Thanksgiving Moments

Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada is early (winter is coming), but this one was pretty rideable.  The Honda is calling from a mechanical perspective, but that can wait until the Canadian motorcyclist's hibernation.

In the meantime, I'm getting the rides in where I can find them...



Some digital art...

... and some on-bike 360 photos...

 

 

Motorcycle Lift Table Instructions

A friend and colleague retired but kindly left his DIY motorcycle stand with me when he moved to the West Coast.  Here's the construction of it back in 2016:

HERE are the plans he worked from in PDF format.  Now that I've got the plans I can find a properly spec'd lift to use on it.  My old lift is leaky and over two decades old, so the replacement will work the motorcycle lift as well as the odd car tire change.

Currently it's home to the Honda Fireblade project:

The garage is a nice place to work (though small) for 10 months of the year, but during Ontario's deep freeze in January/February, as outdoor temperatures often dip to -30°C and beyond, the cold emanating, even through the rubber lined floor, makes it torturous.  Even with a propane heater running, working on the floor isn't any fun for my fifty year old bones.  The stand, even when lowered, has been nice to work on.  Now that I've got access to the specs, I can source the right kind of hydraulic lift and have everything at an even more ergonomic height.

1997 CBR900RR Parts, Cables and Hose Routing

Notes for next round of work on the Honda.  Doing it for myself so I can follow what I'm doing on the laptop in the garage, but might help out other '90s Honda Fireblade CBR900 restorers too.

Missing tank mounting hardware:
BOLT, FLANGE (6X40) (missing bolts for front of gas tank)
COLLAR C6.3, MOUNTING

Throttle cable running under the right side of the centre triple fork

Vacuum routing - but not particularly helpful - air vent tubes probably connect to bottom of air cleaner box...

Upper and lower throttle cables are clear in this - they are over the handlebars now (wrong) - and like a burk, I put them together backwards, so you have to throttle off to throttle on - remove carb, remove cables, reroute and confirm on this before reattaching.

I tried a replacement LED in the neutral light - no joy - try reversing it?  Light receiving voltage when in neutral.  Confirm that?  Trace that  neutral switch wire?  

Double check choke cable - seems good the way I had it, but bike's in a choke right now, so no movement of front wheel to check routing when the handlebars are turned.

https://www.bikebandit.com/oem-parts/1997-honda-cbr900rr/o/m143417#sch20267

https://www.cmsnl.com/honda-cbr900rr-fireblade-1997-v-canada_model2523/partslist/#.XbSsz-hKiHv

LINKS:

1997 Honda CBR900RR Service Manual

Very clear images on this one:  https://www.cyclechaos.com/images/9/97/Honda_CBR929RR_Service_Manual.pdf

Online Microfiche for parts:
https://www.hondapartsnation.com/oemparts/l/hon/50541057f870021c54bede5e/1997-cbr900rr-ac-parts

'96 Technical Review Document:
https://mototribu.com/constructeur/honda/1996/1000cbr/doc/revuetechnique_900rr.pdf


Sub Air Filter  Honda FILTER, SUB-AIR CLEANER Part # 17254-KAZ-000
https://www.amazon.ca/Honda-17254-KAZ-000-Air-Filter/dp/B00HPTLPEO
Looks to be a foam filter - might see if I can source an equivalent - take the plastic bit in an size a filter.
https://www.hondashadow.net/threads/sub-air-cleaner.300257/
https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/hondashadowacetourer/sub-air-cleaner-what-is-it-39-s-function-t11508.html
https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/atlas-briggs-stratton-lawn-mower-foam-air-filter-0607024p.html#spc

CBR900RR Bits & Pieces

1997 Honda CBR900RR parts, but I'm buying too many online when I'd rather buy them locally.  For someone who would rather support local business, I'm frustrated at the lack of competent parts people.  Canadian Tire needs to do better.

Fram oil filters:

The oil filter for the CBR is a fairly common filter - but the big Canadian Tire in Guelph didn't have one... or anything else I needed.  It's things like this that force me online to purchase when I'd rather just purchase locally.

Strangely, the Walmart across the street, the only place I can find the Mobil 1 oil Triumph calls on for the Tiger, had an oil filter for the Honda.  Not a great weekend for Canadian Tire.  You can't really brag on having 200,000 parts if your sales rep can't find any of them.


Winter flushing oil:
This is what I'm going to put in the Honda over the winter as it gets sorted.  In the spring I'll do a flush and go with Mobil 1 synthetic.

The only place I can find the Mobil 1 is at Walmart - it's the only time I usually go there.  Since I'm already there for the Tiger, I'll go for 7 litres and do the Tiger and CBR with the same super-oil.  Running the Mobil 1 in the Tiger has stopped any oil burning in it.  It's good stuff.

K&N Filters for CBR900:
https://www.knfilters.ca/honda/cbr900rr/900/1997
The HA-9092-A air filter is a strange thing - I thought the filter element would pop out of the plastic, but it's a single (expensive) manufactured piece.  Finding these is tricky.  You can find cheap, paper filters for about $40 a go, but I found the K&N on Amazon for $120CAD, so that's going in and getting cleaned regularly.  That should pay for itself within three changes.

I'm not in a place where I'm going to put the front end back together again and pop in the replacement LED when it comes in this week.  With the replacement carb from NCK Salvage in hand, I'm going to try and rebuild as much of the Honda as I can over the long weekend (it's Thanksgiving Weekend in Canada).

The Strange World of Dash Bulbs:

12v 1.7W wedge dash light is the warning light bulb needed for a '97 Honda CBR900RR.  These are hard to find - Canadian Tire was no help and the girl at the parts desk in Guelph couldn't remember the numbers for parts, so I gave up on trying to find them.  I want to buy locally, but with that kind of floor help, it just isn't happening.

I found LED replacement lights that should last better and use less electricity in the process on Amazon.

This light search led to a crash course in bulb sizing.  The dash lights on the CBR900RR are T-5 Wedge 12v 1.7W bulbs.  T5 means it has a 5mm base.  In this case they're 1.7cms long on that 5mm base.  The LED should be cooler, use less electricity and be brighter.

NCK Cycle Salvage

I took a nice, long autumn ride through long shadows and cool setting sunlight to NCK Cycle Salvage in Woodstock, Ontario this afternoon.

Google Maps was determined me to walk me through the middle of Kitchener-Waterloo in the middle of rush hour and then along a 401 covered in construction.  I forced it to route me around the population and construction, which Google Maps took to mean sending me down increasingly small back roads until I was riding through a deep, dark forest tinged crimson with fall colours on a rutted, dirt road.  I think at one point I was being chased by a pack of wolves, but hey, I never once sat in traffic.

I eventually wound my way down to Woodstock and found NCK in the west end of town in an industrial estate.  I used to do a lot of work on cars, so  I was expecting something like a breaker's yard with bikes laying out in the weather.  I was once told by an old motorcyclist that bikes don't last well in the weather because, unlike cars, they don't have a cover;  NCK agrees with that biker wisdom.

I was worried that the carburetors I was picking up for the Fireblade project were going to be rusty and nasty, but instead they look almost brand new - far better than the battered carbs the muppet who owned the Honda before me had molested.

I was surprised at how organized and dense NCK's layout was.  Nathan, the son of the original owner, is in the process of taking on the family business which has been running in Woodstock since the early '90s.  He took me on a quick tour and explained NCK's process.  They dismantle and warehouse parts as bikes come in.  I asked about the lack of European bikes, but Nathan said they tend to either be repaired or written off, whereas Japanese bikes are more common and less expensive, so that's where the spares market is.  They often get bikes from dealers who don't want an inexpensive bike cluttering up their showroom.  Where possible they sell the bike on complete, when it isn't possible they dismantle the bike, check the parts in to inventory and keep everything organized in their dense, 5000+ square foot warehouse.  That inventory system is what allowed Nathan to immediately get back to me with confirmation of the parts I needed when every other motorcycle salvage operation in Ontario was radio silent.

Support a local business indeed!  Nathan is the second generation running NCK out of Woodstock, Ontario.  If your only experience with junkyards is piles of rotting cars in a field, NCK will show you how it's done efficiently and with the needs of motorcycles front of mind.  This ain't no field of rusty wrecks.

Since it's all inside, you're not getting rusty, rained on left overs and the parts look like they've actually been looked after (because they have).  We had a walk through the warehouse and I got to see the next project they're working on, an originally painted mid-70s Yamaha air cooled big twin.  It was already in shockingly good condition (the old fellow who owned it lost his storage and had to move it on), so now it's at NCK getting some TLC.  You can tell this is as much a labour of love as it is a well run business.

If you love Japanese bikes and are anywhere within a stone's throw of Woodstock, Ontario, you owe it to yourself to drop in to NCK Cycle Salvage and have a look around.  If you're working on a Japanese bike, this place could save you a pile of money.  I got the '97 Fireblade carb for $250CAD (they are going for $250US+shipping+customs on eBay).  When I was sourcing new parts that the muppet who butchered the carbs before me had broken - strange parts like choke plungers (not even sure how you would break one of those) or carb clamps (because this goof had tried gluing them to the engine!), I was quickly running up a bill into the hundreds of dollars US, plus shipping and border taxes - and that's even assuming I could find the parts, many were not available.

A nice ride through the countryside on a sunny, autumn afternoon and I've got a donor carb that looks to be in even better shape than the low mileage one I was looking for parts for.  What I was going to use for parts I'm now swapping in.  I'll take the old one apart and sell off the pieces.  I'm only a couple of online sales away from breaking even on the carb purchase.

I can't recommend NCK enough - they know what they're doing, do it well and if you're looking for parts for an older Japanese bike, they might not only save you money, they might be the only ones who have what you need!

Maybe it's just me, but a place like this scratched an aesthetic itch.  That's a lot of Japanese colour to take in!

Where possible, and especially with older bikes, when a good tank comes in it gets special treatment.  Wherever possible they try and keep the tank and paint as original and unblemished as possible.

Fairing bits that might simply not be available any more, or cost you as much as the bike did in a dealer...

Little bits, big bits, mechanical bits; organized and accessible.

Fenders... so many fenders.  Got a cafe project?  These aren't so dear that you're afraid to modify them.

NCK also offers a purchase and store option where you can buy a used bike in the fall and pay it off over the winter while it sits in heated, safe storage in the warehouse - no extra charge.  Nice, eh?