Autumn Colours Motorcycle Photography

On bike photos courtesy of a Ricoh Theta V on a flexible tripod attached to the rear view mirror of my trusty Triumph Tiger 955i.  The route was from my home in Elora up through Beaver Valley to the shores of Georgian Bay before coming back through Duntroon and up the Noisy River out of Creemore before heading back down the Grand River home.  The interesting bits were tracing the Niagara Escarpment, the only vaguely interesting roads anywhere near me.

If you want a primer on how to take on-bike photos like this, you can find it here.  It has also been published on Adventure Motorcycle Rider here.

That time I got stuck behind a blockade of Polaris Slingshots on the Noisy River Road...

Google Photos Album here.

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.