ride to work with no issues. Went to start it after work and the same, it needed jumping but ran fine until it was stopped again.

After doing some tests I found that the voltage was lower whilst running (at idle) than when stopped. The battery was reading about 11.5V and whilst running I saw it fluctuate between 9-11V

Since the battery seems to be holding charge I put the bike up and started looking at the charging system (consists of the Stator and the voltage Regulator/Rectifier).

These parts are notorious and fortunately can be checked with a multimeter. Both parts passed diode/resistance tests (After I bought a new multimeter). Finally I tested for short circuits which is common for a Stator failure, bingo, continuity test failed.

I didn't want to take the engine cover off just to inspect it but now I was sure I took it off and found it looked a bit worse for wear.

I've got a replacement on order and hopefully soon we'll be back up and running

 

[red]

P.s. I can so far highly recommend the RoyPow portable jump kit, I've used it about 6 times to start the bike whilst having the issue above and can carry it in my backpack!

 

[stuvy]

My Bridgestone tyre delaminated on me a year or so back I had to ride half hour home at 5mph as I didn’t have battery on my phone!

 

[red]

Bike view with the Stator removed, flywheel looks in fine condition still so not changing that.

Old

New

We're all back together and after retesting with the multimeter everything looked good. The casing was cleaned up had 'Hondabond' applied prior to refitting which is a liquid gasket.

Mileage now 19,558 with new oil (Castrol Power-1 Racing 10W-40) and filter.

Road tested it 32 miles to work and it seems to be sweet as a nut again, the real test will be starting it after work though :grin:

 

[red]

The time is fast approaching for a new set of tyres.

 

[red]

New Michelin Pilot Road 4's fitted front and back on Friday, mileage around 21,582

The old Bridgestones had done ok since they'd done about 8,000 miles, there was still good tread on the front but the wear was dreadful, they hadn't flattened like you might expect, instead both the sides had worn leaving a ridge in the middle... this made the handling terrible...

Old and new:

The rear had worn normally, just getting towards the wear markers and flattened.

And the new:

Used it for the first time today and just like last year, I'm so happy to be back on new tyres, the handling transformation is outstanding. Still wearing them in currently and then we'll see what the Michelins wear like

 

[gingerdave]

Blimey must be like chalk and cheese,what a strange wear pattern.

 

[red]

Chalk and cheese is right, getting used to dry weather grip is weird enough after the winter without already having been additionally cautious due to the wear.

 

[red]

The old girl is still going strong, mileage is 28,239

It's no longer used for a commute and I considered whether to trade in for something newer and lower mileage.

After a quick ride out I quickly decided against that!!

It starts first time every time, is still a pleasure to ride and the upgrades I fitted early on have made it basically all I want from a bike.

So what's next??

Well I've done 7k on the tyres and 10.5k on the chain and sprockets so these are on the list for replacing. I'll probably stick with the Michelin Pilot Road series tyres as these have worn much more nicely than the Bridgestones.

The R&G rear sprocket is starting to show wear, so I'm going to try a Supersprox as these have great reviews, in my old post I mentioned my original sprocket had 40 teeth and I replaced it for what I thought was stock 41, turns out 40 is the original for a 2004-2005 and 42 is stock for the 2006-2007 facelift, I'll be going 42 this time. DID Pro Gold chain (nothing to say about these!).

The radiator has had a bodge repair before my ownership and I think it affects the cooling a little, so I have a replacement ready to fit for this.

For the first time in 4 years I'm going to treat it to something new just for aesthetics, I've just placed an order for a load of replacement nuts and bolts, the ones on it function as they should, but some are a bit corroded and others had at some point been painted / powder coated from silver to black and it's chipping off making it look tired. I've gone for some fancy black stainless steel items from Pro-Bolt who are the most well regarded for replacements. Excited for these to arrive!

In 2018 I lost the carbon exhaust hanger, I ordered a replacement at the time but never fitted it as the exhaust is secure anyway, I might put this on with some thread lock!

Maybe if I can stretch to it, some braided brake hoses.

And most boringly I might replace the rear brake disc as that's never been changed in my ownership and an oil and filter change.

 

[Van_Dammesque]

Nice bike, don't have the bottle to ride one on UK roads, but would imagine it is very exciting.
How about making to look like Street Hawk? :lol:

 

[red]

No thanks I think there'd be other more appropriate bases for that

I've ridden many miles on UK roads, it's normally great!

 

[red]

Some more stuff arrived ready for the tlc!

Fluids for radiator flush, refill and brake fluid change!

Rear disc and pads

A few black stainless steel nuts and bolts

A syringe to reverse bleed the brakes and a replacement rear fluid reservoir

New rubber!

Spent a while considering the tyres, I know I said I'd stick with the Michelins however since I dont have the same mileage requirements I thought I'd give the Metzelers a go, they get highly rated and should be more suited to short leisure rides

 

[yippeekiay]

Certainly going to town on it. :thumbs:

I ain't going to ask how much that lot was but I'm guessing it's way more expensive than I remember. :lol:

 

[red]

hah yeah, best not to add that up!! I just ordered a service kit for the rear caliper, since it'll be off anyway I figure I might as well clean it up.

 

[red]

All planned winter works completed along with two shake downs. 8)

• Radiator and fan replacement with full coolant flush and change
• Oil and filter change
• Front and rear braided brake line installation with fresh fluid and new banjos
• Front caliper clean
• Rear caliper strip and rebuild (new piston, seals and bleed nipple)
• Rear disc and pads replaced
• Rear brake fluid reservoir replaced
• Clutch cylinder gasket
• Front and rear sprocket replaced
• Chain replaced
• Front and rear tyres replaced
• New various black stainless nuts and bolts
• Fitted the carbon exhaust hanger (with threadlock!!)
• Thorough clean

Was feeling great, but then the MOT ran out on Sunday, so now that needs booking quick before the good weather disappears for the year.

 

[red]

:clap:

MOT passed today :cheer:

Was a bit apprehensive after all the work I'd done on it in one go, only advisories were 2 usual suspects and 1 expected so, perfect :whino:

 

[yippeekiay]

:thumbs: