MarJay's 1995 FireBlade project - lots of small jobs

Easy-X · Super Spammer Joined: 08 Mar 2019 Karma :

I ordered oil safe containers from Amazon for a few quid and then take them down the local dump.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, ~~Yamaha XSR700,~~ ~~Honda Rebel,~~ ~~Yamaha DT175,~~ ~~Suzuki SV650 (loan)~~ ~~Fazer 600,~~ ~~Keeway Superlight 125,~~ ~~50cc turd scooter~~

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

Easy-X · Super Spammer Joined: 08 Mar 2019 Karma :

Any repair garages local? Bung 'em a couple of quid to tip your oil into their collection drum. I expect when they see you're only bowling up with a litre or so they'll let you off the money.
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Royal Enfield Continental GT 535, Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, ~~Yamaha XSR700,~~ ~~Honda Rebel,~~ ~~Yamaha DT175,~~ ~~Suzuki SV650 (loan)~~ ~~Fazer 600,~~ ~~Keeway Superlight 125,~~ ~~50cc turd scooter~~

blurredman · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Sep 2010 Karma :

And here I am with a few full 20 and 25l drums full of old stuff awaiting the day for me to bother to take them to the tip. Laughing

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CBT: 12/06/10, Theory: 22/09/10, Module 1: 09/11/10, Module 2: 19/01/11
Past: 1991 Honda CG125BR-J, 1992 (1980) Honda XL125S, 1996 Kawasaki GPZ500S, 1979 MZ TS150.
Current: 1973 MZ ES250/2 - 18k, 1979 Suzuki TS185ER - 10k, 1981 Honda CX500B - 91k, 1987 MZ ETZ250 (295cc) - 40k, 1989 MZ ETZ251 - 51k.

Ste · Not Work Safe Joined: 01 Sep 2002 Karma :

Spend £35 on Amazon and you get free delivery.

to v or not to v · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Nov 2020 Karma :

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

Double post
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

Today is one I had marked in my calendar for quite a while. 1st of April. Why? Because then I can stick 6 months tax on my bikes and cover the whole of the riding season without having to do a year. My work bike and my KR1S are taxed year-round, the KR1S just because it's cheap as a 250. Obviously once taxed, I can ride them!

Wait... let's rewind a couple of days.

So beginning of this week I got excited about this red letter day, so I thought I'd check that the 'Blade worked OK. It did not.

It turned over and over and over and over, and coughed a couple of times, but there was no life. Damn. Seeing as I've not run the bike since February, I was worried about the whole 'modern fuel kills Carbed bikes that are stored' thing. I was hoping this was not the case due to the strong smell of fuel I got from the bike when trying to start it. I read a few forum posts, and scratched my head and came to the conclusion that the issue *might* be fouled plugs. I remember the previous owner saying he 'never used the choke' which was a concern in itself.

I ordered some new plugs (which aren't cheap!) and in advance of that, I decided to dismantle the bike to get to the plugs. I took the tank off, I took the airbox lid off, I took the airbox base off, and there is a weird heat shield between the head and the airbox that was a faff to remove. Once I did, I then tried to remove one of the plugs. Turns out my plug spanner was too fat to fit into the head. Again I searched forums and found the only tool you can use is the one from the bike's bundled toolkit. Which I don't have. Damn.

So I did more googling, and found that Euro Car Parts did a set of think wall plug spanners, so I nipped over to Basingstoke and bought it. When I got back, this was what I found:

https://files.catbox.moe/axlu8l.JPG

The plugs STANK of petrol. I'm now certain that the issue is the plugs.

https://files.catbox.moe/cqlib8.JPG

The plugs arrived today, and so I fitted them. The bike went back together surprisingly easily, and then I took it for a quick blast.

It's way quicker than I remember, the brakes are still not great. It sounds way better and was a lot of fun, if a little bit rattly.

Tomorrow I've got more time and so I'll take it for a longer ride.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

to v or not to v · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Nov 2020 Karma :

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

I realised after going for my short ride that I'd forgotten to do up the clips on the airbox base that hold onto the inlet rubbers, so I had to take the tank off again to sort that. I then put the whole thing back together and took it for a long ride. It's flipping excellent. It turns nicely, it's got loads of power and it just feels right. On the original test ride when I bought the bike, the engine felt really flat, so I wonder if the ignition issue was causing the bike to run badly. Maybe it was not even running on all 4? I am not sure.

There are two downsides to the bike as I see it now.

1.) The brakes are still shocking. A Hyundai did an emergency stop in front of me, and I managed to stop, but I got the adrenal dump. It was definitely a twitchy moment. This would not have happened on any of my other bikes, including my KR1S which is 4 years older than the FireBlade.

2.) The reach to the bars is enormous. It was quite chilly yesterday, so the combination of the cold biting wind and the riding position meant I had a very stiff neck at the end of the ride. My wrists are OK, my back is OK, and I was able to ride the bike perfectly well, but my neck was killing.

I have a theory about why bikes suddenly became more ergonomic around the turn of the millenium, even sportsbikes, and that's the stacked gearbox. The Blade has an engine with a gearbox behind it, leaving a huge dead space under the tank. The R1 released in 1998 had the first stacked gearbox that used that dead space and allowed for a longer swinging arm. My theory is that it would also allow for a shorter tank, and a shorter seat to bars distance, allowing for a little more comfort. What did not help around this time was the greater race replica focus of sportsbikes with lower bars, harder and smaller seats and more aggressive natures.

So going back to the maintenance side of things, I've rebuilt the calipers, it has braided hoses, the master cylinder works perfectly OK which leaves the discs. They are scored and worn in a curved profile, and the pads are pretty new. My theory is that the pads aren't making decent contact with the discs, so I have a set of pattern Chinese discs on order, and I'm hoping this will transform things. A similar thing happened with my CBR600RR and that made the brakes eye popping, so I'm hoping I'll get a similar, if not quite as pronounced effect on this bike.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

A100man · World Chat Champion Joined: 19 Aug 2013 Karma :

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

to v or not to v · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Nov 2020 Karma :

can you fit bar risers to Blades? should help with the neck ache.
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current bike Yamaha Thunderace.
Moto Guzzi V7.

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

I took the bike for another ride with the other half (following on her own bike) on Easter Sunday. She made an observation afterwards that she thought it hilarious that I warned her each time I intended to slow down, because the brakes are so bad I needed to anticipate very far ahead. I REALLY Need to sort the brakes. I did have more confidence in the general handling of the bike, and I did open the taps a couple more times. It's definitely rapid.

I caved and ordered some Chinesium pattern brake discs. I wanted gold centres with a criss cross pattern with plain (non wavy) rotors. I got a message from the seller, a nice lady called 'Lisa' (who is based in China, so I'm not sure if that's really her name...) who said that only black centres were available, or I could have straight spokes with wavy discs... ugh. Neither of which are right for my bike. There was some back and forth but they have agreed to refund me now. I'll order from Wemoto which have very similar (possibly even identical) pattern discs for a bit more money. They also claim to price match, so I might call them once my refund is processed to see if they'll price match a Chinese seller on ebay...
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

sickpup · Old Timer Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

sickpup · Old Timer Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

A100man · World Chat Champion Joined: 19 Aug 2013 Karma :

sickpup · Old Timer Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

MarJay · But it's British! Joined: 15 Sep 2003 Karma :

No discount off of Wemoto, but I ended up ordering MTX discs which RRP around £179 each but I got for £126.60 each. Still eye watering for a budget build, but I think it's the last thing standing between this bike and an amazing ride.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.