EDSBK is a blog about a small group of sports bike riders, the places we go in search of our ultimate road and the motorbikes we ride..

..Welcome to Everyday Superbikes
Showing posts with label Honda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honda. Show all posts

2019 Cols New Ride



 Meet the newest bike in Everyday Superbikes.

 Col has made an almost full recovery from the incident where he lost the Black Fireblade in June 2018. Only a problem with his shoulder remains which doesn't seem to affect him too much and is better to be left as it is according to medical experts. The accident has left him with a metal plate in his arm, and on a recent trip to Stuttgart to the Porsche and Mercedes Museums it didn't set the alarms off the airport security.... slightly disappointing.



  We obviously haven't done much bike related things since June, apart from visit the bike shop and the Motorcycle Live event in November of 2018. This was the point Col decided the time was right to look for another bike.
  He had spotted a race rep 2006 Fireblade which looked nice, but the insurance was not that interested in insuring a race rep, so a few weeks later he looked at a standard one and bought it (pictured above).

 Its a 2006 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade with a yoshimura exhaust, which sounds great.
Currently it has odd tyres on it so that is going to be sorted out soon as that's a motorbiking no no. He has ordered a few bits and has a few plans to personalise it to his taste.

 We took it the bikes out for the 1st ride together between Christmas 2018 and New Year, It was good to be back, even if it was a bit of a cool day. He has had some Oxford heated grips added like mine so he now can enjoy warm hands too, he says this is much more civilised than holding the exhaust pipe when your stopped in a layby.

  I look forward to the New Year and hope to make some more good memories and visit some new places in our continuing search for our favourite road.



Honda CBR 1000RR Fireblade 2004



 This is the 2004 Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade.

 The Black version is Col's and the Tri-colour (Red one) is Mine (Phill's)

  Col bought his in 2013 with 11000 miles on the clock from a local bike shop after spotting it on Ebay. We called into the shop one Sunday morning in January and as soon as we saw it Col decided it was the one.
 The snow fell and stopped him from collecting it for 2 long weeks, but eventually it arrived and he turned up on it the next fine Sunday morning. 

 A cold Sunday morning in late January 2014 myself and Col visited Streetbike for a look around the latest bikes and a coffee. A Honda Fireblade had just arrived as a part ex against a newer bike, so I gave it a look over and booked a test ride. Streetbike refitted the standard rear shock as it had a lower one fitted and fixed a few little problems and I collected it the first weekend in March with 16000 miles on the clock.
 I have enjoyed every ride on the Fireblade, the performance, rider comfort and handling suits me fine. 

 The 2004 Honda Fireblade was the first of the totally new design Fireblades and the 1st that was not designed by Tadao Baba the designer of the fireblade from the original 1992 model. It was designed by the team responsible for the 2003 Motogp bike RC211V and shares some lines and technology from the swing arm and rear shock. The model stayed similar until 2007 only with a few cosmetic changes to the front around the headlight, slight geometry changes to the frame and improvements to the engine and a larger rear sprocket.
 Personally we like the smoother lines on the 2004-5 version to look at. 


The Honda 2003 Motogp winning team was Nicky Haden and Valentino Rossi.

  
Controls
  The Instrument display has a rev counter and a digital read out of the current speed. The select button scrolls through 2 trip counters,the Odometer and displays the time. The brake lever has an adjustable postion, The bike has twin headlights of which only the one side illuminates when the engine is running and cannot be turned off, the other side comes on when man beam is selected. The rear section of the seat lifts off to reveal a compartment big enough for the tool kit, a rag and a bottle of visor cleaner, but don't think of putting any thing to eat in there as it will get very warm having the exhaust silencer right below it.





  Riding it
  
  The seat is nicely positioned, but is firm, and  the reach to the bars is comfortable. The foot pegs are quite high and back giving it an agressive feel. On longer journeys or sitting in traffic can cause wrist and shoulder/neck ache. Out on the road the bike has a lot of punch when you open the throttle, turns quickly, yet feels stable at the same time. When I have ridden it, i thought it felt as though 70mph was its happy speed, where the engine picked up instantly.  The default suspension setting are a little soft so we adjusted them to a few clicks stiffer.
 Since owning my Fireblade we have noticed that Col's bike uses more petrol than mine roughly working out at an extra £1.50 per tank. A service may help.



  Stats


  • Engine size  -  998 cc
  • Top Speed  -  178mph
  • Power  -  172 bhp
  • Weight  -  176kg
  • Fuel tank capacity  -  18ltrs
  • Av MPG  -  35mpg
  • Tank Ramge  -  135 miles
  • Ins group -  17
  • Tyres  -  F 120/70/17   R 190/50/17
  • Suspension  -  Fully adjustable

The Original Exhaust
The New Exhaust

  Modifications.


  Both bikes have got Scorpion exhaust silencer's fitted, these take about 2 hours to fit as most of the rear of the bike needs to be removed. We opted for them as we liked the look better that the other brands available at the time. They have the option of removing the baffle which makes it sound racier but not so loud to give you a headache. They also look better and weigh a lot less than the standard type.

 Common Problems.

Check the Fireblade owners forum for information that may help solve any issues you may have.



 Problems this bikes has Encountered

 When Col bought his, the breather pipe to the fuel tank had come off, so it leaked petrol when the tank was full.
The stator packed in on Col's, Honda have now released a fixed version that stops them from burning out.


Our Photo's






Eco Challenge

Every year while on our road trip we do an Eco Challenge. This means everytime we fill up with fuel I have to write down how many litres of fuel each of us drew.
 The fuel used ranged from 55.1 MPG to as low as 36.4 MPG over the 6 days.
We all took the same amount of luggage and used the same Oxford Hump Back soft luggage.
 Our trip was 905 miles which included a good mixture of roads and steep hills, a fair bit of stops to take photos, eat, drink, repair and dry off. 400 Miles were on Motorways and the rest A or B class roads.

Loaded

Col on the Honda Fireblade with a 900cc engine recorded the best MPG at 55.1, this is down to the combined weight of the bike and rider being the lightest which gives a good power to weight ratio. He averaged 48MPG over the trip. His average MPG when wearing his waterproofs dropped by 4MPG

Rich with the Kawasaki ZX636 a 600cc machine got 52.7MPG at best and averaged 47.6MPG over the trip.His average MPG when wearing his waterproofs dropped by 1 MPG

Phill with the Yamaha R1 a 1000cc machine got 50.8MPG at best but averaged 45.3MPG over the trip.His average MPG when wearing his waterproofs dropped by 2.5 MPG

Jon on the Suzuki GSXR another 1000cc machine got 48.7MPG and averaged 43.6MPG over the trip.His average MPG when wearing his waterproofs dropped by 3 MPG

Ed is the average of the 4 of us.

 For 3 journeys we were wearing waterproof over suits, which have a lot of loose fitting areas and flapage, when on these journeys the bikes average MPG dropped by 1-4 MPG.

 This year I have scored it in the same method as the Olympics, counting the amount of Golds, Silvers and Bronzes for the 5 catergories below.

  • Average MPG
  • Best MPG
  • Tolerance (The difference between best and worst MPG)
  • Best MPG compared to MCNs figure
  • Difference between biggest and smallest amount of litres bought

 Results 
                                         Gold            Silver        Bronze
Best Average MPG           Col              Rich          Ed
Best MPG                         Col              Rich          Ed
Tolerence                          Ed               Phill           Jon
Better than MCN              Rich             Phill           Ed
Difference between fill ups Col              Ed             Phill


 Col - Honda Fireblade  3x Gold    0x Silver    0 x Bronze
 Rich - Kawasaki 636    1x Gold    2x Silver    0 x Bronze
 Ed - LAW of Average  1x Gold    1x Silver    3 x Bronze
 Phill - Yamaha R1         0x Gold    2x Silver    1 x Bronze
 Jon - Suzuki GSXR       0x Gold    0x Silver    1 x Bronze

2012 EDSBK Road Trip. Part 1 (Moffat)

  We set out on Sunday 8th July headed for Moffat in Scotland, about 50 miles from the border with England. Col arrived first followed by Rich who was already wearing his water proofs and Jon arrived a few minutes later. The sun was trying to make an appearance as we set off and the odd patch of blue sky appeared on the horizon. We stopped for a cuppa and fuel and Rich said he was too hot, so took off his waterproof suit and we headed off. As we approached the climb up Shap in the lakes district the heavens opened and gave us a few minutes of rain, we decided to wear the water proofs until we arrived in Moffat.

The Buccleuch Arms Hotel
The garages
  Moffat is just off the A74 (M) at junction 15.
The Buccleuch Arms Hotel was our destination in Moffat. We were met by the owner David, who showed each of us to our own garage for the bikes, then to our rooms in the hotel. (EDSBK Recommended)
 The following morning we decided over breakfast to follow a route that was recommended by a website called
  Motorcycle Scotland, through Dumfries to Galloway Forest following along the coast roads. After a while we needed a coffee so pulled in at Carsluith Castle over looking the bay towards Wigtown where we stopped and had a look around. We could see the clouds were once again getting dark and heavy so water proofed up in preparation for the next part of the ride.

Along the A712


Carsluith Castle
 We mostly avoided the rain only seeing a few seconds worth just before we reached a town called Newton Stewart, we headed through Galloway Forest along the twisty A712 until we came across Clatteringshaws Loch where we stopped for a few minutes to admire the views. Then we headed towards the village of  New Galloway where we found the A702 and followed it as it again twisted and dipped and climbed its way through the landscape. The route made it into our list of ultimate roads.
 We arrived at Thornhill not seeing any rain from the again threatening skies. Drumlanrig Castle was only a few miles away so we went off route to go and have a look.
Drumlanrig Castle
Clatteringshaws Loch




Once getting back on route (A702) we followed the road up through the valley which was Cols favourite section of road and then the heavens opened and it absolutely threw it down for the last 20 minutes of the ride, we headed back to the Hotel and parked the bikes back under cover and left the water proofs to dry out. Luckily the radiators were on in our rooms so all the wet clothing got dried overnight.

 The next Morning we awoke to more rain, that got heavier as we ate breakfast. We were heading to Kendal after dinner for the 2nd part of our trip, to the Lake District.
  David from the Buccleuch Arms had talked to us about a short route he used that went around an area known locally as The 3 Locks and The Devils Beef Tub, we thought it sounded an interesting route and long enough to give us something to do before heading off to Kendal. We put our now dry clothes on, packed our bags to collect later and set off along the A708 towards St. Mary's Loch and as it rained all the way we stopped at Glen Cafe for a drink.
Glen cafe looking towards Loch of the Lowes
 The rain carried on as we set off along the A708 and took the first road on the left heading towards Meggets Reservoir and Talla Reservoir linking the A708 to the A701. The road was steep, windy,  slippery from the covering of a mixture of sheep dung and slime, had loose gravel, puddles and was flooded in places, not really a sports bike type of road at all, but the scenery was beautiful.
 At the end of the road we turned left onto the A701 and rode through the forest, a winding fast section of tarmac, it felt good to be back on an A class road again, even if it was soaking wet.
The water proofs brigade!

 We had been told that the Devils Beef Tub is so called as it was a place that Scottish cattle rustlers used to bring the cattle from England too. The English used to chase after the cattle to get them back and the Scotts then attacked, killing the English and keeping the cattle. We stopped in a layby and looked down the valley at the Beef Tub and could see how the natural shape of the land played a part working in the favour of the Scotts.
The Devils Beef Tub
 We went back to the Hotel and collected our luggage then set off to Kendal.


2012 EDSBK Road Trip. Part 2 (Kendal)

 We were already soaked from the ride in the morning around Moffat.
As I got on to the motorway my feet, collar and gloves felt damp, and I thought if this rain would stop then they may dry out enough to stop me thinking about how soaked I was and wondered if the others felt like  I did? As soon as we entered England the sky was lighter and the rain stopped, thank goodness for that I thought. Forty minutes later the rain was back, but harder than the mornings effort. My drying boots, collar and gloves gave up any water proofing they had left and left me with soaked feet and hands and I could feel the water occasionally dripping down the insides of my Jacket on the inside of the water proof over suit.
 We arrived at the services ten minutes after the rain had stopped for a rest, Jon and me took our boots off and rang out our soaking socks, while Col and Rich talked up their boots that hadn't leaked at all.
I didn't bother to put my socks back on, it wasn't worth it.
 We left the motorway at the next junction after the services and followed the A684 into Kendal which turned out to be an unexpected bit of road offering some fun for the last 12 miles of the journey.
Just after a soaking on the services at Shap
Sundial Guest House
 We had stayed at the Sundial Guest House before and were made most welcome by Sue and Andy the owners so stayed there again this year. (Everyday Superbike Recommended) We arrived at the Sundial dried off then found The Miles Thompson for some food. Rich has relations in the area so went for a visit, leaving the rest of us to drink too much beer and talk about who has done the best in the Eco challenge, the best of the roads we had ridden so far, leading into the 5 pints later who of us is the biggest biking hero conversation which normally arises, with tales of who's seen the biggest speeds, who's had the most air, who's got the best cornering lines, endo's, wheelies, other shenanigans and who had had the closest of close shaves, all story's to be taken with a pinch of salt and have a laugh over!

 The following morning we awoke to some hope of dry weather and blue patches of sky. Unfortunately the heating in the Sundial was off so our damp boots, gloves and leathers had stayed damp so hoped the wind as we rode along would dry them out for us. We set off with water proofs bungied to the rear seats in case we needed them.
 The route was made from a list of recommended roads that we had strung together, being mindful of the few dark clouds towards the north we did the route backwards and headed south. Rich knew the area reasonably well so led for a while until we came across the A5804 which became a most entertaining bit of road that twisted a lot and eventually went along the side of lake Coniston.
 We turned left following the A593 and A595 both roads were fun to ride, until I gave my bike a big handful of throttle and the exhaust came apart. We stopped in a layby and assessed the problem, nothing major just a screw clip had come loose, so I did a roadside repair and we carried on eventually reaching Penrith as the A686 and the Hartside Cafe was not far from there. We arrived at Melmerby the start of the climb up the Hartside Pass and the clouds were dark and meaningful, looming above the hills. I think we had all guessed that the road was going to be damp. Luckily the rain didn't start while we were there, however there was a lot of water running off the hills and across the road, more than enough to spoil our fun, limiting us to a more careful accent. The menu in the cafe was the same as last year so we had Mars Bar cake and a coffee, Mmm yum!

We set off back down and the roads were still covered in water but Col and I exchanged the lead on a few occasions as we dropped back into Melmerby. Then finding the A6 towards Kendal we hit our next problem. Col pulled over and thought his chain was slapping as it went over the swing arm, he adjusted the chain, but it made little difference, we stopped again and re adjusted the chain but again it made little difference but Col said it seemed better than the first time we had stopped, also his Fireblade felt strange when braking and a warped front disk was suspected. The A6 turned out to be a nice route offering some good fast sections and some good corners. I passed Jon who seemed to be messing with something on the side of his bike and about a mile later pulled in to wait for the others in another layby. Col turned up shortly after still with a problem from the chain, then a few minute went by and Jon and Rich turned up. Jon informed me that his Mini DV camera had come off at 70 mph and he had had to go back to fetch it, luckily it still worked but looks battered!
We returned to the hotel and messed with the bikes, and I discovered my exhaust end can had rotted through around the area that meets the pipe, it was wobbling around but was not going to drop off.
The following morning we headed home and 2 of us were contemplating some unexpected repairs.
  Once at home I changed my exhaust can and now my R1 has the standard can refitted until I can afford to replace it. Cols Fireblade had crushed bearings in the rear wheel and a warped front disk, both problems have been repaired and our bikes are back on the road.

Summary
Date:- 8th - 12th July 2012
Weather:- 1 dry days, 4 raining
Hotels:- The Buccleuch Arms (Moffat) / Sundial Guest house (Kendal)
Miles:- 860.
Fuel cost per litre:- 1.36p to 1.39p a ltr (8 petrol stations)
EDSBK Riders:- Phill,Col,Jon & Rich
Aim:- 
Ride the best roads around Galloway, visit a Scottish Castle, have another go along the A686 Hartside pass and explore the area in search of more ultimate roads.
We decided as we had enjoyed the lake district in 2011 to return and explore the area to the south as we had not tested any roads down there, also Galloway has featured in articles I've read in the past so I thought why not combine the two areas into 1 trip.

Honda CBR 900 RR Fireblade


 This was Cols  Honda CBR900RR Fireblade. The MK1 Fireblade is the bike that shaped the future of sports bikes. Back in its day the Honda fireblade was the lightest sportsbike on the market, which made it out handle any of the competition.
The Fireblade has a 16 inch front wheel which gave it a reputation for having dangerous steering which was replaced with a 17inch front wheel on the newer models.


This picture was taken in a white out!

Controls
 The Instruments are of the analogue type, having a speedometer, rev counter and temperature gauge. On the speedo is an odometer and a trip gauge, also the usual lights for indicators and neutral are underneath. The fuses are under the twist grip which is a handy place to get at. The bars are set quite low and the pegs quite high giving an aggresive riders position, but causes wrist,neck and leg ache. The seat is very hard and Col is usually the first to suffer with uncomfortable pains on long journeys. The rear seat is on a hinge that lifts vetically to allow access into a huge empty space. There is room for the tool kit, disc locks 4 drinks cans and some dinner, the most impressive of all the bikes we have owned between us. There is twin headlights on the fireblade that can be switched on or off.

Riding it
 As it has a 900cc engine you would not expect it to keep us with the more modern 1000cc sports bikes but you would be wrong, when its given a handfull of throttle it can easily make the same pace as the younger bikes on the roads along the straights and as its so light can handle very well through the corners. Also when we are adding fuel it always uses less than the 1000cc bikes.
Cols Honda CBR900RR Fireblade

CBR 900RR on our trip up the horseshoe pass to the Ponderosa Cafe

Stats
  • Engine Size - 893cc
  • Top Speed - 160mph (we have seen 160mph still with a bit more available)
  • Power - 128 bhp
  • Weight - 180kg
  • Fuel Tank - 18ltr
  • Average MPG - 43 (we have regularly seen over 45mpg)
  • Tank range - 160miles
  • Insurance group 16
  • Tyres - Front 130/70 16, Rear 180/55/17
  • Suspension - Rear fully adjustable, Front Preload and Rebound only
 Settings
                     Standard Honda settings
                      Front:- Preload - 4 lines showing
                                  Rebound - 1.5 turns out from full in
                      Rear:- Preload - Position 4
                                  Rebound - 1 turn out from full in
                                  Compression 1 turn out from full in
                                   Tyre Pressures F 36 : R 42

                       Performance bikes recommended road settings which we also like:-
                       Front:- Preload - 4 lines showing
                                   Rebound - 1.5 turns out from full in
                       Rear:- Preload - Position 4
                                   Rebound - 1 turn out from full in
                                   Compression 1 turn out from full in
                                   Tyre Pressures F 34 : R 39
Mods
Col has changed his end can for a scorpion system, added a rear hugger, changed the large indicators for some smaller ones and added a clock.

As New
Fireblade by Bala Lake


Theres room for a pair of boots, helmet, jacket and 2 cheese and pickle sandwiches under the seat!

Honda CBR900RR Fireblade,
With a typical load when touring.