Road: Poking around

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 can imagine that anything involving an exhaust removal will end up being a bigger job that anticipated.
On the plus side, the radiator and hoses weren't leaking and nothing was too furry.

Up in the control world; the left switch gear is very faded and the high beam switch is sticky so that will need replacing/ cleaning out. The clocks are very tidy and in good condition with the worst bit being the nasty looking carbon look mirrors which were also loose.

Over to the sides, save for some cosmetics, there wasn't anything  that needed much attention. The odd fastener hear and there will need replacing which would be no real bother. The heel plates and the ram air intakes were nowhere to be seen and will need to be sourced.

I was somewhat concerned about the nut on the end of the swing arm pivot as it had very little engagement and the locking feature wasn't anywhere near being used.
Looking at the picture on the right from the CBR400RR-R NC29 page, You can see that there is a specialist castellated nut used instead, however a look back at my bike and this nut can be seen under the other nut. Very strange?

Heading further back and we get the the "      FOR ROAD USE" Micron can with it's scuffed hanger. The can is not actually too loud for a blatant race can and suits the bike; so it will probably stay.

As for the back end: the wheel moved freely with no rumbles, the suspension dampens nicely even if it is a bit soft now and no clunking in the swing arm or linkaging.

The wheels have been repainted at some point and look tatty. This might be a job to do on the next tyre change as there are plenty of powder coaters near me making it a cheap job to do.

The chain was noticeably loose and grubby so I dragged the bike out and gave it a good scrub with some GUNK degreaser before flushing the chain thoroughly and relubing with Worth dry chain lube on the rollers and some WD40 on the side plates to word off corrosion.

Once everything was dry I checked the tyre pressures, stuck some super unleaded in her and took her for a ride.


On the road

I had to give the batter a little charge to coax her into starting. Possibly a sign of a weak battery but the bike has been sat in a shop and been run for short periods since which is a bit of an ask from such a tiny battery.
Unfortunately, being January, the roads were icy in places; so I had to ride very conservatively.
The engine was very smooth and the frame confidence inspiring if a touch cramped after having got used to the more spacious GSXR. 
When I came to a dry straight section of road I could open her up and with an almost synthasized howl she lunged forward into the red line and onto the next gear.
Smoothness is the key to this bike and the CBR feels just as smooth as I remembered. Engine wise I have no concerns for this bike at all although I did notice that there was no growling induction noise like the bike I used to ride. 
As expected the brakes were poor and the front end resistance never went away so a brake clean out is on the cards but otherwise she was as good as I could have expected from a cheap CBR400 NC29.

What to do?

Well the little ride out and inspection brought up a few jobs to do including:

Brakes

  • Brake lines
  • Brake caliper service
  • Brake fluids
  • might as well renew pads whilst there.

Exhaust

  • Header pipes clean up and repaint
  • Exhaust studs
  • Possible problem with pot 3's exhaust flange.
Missing parts
  • Ram air intakes
  • Heel plates
  • OEM mirrors
  • Clean up or replace left switch gear.
  • Some fasteners.
Not forgetting this bikes actual job, to be a track bike, I still need to throw on the spare fairing and buy a tail unit to match. 
Brakes aside, there isn't a lot that actually needs to be done. The bike works as it is and can be used on the track with no real faffing.
A fairings off look around will need to be done but an oil check showed new oil so hopefully there won't be a mouse living in my airbox this time... 



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