What counts as high mileage for a fireblade?

[dragstaar]

I'm looking at maybe moving up to a fireblade, but my budget isnt massive. I've had my first big bike and I want to get my first Massive bike! So this may well be crashed/dropped quite soon.

Now, i dont mind an old bike, up to 10 years old. So lets say a 10 year old fireblade. Is 40K a lot? because they seem to range massively. And what do i have to look out for in terms of common issues? And how desirable are these to thieves? as much as the R1s?

[LeanIt]

Maintenance and a well cared for machine is all important, it's a Honda so miles are less imporant.

Look for a bike that's fairly original and well loved, you can trick it out yourself if if that's your thing
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Life is like a shit sandwich. The more bread you have, the less shit you eat.

[flumpy7]

How much are you lookin to spend? I got my 929 with only 8000 miles and 2 owners. 2001 reg! It was £1800. The 929's and 954's are reasonablly priced and have fuel injection, digital speedo etc...
You could get a bargain with a slightly older 'blade (pre 2000). These are carbed which some prefer and although they look a bit dated are a crazy ride.

Avoid lots of owners, and look out for signs that the bike has been raced cause that means it has been ragged. A too -true-to-be-believed mileage for the year is one sign as is fairings that look as they they have been removed a lot. The question of mileage is not so important as maintainance. A well maintained, road use only 40,000 mile example could do at least double that without major work, whilst a 10,000 bike thats been raced and neglected mechanically could be on its last legs. Proof of maintainance and mileage means alot.

More knowledgeable people will supply some useful info on common problems i'm sure although i know the 929 had a recall on fork bottoms and its worth paying close attention to headbearings when you go to view as these go quite quickly if you ride like a twat every day.
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2012 Sinnis apache

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

I can't say what issues the various Fireblades have suffered from.
40,000 miles on a serviced bike wouldn't put me off. 20k on an unserviced bike would.

If you plan on falling off, you probably will.

I wasn't aware that the R1 was more nickable. Suppose if there are more R1s produced than say GSXRs, that might make them more desirable for parts. (interested to know, what is thief bait?)

Soz...not very constructive

Pat
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[dragstaar]

Right, so how do i check fork bottoms? and how do i check head bearings? sorry, I'm a bit ignorant when it comes to the mechanics of bikes.

Which of the 1000cc superbikes have the cheapest/readily available parts. i know older model parts will be cheaper. So which particular years will be cheapest to buy and maintain, and still last me.

What are the main things that ought to be serviced, other pads, oil, chain and sprockets?

[Noxious89123]

Air filter, plugs, tyres, valve clearances. A 10year old bike could probably do with the coolant changing too. Check wheel bearings, head bearings and swingarm bearings. Brake fluid too. Batteries only have a finite life.

Good condition bodywork is hard to find for old bikes. Your usually limited to knackered parts, or buying brand new which is ruddy expensive.

Whatever you go for, do alot of research into that particular year/model before you buy. You'll find out lots of useful bits of info.
Eg. 929s don't have very smooth FI, whereas for the 954s this was greatly improved. So if you get a 929, a power commander is a bonus.
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'06 Honda CBR125RW-6 ~ '00 Honda CBR600F-Y ~ '07 Honda CBR600RR-7 ~ Bikeless
'53 Ford Ka 1.3 ~ '03 Vauxhall Astra SRi 1.8 ~ '52 Vauxhall Astra SRi 2.2 ~ '53 Vauxhall Astra GSi

[supZ]

i bought my 954 with 30k on the clock, shes now done near 36k and its sweet as a nut.

i bought the bike virtually mint condition, 1 owner from new, all regular service stamps in the book etc.. its a honda. as long as its looked after there's nothing to worry about.

as mentioned the 954s are far more refined than the 929s but the 900/918s are still great bikes. good pace, very comfy.

personally though, my favourite is definately the 954. looks gorgeous, goes like stink, handles brilliantly and let is perfectly happy doing the daily commute or doing 1600+ mile round trips around scotland (went last month, heh)

love mine to bits. superb bike!
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CBR954RR - Daily toy
CBR600RR - Trackbike

[Im-a-Ridah]

I'd be more concerned about the type of person that rode it than how far they went on it.

[A1BIKETRANSPO...]

ive had several high mileage fireblades as track bikes and they still go well if there looked after, i also have alot of spares if you ever need any?? a1biketransport.com
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[email protected]

[Howling TerrorOutOfOffice]

^^^Oi. Ease off the hard sell Mr bike mover.
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Diabolical homemade music Bandcamp and Soundcloud
Singer songwriter, Artist and allround good bloke Listen to Andrew Susan Johnston here
The Harry Turner Project

[A1BIKETRANSPO...]

no hard sell its a simple statement, i have parts? i dont have a gun to his head he doesnt have to buy them neither do you?
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[Keir]

[The Tot]

You've asked the right question and coming back from the dealers, they told me to keep my bike and run it to the ground. Regular oil changes (every 4-6k) is the secret for letting them run forever. They WILL be good for 80-100k miles no problems. Another customer does a lot of london-gloucester commutes as well as touring hence why his 929 has 60k on it!

BUT, it's not all sweet roses. For a 10 year old bike, I CAN TELL YOU EXACTLY what has gone wrong with mine! I bought it in Feb 09 with 12k miles on the clock - old MOT certs had shown the bike only did 2k per year until that point - it's a Y-Reg 929. It's now on 32k miles in the 18 months i've owned it and have spent AT LEAST a grand on continual repairs and consumables (i'm discounting costs of tyres, chains and oil).

Ran fine for a year until winter use gave it a good walloping of corrosion - £140 to sort out an earth fault and replace a fuel line - Feb '10

Winter walloping also caused the brakes to warp - replaced for Galfer wavys because they were on offer and cheaper than OEM - £340 + fitting - April '10. New tapered needle race bearings installed since the old ones got notchy - some pillock didn't know how to route the bagster tank cover strap so tightened it around the bottom of the head stock causing the dust cover to wear away - salt + bearings = bad news! (my fault!)

Regulator/Rectifier went so replaced with pattern item - £60 from dave silvers - Mechanic at Branson Honda ASSURED me that they WILL go on 929's... it's a matter of when, not if! I should have checked stator as well at this point (i'll explain in a bit) - May '10

Suspension was WELL and truly shagged by this point - front springs had it and my rear lost its compression damping making the bike very wallowy. Full Rebuild at HM Racing - Front had linear K-tech springs and rebuilt with new seals, Same story at the rear. £650 - July '10

My bike got left stranded in central london on a friday night! £500 labour and parts later it was traced down to a CAM POSITION SENSOR! Speaking to Branson Honda mechanics, these are KNOWN to go on 954's! So beware! August '10

I probably should have got my stator checked over when I replaced the Reg/Rec but it was still charging fine at 14-14.5V under load. But the Reg/Rec blew AGAIN! This time, got the Reg/Rec sent along with the Stator to get rewound at West Country Windings. At this point the service manager at Bransons pretty much said, you've sorted out the major issues that are likely to go on a bike of this age so keep. They'll be good for another 3-4 years at this sort of mileage! That job ONLY cost me £330 which was a bargain considering I budgeted 700 for it if i were to get new parts!

I LOOK after my bike (I clean and service it regularly) BUT it gets its fair share of usage per month (2k). The laundry list I rolled out is probably as bad as it gets but if you're looking to buy any 929/954, ensure you ask them about the things i've mentioned. Blade owners tend to look after their bikes and keep them. Mine had 3 previous owners so they DO tend to hang on to their bikes.

To be fair, it's still cheaper than a car. I could do with a commuter bike but this thing does so many smiles per gallon, it's not worth getting another bike.

In short, IF THEY ARE WELL LOOKED AFTER or have a LOAD of receipts telling the right things then you'll be onto a good one. I put valve check intervals at 16k miles. So in a year, I usually have 3-4 oil changes with a valve check in december (purely because i'm on holiday and i can leave the bike at a dealer for some time).

954 if you must, but a 929 if you can get them for cheap enough (got mine for 2.3k - Cat C though but it's a keeper). The FI/ECU is a lot better on the 954 and it looks more contemporary.

Oh 929's - check for recalls on the fork bottoms - stress corrosion cracking has been known to occur on them.

The blades have had a more sensible following of owners since it never grabbed the headlines like the R1 or gixxer thou (i'm talking about 929/954's that is)- 30 somethings. A few of them tended to be snobbish when i rocked up purely because they thought I was a bit too young to be on one! It's an understated bike. Theives will have bikes irrespective but in terms of desirability, they'd pick a gixxer or R1 instead of the blade. They get crashed less so premiums are a bit lower. I'm paying £440 for mine in London, ungaraged, TPFT with business insurance. 23YO, 4 years NCB, 1 claim, 3 points.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[minesweeper]

Picked up a 954 from ebay last month and so far i cant fault it. Honda put time and effort into each 1, as long as its kept to the service schedule u will have no problems. just look for the usual warning signs which u should check if buying second hand.
parts will never be a problem and insurance isnt as bad as you'd think.
matty
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Rvf400, 955i daytona, 954 fireblade, cbr1000rr fireblade 06 Hm plant

[dragstaar]

ooo this all looks a bit scary. To be honest, i've only been riding for 3 years, full licence for 2 and a half. I dont know that much about bikes.

How do I check that the bearings are in good nick? i'm sorry if I'm asking some stupid questions. And what are valve checks and why are they important?

From the sounds of it, the 929 looks like a no go, but is that the only one i'm likely to pick up for under £2000? I don't mind going for a Gixxer or an R1 I just really like hondas, and I'm not masively keen on the Kawasakis. What are the chances of getting an R1 or Gixxer for under £2000?

Also, How hard are these bikes to carry out maintenance on? I've had a CG and a 600 Bandit, and all I can do is brakes (only pad changes, don't know how to bleed), chain maintenance, changing oil, and exhaust (not downpipes though). So you can see my knowledge is MASSIVELY basic. How much maintenance do these machines take? How often am i looking at changing tyres and chains?

[The Tot]

I suggest not getting your hands on one of these just yet until you can appreciate the costs involved or what may go wrong. Basic maintenance is just that and will help with reducing running costs. But once it gets to electrical issues, I just leave it with my mechanics! Carbed bikes were a lot easier to work on because they didn't feature such a complicated ECU! I NEVER had any electrical breakdowns on my previous bikes until I had the 929!

Oil change is a doddle to do. Even bleeding the brakes is a joy. Anything else is a bitch! Try and get to the spark plugs and I'd rather bung it into the garage! Plug changes were simple on my old bikes but on this one, because it's got an electronic fuel pump (since it's not a gravity fed system with a fuel tap), you can't remove the tank and isolate it. THAT would make things a lot easier to work on! It can still be done in situ but it's pure hassle. The FI gubbins and radiator clearance make it awkward to get to the plugs. I got as far as removing the airbox and thought, it's not worth my hassle because I know I WILL round off the bolts.

To summarise service intervals are every 4k miles. Sequence is MINOR (about £120), INTERMEDIATE (£200), MAJOR(£300 - valve checks... more if shims need replacing). But as long as you change your oil every 4k, you can expect to bung in a valve check every 16k. Most people sell when they need to get this done. Ensure bikes have a service history or a long list of receipts. List of old MOT's WILL show that it's been looked after and you can gauge how well used it is.

Suffice to say, if you've read my post carefully, you can see that regular oil changes are all that will take to keep it going. Electrical gremlins are a case of WHEN not IF! So budget as and when.

Valve clearances are important on ANY bike. It measures the distance of "free play" effectively in the valve to ensure it's in tolerances. Not too tight and not too loose. Neglect them on any bike and you don't know how far out of tolerances they are. It's often a cams-out jobs on most DOHC IL4 bikes if the shims are out of tolerance.

Fork bottoms, how can you check... well you cant! Unless that is you have an scanning electron microscope to hand to determine the grain structure of the casting (sorry materials engineer mode) which helps determine if it had been subjected to Stress Corrosion Cracking. Honda will issue a recall and most of these WILL have been done by now on all affected bikes. If not, pop it into a dealer and they'll do it for free. Head bearing issues were with 954's. This was due to the switch from ball bearings to needle race bearings producing a different steering characteristic. Can't say I've noticed when I changed my bearings to needle race. Because they have a greater contact area, they wear less but are pretty twitchy. In which case set the bike up properly before you go off and buy a steering damper. But based on what you've been saying, you're unlikely to tax the bike to cause these issues.

Everybody echoed the point of putting an PCIII on the bike and it is a MUST! Glitchy FI makes it a niggle in town and exacerbated when carrying pillions. It manifests itself as the engine hunting or surging in 1st between 3-4k. 954's don't suffer this problem as much. But SP1's and 929's ARE notorious for this issue.

Tyres and chains... how long is a piece of string!? Budget well for this. Get some decent chain and sprockets and have an auto oiler and you can see 30-40k from a C&S set. The bike came with a set of IRIS chains and they got knackered within 5k miles! Current set have done 15k on them. Tyrewise I go conservative and put sports touring rubber on it - Dunlop Roadsmarts... again, do a thread search for Roadsmart and I HAVE SUNG PRAISES about them. Rear tyre gets 6.5-7k miles, front tyre gets 11k miles. I do a lot of motorway miles so realistically, I can get up to 7.5-8k miles if I run them straight to the wear bars. Put on sports rubber and you can say goodbye to the rear after 3-4.5k miles.

Under 2000? You're VERY unlikely to get ANY decent thou for that price! I took a gamble on the 929 and it would have paid off if I used it for a summer toy.. and not for a workhorse. I understood the implications of getting an insurance write-off purely because of my experience of crashing my ZX6R and rebuilding that from the ground up.

k1 thous and 99 R1's (mostly in blue or race rep crashed) will be very high milers with uncertain history or write offs.

Save your money and get a good bike! 3K WILL buy you a LOT of bike and your choices will open up.

929 Blades are good bikes, don't get me wrong. But if you're concerned about expenses, then I wouldn't bother thinking about a litre supersports.

In terms of crashability... it's 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. crash bung are a must (I've had 2 spills on the blade - one in traffic and 1 on a country road and the bike came off with nothing other than dented pride). <02 R1's don't have detatchable subframes so if they get bent in a smash then it's written off. It's all down to luck.

If you've got a mindset of falling off then might I suggest staying on your current bike until you are CONFIDENT. I got the blade after I did a bit of a reality check and said "Can I do this bike justice? Will I treat it with the respect it deserves? Can I afford to run it?" Admittedly, I don't take the piss on it and people might see me as a bit of a grandad when on group rides but the rewarding thing with the blade is that IT IS AN EASY BIKE TO RIDE QUICKLY (I said quickly and not fast) because the chassis responds to inputs very well. It will hold a line on any given corner. It's a very stable bike and I treat it like a 600cc with steroids. 929 weighs 171kg dry (954's 167kg dry) so it's as light as 600's of the era but with more torque.

A 600 will give you just as much fun and might make you into a better rider since you'd know how to use the power properly. To be fair, I'm very lazy when I ride the Blade because if I ride it the way I rode my 600 OR my 250, I'd be without a license or pushing daisies!

Any supersports 600 still have the power which you can abuse and get into trouble with with 70-80% the running cost of a thou. Insurance will be cheaper.

Sorry if this has put a bit of a downer on your idea but your time will come.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[dragstaar]

so basically, other than oil changes, everything is going to go to the garage!

Hmmm, this has given me a new perspective, so you feel that for a supersports that isnt going to give me a lot of trouble I'd have to budget £3000? I don't mind that, Just means I'll have to wait a bit longer. I'd rather a 1000 because i want to future proof. I'd rather go straight to the 1000 than do mini steps and end up forking out more. So, once again, silly question, are there any Sports 1000s that are as bulletproof as the Bandit? I'm a bit of a tart, so i want some good pace and speed with the appropriate looks of a fully faired bike. Which one would you reccommend then?

[The Tot]

Each has their own character. There's no such thing as future-proofing. The golden era for bikes was 2004-2006 before Euro 3 emissions legislations caused a shift in bike design. Bikes got heavier and started chasing stratospheric power figures at the expense of road usability.

K5 Gixxer thou is your answer. That or 04/5 R1. Respectable power but more importantly, usable power for the road.

Just for edification, being bulletproof STILL means you have to maintain it! A thou isn't like a CG where you can run it on neglect and it'll still smile back at you politely.

In terms of pace and speed, a 600cc supersports WILL be more than what you need. B1H ZX6R is what I'd tell you to get. Learn how to use that properly. That bike will nudge 160 and attack back roads better than thous. If you WANT to learn to be a better rider than go for that. I'm trying to convince you that you DON'T NEED a thou.. and if you WANT a thou, just make sure you can cough up for the perks.

Here's a video to compare a well ridden 600 vs me on a blade. Notice how different the engines sound in terms of RPM VS Speed. Whilst my mate was ragging it to keep the bike on the boil, I just shortshifted it into 6th and just used it like a twist and go. I would have had more fun on the 600. My mate can't shift for shit though. He keeps the throttle pinned on upshifts!

In any case, if you learn how to be smooth on any bike then you can be quick on any bike. Notice how a smooth thou Vs frantic 6 = same result. But the rider on the 6 will have a LOT more fun.
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The Tot 2019 Z1000SX - 2007 R1
Never argue with autism

[dragstaar]

Hmmm, yeah maybe your right. I like to think that I am a relatively good rider, I can handle and control a bike. But then again, I have never ridden a bike with horrendous power before.

So you reccomend a 600 sportsbike then? thing is though, they're quite small and i'm a tall guy. the R6, for instance, is a tiny bike, and I like the size and deep rumble of the 1000s rather than the annoying whiny screech of the 600s. But hey, you're probably right, I may go for a supersport 600.

What about these sport-tourers, that look the part but arent as overwhelming, apparently? I've had a look at the TL1000 and that does look nice. Any ideas?

[c_dug]

Why not look at something like a VFR800?

I would image the maintenance costs will be a huge amount less than a superbike (less highly tuned and gear driven cams), it will be a lot easier to ride than a superbike for somebody with less experience, it will be much more comfortable than a superbike and probably more economical too.
Plus it has the looks of a faired sports bike, and the second best sounding engine in existence (V4's just loose it to the RG500 Gamma).

Have done a lot of looking into the VFR750 myself, I know they will see 80 or 90 thousand miles without blinking, I would imagine the 800 is the same story
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I am a bellend, I am a man of constant sorrow, I am a gummy bear, I am a rock.

[flumpy7]

[dragstaar]

[supZ]

[L4Isoside]

[The Tot]