CBR400RR NC29

If you need to get to part D then parts A.B&C also need to come off and now you can reach part E more easily. Sod it lets just do the alphabet whilst we are here! The CBR had shown that it really needed new tyres in a recent "moment" so the wheels needed to come off. Seeing as the wheels were going to be off I might as well get that powder coating done whilst I am there. The NSR250 MC28  also needed its wheels powder coating and some fresh shoes wouldn't be a bad idea either. Might as well get them done together eh? Tyres were bought off of eBay in the form of a set of Bridgestone battleaxe S20 EVO's for the NSR and Metzeler M3 front and M1 rear for the CBR. This cut the costs right back which was good as this was going to be a very expensive month for me. I took the bare wheels to Viking powder coating near Bardney Lincolnshire who did a fairly good job. At £50 a wheel I expected a touch better, but the price was still good and so far the coating

You have an itch, you scratch it, you make it worse, you scratch again anyway. This CBR has an itch and I went and scratched it again. The main itch being a cooling system that was a touch excitable, not letting the bike reach temperature. The blame for that lay mostly with the thermostat presumably which is located, inconveniently, in that nice space behind the barrels and under the carbs, airbox and fuel tank. Such joy. Begin the fun! Off with the tank which was not rubber mounted and had the wrong bolts. Good start. The tank drains into a neat little cup thing so there is only one hose to disconnect that being the fuel feed to the fuel pump. Hang on this thing has a fuel pump? I have never heard that thing run up best order another one. That aside, literally, I had the airbox to crack into. Which, a few screws later proved to contain no furry animals and a grubby K&N air filter. About time I found something good and lucky I have the proper cleaner and oil. Next off

 I got asked to pop over to my racing teams new den on a cold January evening to get some photographs of the team dyno for a bit of publicity. The plan for it is to allow us to run diagnosis with various jetting and pipe set ups on our Classic race machines including; Yamaha RD250/400s, Suzuki X7s and a couple of Honda MT125s including my own RD250  as well as any other bikes we may be racing or simply playing with. The subject of the day was Andy's RD250 which was in the process of being prepped for next year (much like the rest of our bikes) but still looks presentable enough to demonstrate our new piece of diagnosis kit. After the shoot we slung the new CBR400RR on to see what she would do. As I had only really run the bike for a brief time, at fairly sedate speeds and engine RPM's, I wasn't sure what to expect. I didn't even know what the bike was supposed to produce. A search of the internet came up with various numbers but most seemed to sit around 50-55

After my GSXR400's up and left I had the space I needed in my garage to have a poke around the CBR. First win point was that the universal ABBAS stand attachments work with this bike, fitting in the hollow swing arm pivot bolt nicely. With her ass in the air I was able to have a good look around the bike for bits that needed sorting.  Starting with the front end I found the front wheel to be stiff. I lubed up the front caliper pins as they are two piston sliding calipers that are prone to getting stuck. A ride might free them up anyway so no point in stripping things down just yet. Head races were good and forks felt progressive. The front brakes were soft and the fluid dark so that will be a job to do. Looking into the front of the engine, the header pipes looked fairly good (a repaint would make more presentable) with the exception of one of the flanges appearing to have a random weld on it that you can see on the right. The studs are also noticeably different so I

The CBR400RR NC29 Gullarm.... ...Or BabyBlade if you prefer. Not long ago I bought a GSXR400 GK73A with the idea that it would be my cheap track tool and future race bike once the CRMC went and let these little rocket ships in. Getting the bike where I wanted it turned out to be more of a pain than I had anticipated and what I wanted was a Honda after all so no matter how well she performed I would always want for more.  One track day later and the right bike came up at the right price. The next thing I knew I had my third Honda in the garage and a nice chap taking my GSXR400's away (you will have to read that blog to see how the number of bikes had escalated).  But why? Well I have always liked the CBR400 NC29. Ever since borrowing a mates BabyBlade in the noughties I knew that the CBR400 was the best 400 cc SuperSports bike out there. Admittedly his was a bit fancy (mechanically that is. the bike looked rough) but I fell in love with it and found my own