#metoo
The Official 4zilch Garage
- goIftdibrad
- Chief Master Soft Brain
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brain go brrrrrr
- Apex
- Chief Master Sirloin of the Wasteful Steak
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#fakenews
you had 1, once.
Ive had 2 now.
trav had 3? iirc.
- goIftdibrad
- Chief Master Soft Brain
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- 4zilch
- First Sirloin
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Big Brain Bradley wrote: ↑Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:47 ammore as in capable of doing things, not just score keeping the #'s
As the only published author in a well-known motorcycle publication in the room...
- 4zilch
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Ordered some specialized tools, parts, and maintenance items for the new bike. A few minor things need to be gone through and inspected
As the only published author in a well-known motorcycle publication in the room...
- 4zilch
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Masochism: (in general use) the enjoyment of what appears to be painful or tiresome.
Travis semi-impulsively bought a JDM thing.
This was not the original plan. After selling the KTM, my plan was to buy an Aprilia Tuono, but I stumbled across one of these in a local craigslist ad - it turned out to be a scam, but never-the-less, the seed had been planted. I figured the opportunity had passed, but I gave google a search and happened upon a guy in Boston with one for sale. An email followed by a phone call later, I knew things were legit. Fortunately, I had a friend near the seller (who also happens to own one of these) willing to go give the bike a once over. Thumbs up were given, then the hand-wringing started.
$7500 for a 24 year old Japanese exotic
But they're only going up in value
What need does this really fill? You already have a 50-ish horsepower analog thing
Try it, worst case is you break even if it's not for you
Still a lot of money for an old slow thing that's going to need a bit of work
But it's mostly cleaning and maintenance stuff (things you do on any used bike purchase)
The majority of my moto friends that also happen to be Honda enthusiasts tell me it's a great idea
Fuck it, these don't come along often in the US, particularly with a title.
So I bought it.
Some
1994? Honda RVF400R (NC35)
400cc 90* V4 w/ gear driven cams that revs 14,500 and makes about 60 horsepower.
It's modeled after the RVF750R homologation special of the same era. Back when Honda did interesting things. Nearly everything on the bike is a 7/8ths scale version of it's larger cousin.
The bike was only built for the Japanese market but has found its way to other countries as imports. These bikes are still running around in SE Asia, the UK and Australia along with a small number in the US.
The bike has a fair amount of aluminum oxidation as would be expected on a bike that's made 1 or 2 trips across oceans. My best guess is that this bike spent time in the UK before coming to the US - reasoning is because the frame slider has the UK manufacturers phone number and the bike's speedometer has been converted from KPH to MPH.
The bike starts and runs great, so it mostly needs some TLC.
Issues that need to be addressed:
Leaky left fork seal - already started
Oil change
Coolant flush
General cleaning - I don't plan on going through every nut and bolt, but I do want to get as much oxidation cleaned up as possible.
New tires
Brakes
Body work - The current work is cheap Chinese plastic. It's very brittle and has some cracks due to a tip-over from the PO. I have a new set of Chinese plastics that seem to be of better quality, the only issue is that the green on the plastics doesn't match the green on the tank.
Pics to follow.
Travis semi-impulsively bought a JDM thing.
This was not the original plan. After selling the KTM, my plan was to buy an Aprilia Tuono, but I stumbled across one of these in a local craigslist ad - it turned out to be a scam, but never-the-less, the seed had been planted. I figured the opportunity had passed, but I gave google a search and happened upon a guy in Boston with one for sale. An email followed by a phone call later, I knew things were legit. Fortunately, I had a friend near the seller (who also happens to own one of these) willing to go give the bike a once over. Thumbs up were given, then the hand-wringing started.
$7500 for a 24 year old Japanese exotic
But they're only going up in value
What need does this really fill? You already have a 50-ish horsepower analog thing
Try it, worst case is you break even if it's not for you
Still a lot of money for an old slow thing that's going to need a bit of work
But it's mostly cleaning and maintenance stuff (things you do on any used bike purchase)
The majority of my moto friends that also happen to be Honda enthusiasts tell me it's a great idea
Fuck it, these don't come along often in the US, particularly with a title.
So I bought it.
Some
1994? Honda RVF400R (NC35)
400cc 90* V4 w/ gear driven cams that revs 14,500 and makes about 60 horsepower.
It's modeled after the RVF750R homologation special of the same era. Back when Honda did interesting things. Nearly everything on the bike is a 7/8ths scale version of it's larger cousin.
The bike was only built for the Japanese market but has found its way to other countries as imports. These bikes are still running around in SE Asia, the UK and Australia along with a small number in the US.
The bike has a fair amount of aluminum oxidation as would be expected on a bike that's made 1 or 2 trips across oceans. My best guess is that this bike spent time in the UK before coming to the US - reasoning is because the frame slider has the UK manufacturers phone number and the bike's speedometer has been converted from KPH to MPH.
The bike starts and runs great, so it mostly needs some TLC.
Issues that need to be addressed:
Leaky left fork seal - already started
Oil change
Coolant flush
General cleaning - I don't plan on going through every nut and bolt, but I do want to get as much oxidation cleaned up as possible.
New tires
Brakes
Body work - The current work is cheap Chinese plastic. It's very brittle and has some cracks due to a tip-over from the PO. I have a new set of Chinese plastics that seem to be of better quality, the only issue is that the green on the plastics doesn't match the green on the tank.
Pics to follow.
Last edited by 4zilch on Mon Oct 15, 2018 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
As the only published author in a well-known motorcycle publication in the room...
- 4zilch
- First Sirloin
- Posts: 6241
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:42 am
- Drives: Ford Party ST
- Location: God’s Country
Less than 24 hours after getting it home
Fork disassembled
An Ogre installed the upper bushing - replacements on order.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
As the only published author in a well-known motorcycle publication in the room...
- troyguitar
- Command Chief Master Sirloin
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- goIftdibrad
- Chief Master Soft Brain
- Posts: 16746
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 9:01 am
- Drives: straight past the apex
this is really cool
brain go brrrrrr
- 4zilch
- First Sirloin
- Posts: 6241
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:42 am
- Drives: Ford Party ST
- Location: God’s Country
oh yeah, parts will be a struggle, but baring anything catastrophic with the engine and trans there's a fair amount of NOS stuff out there as well as a bit of aftermarket. Fortunately is mechanically good order - it is still a Honda afterall.
As the only published author in a well-known motorcycle publication in the room...
- 4zilch
- First Sirloin
- Posts: 6241
- Joined: Thu Nov 03, 2016 8:42 am
- Drives: Ford Party ST
- Location: God’s Country
Yeah, there’s a fair amount of stuff on eBay. Major chassis or power train stuff is pretty rare - if things are found, they’re usually in the UK, Australia, or Japan.
There is one guy in the US that appears to travel to defunct dealers around the world and collect rare bike parts for inventory.
Edit: also thanks to Honda being Honda, there are some parts that are common across multiple motorcycles that were sold in the US. You just gotta know what to look for and do the research in the parts manuals.
As the only published author in a well-known motorcycle publication in the room...